Numbers 11 · Parashat Behaalotecha

And when the people complained, it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed those who were in the uttermost parts of the camp.

And the people cried out to Moshe; but Moshe prayed to the Lord, and the fire was quenched.

And he called the name of the place Tav῾era: because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Yisra᾽el also wept again, and said, Who shall give us meat to eat?

We remember the fish, which we did eat in Miżrayim for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic:

but now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.

And the manna was like coriander seed, and its colour was like the colour of bdellium.

And the people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was like the taste of oil cake.

And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

And Moshe heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the Lord burned greatly; Moshe also was displeased.

And Moshe said to the Lord, Why hast thou afflicted thy servant? and why have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layst the burden of all this people upon me?

Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father carries the sucking child, to the land which thou hast sworn to their fathers?

Whence should I have meat to give to all this people? for they weep to me, saying, Give us meat, that we may eat.

I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.

And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight: and let me not see my own wretchedness.

And the Lord said to Moshe, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Yisra᾽el, whom thou knowst to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with thee.

And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee that thou bear it not thyself alone.

And say to the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you shall eat meat: for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us meat to eat? for it was well with us in Miżrayim: therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.

Not one day shall you eat, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days;

but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome to you: because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why did we come out of Miżrayim?

And Moshe said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month.

Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

And the Lord said to Moshe, Is the Lord’s hand too short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass to thee or not.

And Moshe went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tent.

And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it to the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but continued not.

And there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out to the tent: and they prophesied in the camp.

And there ran a young man, and told Moshe, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

And Yehoshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moshe from his youth, answered and said, My lord Moshe restrain them.

And Moshe said to him, Enviest thou for my sake? would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!

And Moshe retired into the camp, he and the elders of Yisra᾽el.

And a wind went out from the Lord, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and about a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits high upon the face of the earth.

And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered a quantity of ten ĥomer: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.

And while the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was inflamed against the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague.

And he called the name of that place Qivrot-hatta᾽ava (Graves of Lust): because there they buried the people that lusted.

And the people journeyed from Qivrot-hatta᾽ava to Ḥażerot, and at Ḥażerot they made a stay.