1 And the people murmured sinfully before the Lord; and the Lord heard [them] and was very angry; and fire was kindled among them from the Lord, and devoured a part of the camp. 2 And the people cried to Moses: and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was quenched. 3 And the name of that place was called Burning; for a fire was kindled among them from the Lord. 4 And the mixed multitude among them lusted exceedingly; and they and the children of Israel sat down and wept and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? 5 We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt freely; and the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the garlic, and the onions. 6 But now our soul is dried up; our eyes [turn] to nothing but to the manna. 7 And the manna is as coriander seed, and the appearance of it the appearance of hoarfrost. 8 And the people went through the field, and gathered, and ground it in the mill, or pounded it in a mortar, and baked it in a pan, and made cakes of it; and the sweetness of it was as the taste [of] wafer made with oil. 9 And when the dew came upon the camp by night, the manna came down upon it. 10 And Moses heard them weeping by their families, every one in his door: and the Lord was very angry; and the thing was evil in the sight of Moses. 11 And Moses said to the Lord, Why hast thou afflicted thy servant, and why have I not found grace in thy sight, that thou shouldest lay the weight of this people upon me? 12 Have I conceived all this people, or have I born them? that thou sayest to me, Take them into thy bosom, as a nurse would take her suckling, into the land which thou sworest to their fathers? 13 Whence have I flesh to give to all this people? for they weep to me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat. 14 I shall not be able to bear this people alone, for this thing is too heavy for me. 15 And if thou doest thus to me, slay me utterly, if I have found favor with thee, that I may not see my affliction. 16 And the Lord said to Moses, Gather me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom thou thyself knowest that they are the elders of the people, and their scribes; and thou shalt bring them to the tabernacle of witness, and they shall stand there with thee. 17 And I will go down, and speak there with thee; and I will take of the spirit that is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear together with thee the burden of the people, and thou shalt not bear them alone. 18 And to the people thou shalt say, Purify yourselves for the morrow, and ye shall eat flesh; for ye wept before the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: and the Lord shall allow you to eat flesh, and ye shall eat flesh. 19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days; 20 ye shall eat for a full month, until [the flesh] come out at your nostrils; and it shall be nausea to you, because ye disobeyed the Lord, who is among you, and wept before him, saying, What had we to do to come out of Egypt? 21 And Moses said, The people among whom I am are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou saidst, I will give them flesh to eat, and they shall eat a whole month. 22 Shall sheep and oxen be slain for them, and shall it suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and shall it suffice them? 23 And the Lord said to Moses, Shall not the hand of the Lord be fully sufficient? now shalt thou know whether my word shall come to pass to thee or not. 24 And Moses went out, and spoke the words of the Lord to the people; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and he set them round about the tabernacle. 25 And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy men that were elders; and when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied and ceased. 26 And there were two men left in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the spirit rested upon them, and these were of the number of them that were enrolled, but they did not come to the tabernacle; and they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, and spoke, saying, Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp. 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, who attended on Moses, the chosen one, said, [My] lord Moses, forbid them. 29 And Moses said to him, Art thou jealous on my account? and would that all the Lord’s people were prophets; whenever the Lord shall put his spirit upon them. 30 And Moses departed into the camp, himself and the elders of Israel. 31 And there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought quails over from the sea; and it brought them down upon the camp a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on that side, round about the camp, as it were two cubits from the earth. 32 And the people rose up all the day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered quails; he that gathered least, gathered ten measures; and they refreshed themselves round about the camp. 33 The flesh was yet between their teeth, before it failed, when the Lord was wroth with the people, and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague. 34 And the name of that place was called the Graves of Lust; for there they buried the people that lusted. 35 The people departed from the Graves of Lust to Hazeroth; and the people halted at Hazeroth.
Numbers · Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Numbers 11 Updated Brenton English Septuagint
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Same Septuagint text as Brenton, with modernised spelling.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Eldad
One of two men who remained in the camp when the seventy elders went out to the Tent, yet received the Spirit like them and prophesied in the camp.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 11:26–27
Medad
One of two men who remained in the camp when the seventy elders went out to the Tent, yet received the Spirit like them and prophesied in the camp.
