English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 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.
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The people fell to grumbling over their hard life. God heard. When he heard his anger flared; then fire blazed up and burned the outer boundaries of the camp.
2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.
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The people cried out for help to Moses; Moses prayed to God and the fire died down.
3 So the name of that place was called Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.
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They named the place Taberah (Blaze) because fire from God had blazed up against them. Camp Kibroth Hattaavah
4 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!
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The riff-raff among the people had a craving and soon they had the People of Israel whining, "Why can't we have meat?
5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
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We ate fish in Egypt - and got it free! - to say nothing of the cucumbers and melons, the leeks and onions and garlic.
6 But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at."
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But nothing tastes good out here; all we get is manna, manna, manna."
7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium.
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Manna was a seedlike substance with a shiny appearance like resin.
8 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.
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The people went around collecting it and ground it between stones or pounded it fine in a mortar. Then they boiled it in a pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a delicacy cooked in olive oil.
9 When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
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When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna was right there with it.
10 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.
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Moses heard the whining, all those families whining in front of their tents. God's anger blazed up. Moses saw that things were in a bad way.
11 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?
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Moses said to God, "Why are you treating me this way? What did I ever do to you to deserve this? Did I conceive them? Was I their mother? So why dump the responsibility of this people on me?
12 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?
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Why tell me to carry them around like a nursing mother, carry them all the way to the land you promised to their ancestors?
13 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.'
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Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people who are whining to me, 'Give us meat; we want meat.'
14 I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.
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I can't do this by myself - it's too much, all these people.
15 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."
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If this is how you intend to treat me, do me a favor and kill me. I've seen enough; I've had enough. Let me out of here."
16 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.
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God said to Moses, "Gather together seventy men from among the leaders of Israel, men whom you know to be respected and responsible. Take them to the Tent of Meeting. I'll meet you there.
17 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.
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I'll come down and speak with you. I'll take some of the Spirit that is on you and place it on them; they'll then be able to take some of the load of this people - you won't have to carry the whole thing alone.
18 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.
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"Tell the people, Consecrate yourselves. Get ready for tomorrow when you're going to eat meat. You've been whining to God, 'We want meat; give us meat. We had a better life in Egypt.' God has heard your whining and he's going to give you meat. You're going to eat meat.
19 You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,
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And it's not just for a day that you'll eat meat, and not two days, or five or ten or twenty,
20 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?"'"
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but for a whole month. You're going to eat meat until its coming out your nostrils. You're going to be so sick of meat that you'll throw up at the mere mention of it. And here's why: Because you have rejected God who is right here among you, whining to his face, 'Oh, why did we ever have to leave Egypt?'"
21 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!'
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Moses said, "I'm standing here surrounded by 600,000 men on foot and you say, 'I'll give them meat, meat every day for a month.'
22 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?"
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So where's it coming from? Even if all the flocks and herds were butchered, would that be enough? Even if all the fish in the sea were caught, would that be enough?"
23 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."
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God answered Moses, "So, do you think I can't take care of you? You'll see soon enough whether what I say happens for you or not."
24 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.
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So Moses went out and told the people what God had said. He called together seventy of the leaders and had them stand around the Tent.
25 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.
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God came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. But they didn't continue; it was a onetime event.
26 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.
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Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but they didn't leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.
27 And a young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."
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A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"
28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My lord Moses, stop them."
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Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' right-hand man since his youth, said, "Moses, master! Stop them!"
29 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!"
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But Moses said, "Are you jealous for me? Would that all God's people were prophets. Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them."
30 And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
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Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp.
31 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.
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A wind set in motion by God swept quails in from the sea. They piled up to a depth of about three feet in the camp and as far out as a day's walk in every direction.
32 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.
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All that day and night and into the next day the people were out gathering the quail - huge amounts of quail; even the slowest person among them gathered at least sixty bushels. They spread them out all over the camp for drying.
33 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.
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But while they were still chewing the quail and had hardly swallowed the first bites, God's anger blazed out against the people. He hit them with a terrible plague.
34 Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving.
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They ended up calling the place Kibroth Hattaavah (Graves-of-the-Craving). There they buried the people who craved meat.
35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.
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From Kibroth Hattaavah they marched on to Hazeroth. They remained at Hazeroth.
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.