Numbers 11

The People Complain

1 Now the people became like 1those who complain of adversity 2in the hearing of the LORD; and when the LORD heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.
2 3The people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD and the fire died out.
3 So the name of that place was called 4Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.
4 The 5rabble who were among them had greedy desires *; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, "6Who will give us meat to eat?
5 "7We remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic,
6 but now 8our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna."
7 9Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of 10bdellium.
8 The people would go about and gather it and grind it between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil.
9 11When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.

The Complaint of Moses

10 Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly, and Moses was displeased *.
11 12So Moses said to the LORD, "Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me?
12 "Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as a 13nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which 14You swore to their fathers '?
13 "Where * am I to get meat to give to 15all this people? For they weep before me, saying, 'Give us meat that we may eat!'
14 "16I alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too burdensome for me.
15 "17So if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness."

Seventy Elders to Assist

16 The LORD therefore said to Moses, "Gather for Me 18seventy men from the elders of Israel, 19whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.
17 "20Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of 21the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.
18 "Say to the people, '22Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept 23in the ears of the LORD, saying, "Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt." Therefore the LORD will give you meat and you shall eat.
19 'You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,
20 but a whole month, until * it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because * 24you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, "Why did we ever leave * Egypt?""'
21 But Moses said, "The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 * * on foot; yet You have said, 'I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.'
22 "Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?"
23 The LORD said to Moses, "Is 25the LORD'S power limited? Now you shall see whether 26My word will come true for you or not."
24 So Moses went out and 27told the people the words of the LORD. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and stationed them around the tent.
25 28Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again.
26 But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the other Medad. And 29the Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent ), and they prophesied in the camp.
27 So a young man ran and told Moses and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."
28 Then 30Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, "31Moses, my lord, restrain them."
29 But Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? 32Would * that all the LORD'S people were prophets, that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!"
30 Then Moses returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.

The Quail and the Plague

31 33Now there went forth a wind from the LORD 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, all around the camp and about two cubits deep on the surface of the ground.
32 The people spent all day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten 34homers ) and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
33 35While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very severe plague.
34 So the name of that place was called 36Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy.
35 From Kibroth-hattaavah 37the people set out for Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.

Cross References 37

  • 1. Numbers 14:2; Numbers 16:11; Numbers 17:5
  • 2. Numbers 11:18; Numbers 14:28
  • 3. Numbers 12:11, 13; Numbers 21:7
  • 4. Deuteronomy 9:22
  • 5. Exodus 12:38; 1 Corinthians 10:6
  • 6. Psalms 78:20
  • 7. Exodus 16:3
  • 8. Numbers 21:5
  • 9. Exodus 16:31
  • 10. Genesis 2:12
  • 11. Exodus 16:13, 14
  • 12. Exodus 5:22; Deuteronomy 1:12
  • 13. 2 Kings 10:1, 5; Isaiah 49:23
  • 14. Genesis 24:7; Exodus 13:5, 11; Exodus 33:1
  • 15. Numbers 11:21, 22; John 6:5-9
  • 16. Exodus 18:18; Deuteronomy 1:12
  • 17. Exodus 32:32
  • 18. Exodus 24:1, 9
  • 19. Exodus 18:25
  • 20. Numbers 11:25
  • 21. 1 Samuel 10:6; Joel 2:28
  • 22. Exodus 19:10, 22
  • 23. Numbers 11:1
  • 24. Joshua 24:27; 1 Samuel 10:19
  • 25. Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 59:1
  • 26. Ezekiel 12:25; Ezekiel 24:14
  • 27. Numbers 11:16
  • 28. Numbers 11:17; Numbers 12:5
  • 29. Numbers 24:2; 1 Samuel 10:6; 2 Chronicles 15:1; Nehemiah 9:30
  • 30. Exodus 33:11; Joshua 1:1
  • 31. Mark 9:38-40
  • 32. 1 Corinthians 14:5
  • 33. Exodus 16:13; Psalms 78:26-28; Psalms 105:40
  • 34. Ezekiel 45:11
  • 35. Psalms 78:29-31; Psalms 106:15
  • 36. Deuteronomy 9:22
  • 37. Numbers 33:17

Footnotes 24

Numbers 11 Commentaries

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