Numbers 11

Thomson^{(i) 1} the people were wickedly murmuring before the Lord, and the Lord heard, and was provoked to wrath, and a fire from the Lord was kindled among them, and was consuming part of the camp, ² whereupon the people cried to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire ceased. ³ So the name of that place was called Burning, because a fire from the Lord had been kindled among them. ⁴ Again the mixed multitude which was among them had a longing desire, and even the children of Israel sat down and wept, saying, Who will give us flesh to eat. ⁵ We recollect the fish which we ate in Egypt for nothing; and the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the cloves of garlick; ⁶ but now our soul is dried up, and our eyes behold nothing but this manna. ⁷ Now the manna was like a grain of coriander, and its colour was the colour of chrystal, ⁸ and the people went out, and gathered it and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, or made it up into cakes to be baked on the hearth; and in sweetness its taste was that of a sweet cake, made with oil; ⁹ and when the dew fell on the camp the manna came down with it. ¹⁰ When Moses heard them weeping in their communities, every one at his tent door, though the Lord was greatly provoked to wrath, and in the view of Moses it was evil, ¹¹ yet Moses said to the Lord, Why hast thou afflicted thy servant; and why have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou shouldst lay upon me the weight of this people? ¹² Have I conceived all this people? Or have I brought them forth, that thou sayest to me, Take them in thy bosom, and carry them, as a nurse would her sucking child, to the land which with an oath thou hast promised to their fathers? ¹³ Whence can I have flesh to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, Give us flesh that we may eat. ¹⁴ I am not able alone to bear this people. It is a burden too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If thou deal thus with me, kill me outright, if I have found favour in thy sight, that I may not see my wretchedness. ¹⁶ Whereupon the Lord said to Moses, Assemble before me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be elders of the people, and their scribes; and bring them to the tabernacle of the testimony, and let them stand there with thee; ¹⁷ and I will come down and talk with thee there, and I will take a portion of the spirit which is upon thee, and put it upon them; and they will help thee to bear the burden of this people, so that thou shalt not bear them thyself alone. ¹⁸ And thou shalt say to this people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and you shall eat flesh. Because you have wept before the Lord, saying, Who can give us flesh to eat? It is better for us to be in Egypt; therefore the Lord will give you flesh to eat, and you shall eat flesh. 19 You shall eat it, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten nor twenty days. ²⁰ You shall eat it a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you, because you have distrusted the Lord who is amongst you, and have wept in his presence, and said, Why did we come out of Egypt. ²¹ Thereupon Moses said, The people among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen, yet thou hast said, I will give them flesh to eat, and they shall eat it a whole month. ²² Must the flocks and the herds be slaughtered for them? Will even these suffice? Or should all the fish of the sea be collected for them, would this be sufficient for them? ²³ And the Lord said to Moses, Cannot the hand of the Lord furnish a sufficiency? Thou shalt now see whether my word shall come to pass to thee or not. ²⁴ Then Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord. And when he had assembled seventy men from among the elders of the people, and placed them around the tabernacle, ²⁵ the Lord descended in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took a portion of the spirit which was upon him, and put it on the seventy elders. And soon as the spirit rested on them, they prophesied. ²⁶ Now there were two who had not joined them, but were left in the camp. The name of the one was Eldad and the name of the other, Modad; and the spirit rested on them. They were of those who were written down, but they had not come to the tabernacle. And when they prophesied in the camp, ²⁷ there ran a young man, who told Moses, saying, Eldad and Modad are prophesying in the camp. ²⁸ Upon which Joshua the son of Nave, who was the chosen attendant of Moses, addressing him said, My lord Moses, forbid them. ²⁹ But Moses said to him, Thou shouldst not envy, on my account. that the people of the Lord had all been made prophets when the Lord put his spirit on these! ³⁰ Then Moses went into the camp, accompanied with the elders of Israel; ³¹ and there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought a flock of quails from the sea, and drove them upon the camp, a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on that side, all around the camp about two cubits from the ground. ³² Whereupon the people arose, and all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, they gathered the flocks of quails, and he who gathered the fewest collected ten cores. ³³ Though they had heated for themselves kilns all around the camp, the flesh was already between their teeth before it was quite dead. Whereupon the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague, ³⁴ so that the name of that place was called Monuments of longing desire; because they had there buried the people who had expressed such a longing desire. ³⁵ From the Monuments of longing desire, the people removed to Aseroth;