And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their
misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and
the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying
parts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses
prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So the name of that
place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among
them.
Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the
people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to
eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the
cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But
now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this
manna to look at.”
Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like
that of bdellium. The people went about and gathered it and ground
it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and
made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes
baked with oil. When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the
manna fell with it.
Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone
at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly,
and Moses was displeased. Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you
dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your
sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I
conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should
say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing
child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am
I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me
and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ I am not able to carry
all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. If you will
treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight,
that I may not see my wretchedness.”
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the
elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and
officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let
them take their stand there with you. And I will come down and talk
with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you
and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people
with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone. And say to
the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat
meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, “Who
will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.”
Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall
not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or
twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils
and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD
who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come
out of Egypt?”’” But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number
six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them
meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ Shall flocks and herds be
slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish
of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?”
And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD's hand shortened? Now you
shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. And
he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them
around the tent. Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to
him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the
seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they
prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other
named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those
registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they
prophesied in the camp. And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad
and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” And Joshua the son of Nun,
the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop
them.” But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would
that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put
his Spirit on them!” And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to
the camp.
Then a wind from the LORD sprang up, and it brought quail from
the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day's journey on
this side and a day's journey on the other side, around the camp,
and about two cubits above the ground. And the people rose all that
day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail.
Those who gathered least gathered ten homers. And they spread them
out for themselves all around the camp. While the meat was yet
between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD
was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people
with a very great plague. Therefore the name of that place was
called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who
had the craving. From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to
Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.
