Numbers 11: 1
Now the people were like those-who-grieve (over) ill-fortune, in the ears of YHWH.
When YHWH heard, his anger flared up;
there blazed up against them a fire of YHWH
and ate up the edge of the camp.
2 The people cried out to Moshe
and Moshe interceded to YHWH,
and the fire abated.
3 So they called the name of that place
Tav’era/Blaze,
for (there) had blazed against them fire of YHWH.
4 Now the gathered-riffraff that were
among them
has a craving, hunger-craving,
and moreover they again wept, the Children of Israel, and said:
Who will give us meat to eat?
5 We recall the fish that we used to
eat in Egypt for free,
the cucumbers, the watermelons,
the green-leeks, the onions, and the garlic!
6 But now, our throats are dry;
there is nothing at all
except for the mahn (in front of) our eyes!
7 -- Now the mahn is like
seed of coriander,
its aspect like the aspect of bdellium.
8 The people would roam around and
collect it,
grind it in millstones or crush it in a crusher,
boil it in a pot, and make it into cakes,
so that its taste we like the taste of (something) rich (made with) oil.
9 And when the dew came down on the
camp at night,
the mahn would come down on top of it. --
10 Moshe heard the people weeping by
their clans,
each-man at the entrance to his tent.
Now YHWH’s anger flared up exceedingly,
and in the eyes of Moshe it was ill.
11 Moshe said to YHWH:
For-what have you dealt-ill with your servant,
for-what-reason have I not found favor in your eyes,
(that you) have placed the burden of this entire people on me?
12 Did I myself conceive this entire
people,
or did I myself give-birth to it,
that you should say to me, Carry it in your bosom
like a nursing-parent carries a suckling-child,
to the soil about which you swore to their fathers?
13 Where should I (get) meat to give to
this entire people,
when they weep on me, saying:
Give us meat so that we may eat!
14 I am not able, myself alone, to
carry this entire people,
for it is too heavy for me!
15 If thus you deal with me,
pray kill me, yes, kill me,
if I have found favor in your eyes,
so that I do not have to see my ill-fortune!
16 Then YHWH spoke to Moshe:
Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel,
of whom you know that they are elders of the people and its officers,
and take them to the Tent of Appointment,
stationing them there with you.
17 I will come down and speak with you
there,
I will extend from the rushing-spirit that is upon you
and place it upon them;
then they will carry along with you the burden of the people,
so that you will not (have to) carry it, you alone.
18 Now to the people you are to say:
Hallow yourselves for the morrow
that you may eat meat,
for you have wept in the ears of YHWH, saying:
Who will give us meat to eat?
For it was better for us in Egypt!
YHWH will give you meat, and you shall eat it:
19 not for (only) one day shall you eat
it, and not for two days,
not for five days or for ten days or (even) for twenty days --
20 (but) for a monthful of days,
until it comes out of your nostrils
and becomes for you something-disgusting,
because you have spurned YHWH who is among you,
by weeping before him, saying:
For-what-reason did we leave Egypt?
21 Moshe said:
Six hundred thousand on foot
(are) the (fighting-)people among who I am,
yet you, you say:
Meat I will give them,
and they are to eat (it) for as monthful of days?
22 Are there flocks and herds that may
be slain for them,
that they would find-them-sufficient?
Or are there all the fish of the sea to be caught for them,
that they would find-them-sufficient?
23 YHWH said to Moshe:
Is the arm of YHWH (too) short?
Now you shall see whether my word happens to you or not.
24 Moshe went out and spoke to the
people the words of YHWH,
He gathered seventy men from the elders of the people,
and had-them-stand around the tent.
25 And YHWH came down in a cloud
and spoke to him,
and YHWH extended some of the rushing-spirit that was upon him
and put it upon the seventy men, the elders;
and it was,
when the spirit rested upon them,
that they acted-like-prophets, but did not continue.
26 Now two men remained in the camp,
the name of the one was Eldad,
the name of the second, Meidad,
and the spirit rested upon them
-- they were among those-recorded,
but they had not gone out to the Tent --
and they acted-like-prophets in the camp.
27 A (certain) lad ran
and told Moshe, he said:
Eldad and Meidad are acting-like-prophets in the camp!
28 Then Yehoshua son of Nun, Moshe’s
attendant from his youth, spoke up,
he said:
My lord Moshe, contain them!
29 But Moshe said to him:
Are you jealous for me?
O who would give that all the people of YHWH were prophets,
that YHWH would put the rush-of-his spirit upon them!
Hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church!
Thanks be to God!