1The people began to grumble to Yahweh. When Yahweh heard it, his anger flared up, and Yahweh's fire burned among them, consuming the outskirts of the camp.
2The people cried out to Moses, so Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire died down.
3That place was named Taberah, because Yahweh's fire had burned among them there.
4The foreigners traveling with them had a strong craving for other food. Then the Israelites also started crying again, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat?
5We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt—the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.
6but now we have lost our appetite. There's nothing to eat but this manna.”
7The manna looked like coriander seeds and had the color of a type of resin.
8The people would go around, gather it, grind it with hand mills or crush it in a mortar, then boil it in pots and make cakes from it. It tasted like something made with fresh oil.
9When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell with it.
10Moses heard the people crying in their families, each man at the entrance of his tent. Yahweh became very angry, and Moses was also displeased.
11Moses said to Yahweh, “Why have you treated your servant so badly? Why haven’t I found favor with you, that you put the burden of all these people on me?
12Did I conceive all these people? Did I give birth to them, that you should tell me, ‘Carry them in your arms, like a nurse carries a baby, to the land you promised to their ancestors’?
13Where could I get meat to give all these people? They are crying to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat.’
14I can’t carry all these people by myself; it’s too heavy for me.
15If you are going to treat me this way, please kill me right now if I have found favor with you, and don’t let me see my misery.”
16Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather seventy men from the elders of Israel for me, men you know to be elders and leaders among the people. Bring them to the Meeting Tent so they can stand there with you.
17I will come down and talk with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will share the burden of the people with you, so you won’t have to carry it alone.
18Tell the people, ‘Get yourselves ready for tomorrow, and you will eat meat. You have cried out to Yahweh, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? We were better off in Egypt.” Therefore, Yahweh will give you meat, and you will eat it.
19You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or even twenty days,
20but for a whole month, until you are sick of it and it comes out of your nostrils. This is because you have rejected Yahweh, who is among you, and have cried before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
21Moses said, “The people I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month.’
22Would enough flocks and herds be slaughtered for them to be sufficient? Would all the fish in the sea be gathered for them to be sufficient?”
23Yahweh said to Moses, “Is Yahweh’s power limited? Now you will see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
24Moses went out and told the people Yahweh’s words. He gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the Tent.
25Yahweh came down in the cloud, spoke to Moses, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not do it again.
26But two men, Eldad and Medad, stayed in the camp. The Spirit rested on them even though they were among those chosen but had not gone out to the Tent of Meeting. They prophesied in the camp.
27A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"
28Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' assistant and one of his chosen men, said, "My master Moses, stop them!"
29Moses replied, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all of Yahweh’s people were prophets and that Yahweh would put his Spirit on them!"
30Moses then went into the camp with the elders of Israel.
31Then a wind from Yahweh blew and brought quail from the sea, scattering them around the camp. There were quails for about a day's journey in every direction around the camp, and they were about three feet deep on the ground.
32All that day, all that night, and all the next day, the people went out and gathered quails. Even the one who gathered the least collected ten homers (about 55 bushels). They spread all the quails out around the camp to dry.
33While the meat was still in their mouths, before they had even chewed it, Yahweh's anger burned against the people. Yahweh struck the people with a very severe plague.
34That place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.
35From Kibroth Hattaavah, the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.