the Fourth Week of Advent
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Bishop's Bible
Numbers 11
1 And when the people dyd wickedly, it was a displeasure in the eares of the Lorde: And when the Lorde hearde it, his countenaunce was prouoked to wrath, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and consumed them that were the vttermost of the hoast.2 And the people cryed vnto Moyses: And when Moyses made intercession vnto the Lorde, the fire quenched.3 And he called the name of the place Taberah, because the fire of the Lorde burnt among them.
4 And a number of people that was among them fell a lustyng, and turned them selues, and wept (euen as dyd also the chyldren of Israel) and sayd: who shall geue vs fleshe to eate?5 We remember the fishe which we did eate in Egypt for naught, & the cucumbers, & melons, leekes, onions & garleck.6 But now our soule is dryed away: for we can see nothing els, saue Manna.7 The Manna was as coriander seede, and to see to lyke Bedellion.8 And the people went about and gathered it, & grounde it in milles, or beat it in morters, and baked it in pannes, and made cakes of it: And the taste of it, was lyke vnto the taste of freshe oyle.9 And when the deawe fell downe vpon the hoast in the nyght, the Manna fell vpon it.10 And when Moyses hearde the people weepe throughout their housholdes, euery man in the doore of his tent, the wrath of the Lord was kindeled exceedingly, and it greeued Moyses also.11 And Moyses sayde vnto the Lorde: Wherefore hast thou dealt cruelly with thy seruaunt? And wherefore haue I not founde fauour in thy sight, seyng that thou puttest the wayght of all this people vpon me?12 Haue I conceaued all this people? Or haue I begotten them, that thou shouldest say vnto me, Cary them in thy bosome as a nurse beareth the suckyng chylde, vnto the lande which thou swarest vnto their fathers?13 Where shoulde I haue fleshe to geue vnto all this people, whiche weepe before me, saying: Geue vs fleshe that we may eate.14 I am not able to beare all this people alone, seyng it is to heauie for me.15 If thou deale thus with me, kyll me I pray thee, if I haue founde fauour in thy sight, yt I see not my wretchednesse.
16 And the Lorde sayde vnto Moyses: Gather vnto me threscore and ten men of the elders of Israel, which thou knowest that they are the elders of the people & officers ouer them: and thou shalt bryng them vnto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stande there with thee:17 And I wyll come downe, and talke with thee there, and take of the spirite which is vpon thee, and put vpon them, and they shall beare the burthen of the people with thee, lest thou be constrayned to beare it alone.18 And say thou vnto the people, Be halowed agaynst to morowe, and ye shall eate fleshe: for your whyning is in the eares of the Lorde, seyng ye sayd, Who shall geue vs fleshe to eate? we were happy in Egypt: Therefore the Lorde wyll geue you fleshe, and ye shall eate.19 Ye shall not eate one day nor two, nor fiue dayes, neither ten, nor twentie dayes:20 But euen a moneth long, vntill it come out at the nostrels of you, and it shalbe lothsome vnto you, because that ye haue cast the Lorde aside whiche is among you, and haue wept before hym, saying: Why came we thus out of Egypt?21 And Moyses sayde: Sixe hundred thousand footemen are there of the people, among which I am: And thou hast sayd, I wyll geue them flesh, that they may eate a moneth long.22 Shall the sheepe & the oxen be slayne for them, to finde them? either shall all the fishe of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffise them?23 And the Lorde sayde vnto Moyses: Shall the Lordes hande be waxed short? Thou shalt see now whether my word shal come to passe vnto thee or not.
24 And Moyses went out, and tolde the people the saying of the Lorde: and gathered the threscore and ten elders of the people, and set them rounde about the tabernacle.25 And the Lord came downe in a cloude, and spake vnto him, and toke of the spirite that was vpon him, and gaue it vnto the threscore & ten elders: And when the spirite rested vpon them, they prophesied, and dyd not ceasse.26 But there remayned two of the men in the hoast, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: And the spirite rested vpon them, (and thei were of them that were written, and went not out vnto the tabernacle) and they prophesied in the hoast.27 And there ran a young man, and tolde Moyses, and sayd: Eldad and Medad do prophesie in the hoast.28 And Iosuah the sonne of Nun the seruaunt of Moyses, one of his young men aunswered, and sayde: My lorde Moyses, forbyd them.29 And Moyses sayd vnto hym: Enuiest thou for my sake? woulde God that all the Lordes people could prophesie, and that the Lorde woulde put his spirite vpon them.30 And Moyses gate hym into the hoast, he and the elders of Israel.
31 And there went foorth a wynde from the Lorde, and brought quayles from the sea, & let them fall about the hoast, euen a dayes iourney rounde about on euery side of the hoast, and [they did flee in the ayre] as it were two cubites hye ouer the earth.32 And the people stoode vp all that day, and all that nyght, and all the next day, and they gathered quayles: And he that gathered litle, gathered ten homers ful: And they spread them abrode for their vse, rounde about the hoast.33 And whyle the fleshe was yet betweene their teeth, & yer it was chewed vp, the wrath of the Lorde was kindled against the people, & the Lorde smote the people with an exceedyng great plague.34 And he called the name of the place, The graues of lust: because the buried the people that lusted there.35 And the people toke their iourney from the graues of lust vnto Hazeroth, and abode at Hazeroth.