1Now the people became like those who complain of evil in the ears of Yahweh; and Yahweh heard, and his anger burned, and the fire of Yahweh blazed against them and consumed the outskirts of the camp.
2Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire subsided.
3So he called the name of that place Taberah, because the fire of Yahweh had burned against them.
4And the rabble that was among them craved a craving, and the sons of Israel also turned and wept and said, “Who will feed us meat?
5We remember the fish that we used to eat in Egypt for free, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
6But now our throat is dried up; there is nothing at all; our eyes see nothing but this manna.”
7Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance was like the appearance of bdellium.
8The people would roam about and gather it, and grind it with millstones or crush it in a mortar, and boil it in a pot and make it into cakes; and its taste was like the taste of rich cream.
9And when the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna would come down upon it.
10And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, each at the entrance of his tent; and the anger of Yahweh burned exceedingly, and in the eyes of Moses it was evil.
11And Moses said to Yahweh, “Why have you brought trouble on your servant? And why have I not found favor in your eyes, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?
12Did 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 the nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to their fathers?
13Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep against me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat.’
14I am not able to carry all this people by myself, for it is too heavy for me.
15And if this is how you are going to treat me, kill me at once, I pray, if I have found favor in your eyes, and let me not see my trouble.”
16Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders of the people and its officers, and take them to the tent of meeting, and let them station themselves there with you.
17And I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the spirit that is on you and put it on them; and they will bear the burden of the people with you, so that you do not bear it by yourself.
18And to the people you shall say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Who will feed us meat? For it was good for us in Egypt.” Therefore Yahweh will give you meat, and you shall eat.
19Not for one day will you eat, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,
20but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected Yahweh who is in your midst and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”
21But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand foot soldiers, yet you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they shall eat for a whole month’!
22Can flocks and herds be slaughtered for them to suffice for them? Or can all the fish of the sea be gathered for them to suffice for them?”
23And Yahweh said to Moses, “Is the hand of Yahweh too short? Now you shall see whether my word will come to pass for you or not.”
24So Moses went out and spoke to the people the words of Yahweh, and he gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and stationed them around the tent.
25Then Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and he took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And when the spirit rested on them, they prophesied—but they did not do so again.
26But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the second was Medad. And the spirit rested on them—now they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent—and they prophesied in the camp.
27And a young man ran and told Moses, saying, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28Then Joshua son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, answered and said, “My lord Moses, restrain them!”
29But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the people of Yahweh were prophets, that Yahweh would put his spirit on them!”
30Then Moses withdrew into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
31Then a wind went out from Yahweh, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall over the camp, about a day’s journey on one side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits deep on the surface of the ground.
32And the people rose up all that day and all night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail. The one who gathered least gathered ten homers, and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
33The meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, when the anger of Yahweh burned against the people, and Yahweh struck the people with a very great blow.
34So he called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved.
35From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and they were at Hazeroth.
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