Numbers 11

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Now the people began to complain, which was offensive to Yahweh's ears. When Yahweh heard, hisanger was aroused and the fire of Yahweh broke out among them; it devoured one end of the camp.	1 Meanwhile, there arose a murmur among the people against the Lord, as if they were grief-stricken because of their labors. And when the Lord had heard it, he was angry. And when the fire of the Lord was enflamed against them, it devoured those who were at the extreme end of the camp.
2 The people appealed to Moses who interceded with Yahweh and the fire died down.	2 And when the people had cried out to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was consumed.
3 So the place was cal ed Taberah, because the fire of Yahweh had broken out among them.	3 And he called the name of that place, ‘The Burning,’ because the fire of the Lord had burned against them.
4 The rabble who had joined the people were feeling the pangs of hunger, and the Israelites began toweep again. 'Who wil give us meat to eat?' they said.	4 So then, the mix of common people, who had ascended with them, were enflamed with desire, and sitting and weeping, with the sons of Israel joining them, they said, “Who will give us flesh to eat?
5 'Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic!	5 We remember the fish that we ate freely in Egypt; we call to mind the cucumbers, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic.
6 But now we are withering away; there is nothing wherever we look except this manna!'	6 Our life is dry; our eyes look out to see nothing but manna.”
7 The manna was like coriander seed and had the appearance of bdellium.	7 Now the manna was like coriander seed, but with the color of bdellium.
8 The people went round gathering it, and ground it in a mill or crushed it with a pestle; it was thencooked in a pot and made into pancakes. It tasted like cake made with oil.	8 And the people wandered about, gathering it, and they crushed it with a millstone, or ground it with a mortar; then they boiled it in a pot, and made biscuits out of it, with a taste like bread made with oil.
9 When the dew fell on the camp at night-time, the manna fell with it.	9 And when the dew descended in the night over the camp, the manna descended together with it.
10 Moses heard the people weeping, each family at the door of its tent. Yahweh's anger was greatlyaroused; Moses too found it disgraceful,	10 And so, Moses heard the people weeping by their families, each one at the door of his tent. And the fury of the Lord was greatly enflamed. And to Moses also the matter seemed intolerable.
11 and he said to Yahweh: 'Why do you treat your servant so badly? In what respect have I failed towin your favour, for you to lay the burden of al these people on me?	11 And so he said to the Lord: “Why have you afflicted your servant? Why do I not find favor before you? And why have you imposed the weight of this entire people upon me?
12 Was it I who conceived all these people, was I their father, for you to say to me, "Carry them in yourarms, like a foster-father carrying an unweaned child, to the country which I swore to give their fathers"?	12 Could I have conceived this entire multitude, or have given birth to them, so that you might say to me: Carry them in your bosom, as a nursemaid usually carries a little infant, and bring them into the land, about which you have sworn to their fathers?
13 Where am I to find meat to give al these people, pestering me with their tears and saying, "Give usmeat to eat"?	13 From where would I obtain the flesh to give to so great a multitude? They weep against me, saying, ‘Give us flesh, so that we may eat.’
14 I cannot carry al these people on my own; the weight is too much for me.	14 I alone am unable to sustain this entire people, because it is too heavy for me.
15 If this is how you mean to treat me, please kil me outright! If only I could win your favour and bespared the sight of my misery!'	15 But if it seems to you otherwise, I beg you to put me to death, and so may I find grace in your eyes, lest I be afflicted with such evils.”
16 Yahweh said to Moses, 'Col ect me seventy of the elders of Israel, men you know to be the people'selders and scribes. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting, and let them stand beside you there.	16 And the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders, as well as teachers, of the people. And you shall lead them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and you shall cause them to stand there with you,
17 I shall come down and talk to you there and shal take some of the spirit which is on you and put iton them. Then they wil bear the burden of the people with you, and you will no longer have to bear it on yourown.	17 so that I may descend and speak to you. And I will take from your spirit, and I will deliver it to them, so that, with you, they may sustain the burden of the people, and so that you will not be weighed down alone.