Cited in the guide: Numbers 11:26–27
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Cross references (32)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 21:5; 2 Kings 1:12; Numbers 16:35; Exodus 16:9; 1 Corinthians 10:10
- 2 Numbers 21:7; James 5:16; Numbers 16:45–48; Exodus 32:31–32; Exodus 32:10–14
- 3 Deuteronomy 9:22
- 4 1 Corinthians 10:6; Exodus 12:38; Psalm 106:14; Psalm 78:18–20; 1 Corinthians 15:33
- 5 Exodus 16:3; Psalm 17:14; Philippians 3:19
- 6 Numbers 21:5; 2 Samuel 13:4
- 7 Exodus 16:31; Exodus 16:14–15; Genesis 2:12; 1 Corinthians 1:23–24; Revelation 2:17
- 8 Exodus 16:31; Exodus 16:16–18; John 6:27; Exodus 16:23; John 6:33–58
- 9 Exodus 16:13–14; Psalm 78:23–25; Psalm 105:40; Deuteronomy 32:2
- 10 Psalm 78:21; Numbers 16:27; Numbers 20:10–13; Psalm 106:32–33; Psalm 139:21
- 11 Deuteronomy 1:12; Exodus 5:22; Job 10:2; 2 Corinthians 11:28; Jeremiah 15:10
- 12 Isaiah 49:23; Isaiah 40:11; Exodus 13:5; 1 Thessalonians 2:7; Genesis 50:24
- 13 Matthew 15:33; Mark 8:4; John 6:5–9; Mark 9:23
- 14 Exodus 18:18; Deuteronomy 1:9–12; Zechariah 6:13; 2 Corinthians 2:16; Isaiah 9:6
- 15 Jonah 4:3; 1 Kings 19:4; Philippians 1:20–24; Jonah 4:8–9; Jeremiah 20:18
- 16 Exodus 24:1; Exodus 24:9; Deuteronomy 16:18; Genesis 46:27; Luke 10:17
- 17 1 Samuel 10:6; Numbers 11:25; 1 Corinthians 12:4–11; 2 Kings 2:9; 2 Kings 2:15
- 18 Exodus 19:10; Acts 7:39; Exodus 16:3–7; Numbers 11:4–6; Numbers 11:1
- 20 Psalm 106:15; Numbers 21:5; Psalm 78:27–30; 1 Samuel 10:19; Acts 13:41
- 21 Exodus 12:37; Numbers 1:46; Genesis 12:2; Exodus 38:26; Numbers 2:32
- 22 2 Kings 7:2; Matthew 15:33; Luke 1:18; Luke 1:34; John 6:6–7
- 23 Isaiah 59:1; Isaiah 50:2; Genesis 18:14; Luke 1:37; Numbers 23:19
- 24 Numbers 11:16; Numbers 11:26
- 25 Numbers 11:17; Joel 2:28–29; 1 Samuel 10:10; Numbers 12:5; 1 Corinthians 14:1–3
- 26 Jeremiah 36:5; 1 Samuel 20:26; 1 Samuel 10:22; Exodus 3:11; Exodus 4:13–14
- 28 Luke 9:49–50; Mark 9:38–40; John 3:26; Joshua 1:1; Exodus 33:11
- 29 1 Corinthians 14:5; Matthew 9:37–38; James 4:5; Luke 10:2; James 5:9
- 31 Exodus 16:13; Psalm 78:26–29; Psalm 105:40; Exodus 15:10; Psalm 135:7
- 32 Ezekiel 45:11; Exodus 16:36
- 33 Psalm 78:30–31; Psalm 106:14–15; Numbers 25:9; Numbers 16:49; Deuteronomy 28:27
- 34 Deuteronomy 9:22; 1 Corinthians 10:6; Numbers 33:16
- 35 Numbers 33:17; Numbers 12:16; Deuteronomy 1:1
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… the outward act, the broth to the allurement of lust within, as it is written, And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting; and the children of Israel also wept again and again and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?' When the angel, then, stretched out his staff and touched the rock, and fire rose …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
The seventy Elders were chosen; And the Lord came down in a cloud, and took of the Spirit that was upon Moses, and put it upon the seventy Elders; not that the Spirit was divided, but that His grace was distributed in proportion to the vessels, and the capacity of the recipients.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
They were called, and they came not; my lord Moses, forbid them." "I cannot forbid them," he says, "for this grace is from Heaven; nay, so far am I from forbidding them, that I myself am thankful for it.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Wait for the proper season; and oh that all the Lord's people may be prophets, whenever the Lord shall give His Spirit upon them!" saying this also prophetically, whenever the Lord shall give; "For as yet then He has not given it; so thou hast it not yet."--Had not then Abraham this, and Isaac, and Jacob, and Joseph?
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)