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¹ The people were as murmurers, [speaking] evil in the ears of the LORD: and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp. ² The people cried to Moshe; and Moshe prayed to the LORD, and the fire abated. ³ The name of that place was called Tav`erah, because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.

⁴ The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Yisra'el also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? ⁵ We remember the fish, which we ate in Mitzrayim for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: ⁶ but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all save this manna to look on. ⁷ The manna was like coriander seed, and the appearance of it as the appearance of bdellium. ⁸ The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil. ⁹ When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it. ¹⁰ Moshe heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; and Moshe was displeased. ¹¹ Moshe said to the LORD, Why have you dealt ill with your servant? and why haven't I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? ¹² Have I conceived all this people? have I brought them forth, that you should tell me, Carry them in your bosom, as a nursing-father carries the sucking child, to the land which you swore to their fathers? ¹³ Whence should I have flesh to give to all this people? for they weep to me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. ¹⁴ I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If you deal thus with me, please kill me out of hand, if I have found favor in your sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

¹⁶ The LORD said to Moshe, Gather to me seventy men of the Zakenim of Yisra'el, whom you know to be the Zakenim of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with you. ¹⁷ I will come down and talk with you there: and I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone. ¹⁸ Say you to the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you shall eat flesh; for you have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Mitzrayim: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and you shall eat. ¹⁹ You shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, ²⁰ but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome to you; because that you have rejected the LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Mitzrayim? ²¹ Moshe said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and you have said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. ²² 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? ²³ The LORD said to Moshe, Has the LORD's hand grown short? now shall you see whether my word shall happen to you or not.

²⁴ Moshe went out, and told the people the words of the LORD: and he gathered seventy men of the Zakenim of the people, and set them round about the Tent. ²⁵ The LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy Zakenim: and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more. ²⁶ But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ There ran a young man, and told Moshe, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. ²⁸ Yehoshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moshe, one of his chosen men, answered, My lord Moshe, forbid them. ²⁹ Moshe said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? would that all the LORD's people were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit on them! ³⁰ Moshe got him into the camp, he and the Zakenim of Yisra'el.

³¹ There went forth a wind 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 a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the eretz. ³² The people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails: he who gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. ³³ While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck the people with a very great plague. ³⁴ The name of that place was called Kivrot-Hatta'avah, because there they buried the people who lusted. ³⁵ From Kivrot-Hatta'avah the people journeyed to Hatzerot; and they abode at Hatzerot.