18 'And say to the people, "Purify yourselves for tomorrow and you wil have meat to eat, since youhave wept in Yahweh's hearing, saying: Who wil give us meat to eat? How happy we were in Egypt! Very wel ,Yahweh wil give you meat to eat.	18 You shall also say to the people: Be sanctified. Tomorrow you will eat flesh. For I have heard you say: ‘Who will give us flesh to eat? It was well with us in Egypt.’ So then, may the Lord give you flesh. And you will eat,
19 You wil eat it not for one day, or two, or five, or ten or twenty,	19 not for one day, nor for two, nor for five, nor for ten, nor even for twenty,
20 but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and sickens you, since you have rejectedYahweh who is among you, and have wept before him saying: Why did we ever leave Egypt?" '	20 but for up to a month of days, until it exits from your nostrils, and until it turns into nausea for you, because you have slipped away from the Lord, who is in your midst, and because you have wept before him, saying: ‘Why did we go forth out of Egypt?’ ”
21 Moses said, 'The people round me number six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and you say, "I shalgive them meat to eat for a whole month"!	21 And Moses said: “There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and yet you say, ‘I will give them flesh to eat for a whole month.’
22 If al the flocks and herds were slaughtered, would that be enough for them? If al the fish in the seaswere collected, would that be enough for them?'	22 Could a multitude of sheep and oxen be slain, so that there would be enough food? Or will the fishes of the sea be gathered together, in order to satisfy them?”
23 Yahweh said to Moses, 'Is the arm of Yahweh so short? You shal see whether the promise I havemade to you comes true or not.'	23 And the Lord answered him: “Can the hand of the Lord be ineffective? Soon now, you shall see whether my word will be fulfilled in this work.”
24 Moses went out and told the people what Yahweh had said. Then he col ected seventy of thepeople's elders and stationed them round the Tent.	24 And so, Moses went and explained the words of the Lord to the people. Gathering together seventy men from the elders of Israel, he caused them to stand around the tabernacle.
25 Yahweh descended in the cloud. He spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him andput it on the seventy elders. When the spirit came on them they prophesied -- but only once.	25 And the Lord descended in a cloud, and he spoke to him, taking from the Spirit which was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the Spirit had rested in them, they prophesied; nor did they cease afterwards.
26 Two men had stayed back in the camp; one was called Eldad and the other Medad. The spirit camedown on them; though they had not gone to the Tent, their names were enrol ed among the rest. These began toprophesy in the camp.	26 Now there had remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, upon whom the Spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, but they did not go forth to the tabernacle.
27 A young man ran to tel Moses this. 'Look,' he said, 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.'	27 And when they were prophesying in the camp, a boy ran and reported to Moses, saying: “Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.”
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had served Moses since he was a boy, spoke up and said, 'My lord Moses,stop them!'	28 Promptly, Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses and chosen from many, said: “My lord Moses, prohibit them.”
29 Moses replied, 'Are you jealous on my account? If only al Yahweh's people were prophets, andYahweh had given them his spirit!'	29 But he said, “Why are you jealous on my behalf? Who decides that any of the people may prophesy and that God may give to them his Spirit?”
30 Moses then went back to the camp with the elders of Israel.	30 And Moses returned, with those greater by birth of Israel, into the camp.
31 A wind, sent by Yahweh, started blowing from the sea bringing quails which it deposited on thecamp. They lay for a distance of a day's march either side of the camp, two cubits thick on the ground.	31 Then a wind, going out from the Lord and moving forcefully across the sea, brought quails and cast them into the camp, across a distance of one day’s journey, in every part of the camp all around, and they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground.
32 The people were up al that day and night and all the next day collecting quails: the least gatheredby anyone was ten homer; then they spread them out round the camp.	32 Therefore, the people, rising up, gathered quails all that day and night, and the next day; he who did least well gathered ten homers. And they dried them throughout the camp.
33 The meat was still between their teeth, not even chewed, when Yahweh's anger was aroused by thepeople. Yahweh struck them with a very great plague.	33 The flesh was still between their teeth, neither had this kind of food ceased, and behold, the fury of the Lord was provoked against the people, and he struck them with an exceedingly great scourge.
34 The name given to this place was Kibroth-ha-Taavah, because it was there that they buried thepeople who had indulged their greed.	34 And that place was called, ‘The Graves of Lust.’ For there, they buried the people who had desired. Then, departing from the Graves of Lust, they arrived in Hazeroth, and they stayed there.
35 From Kibroth-ha-Taavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and at Hazeroth they pitched camp.