Numbers 11-15

Holman Christian Standard Bible

Complaints about Hardship

11 Now the people began complaining openly before^[a] the Lord about hardship. When the Lord heard, His anger burned,^(A) and fire^(B) from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. ² Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. ³ So that place was named Taberah,^[b](C) because the Lord’s fire had blazed among them.

Complaints about Food

⁴ Contemptible people^[c] among them^(D) had a strong craving^(E) for other food. The Israelites cried again and said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵ We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt,^(F) along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶ But now our appetite is gone;^[d] there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

⁷ The manna^(G) resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium.^{[e] 8} The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil. ⁹ When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.^(H)

¹⁰ Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry;^(I) Moses was also provoked.^{[f] 11} So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have You brought such trouble on Your servant? Why are You angry with me, and why do You burden me with all these people?^{(J) 12} Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so You should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing woman carries a baby,’^(K) to the land that You^[g] swore to give their fathers?^{(L) 13} Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are crying to me: ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ¹⁴ I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. ¹⁵ If You are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now.^(M) If You are pleased with me,^(N) don’t let me see my misery^[h] anymore.”

Seventy Elders Anointed

¹⁶ The Lord answered Moses, “Bring Me 70 men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. ¹⁷ Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them.^(O) They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.^(P)

¹⁸ “Tell the people: Purify yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you cried before the Lord: ‘Who will feed us meat? We really had it good in Egypt.’ The Lord will give you meat and you will eat. ¹⁹ You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or 10 days, or 20 days, ²⁰ but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and cried to Him: ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”^(Q)

²¹ But Moses replied, “I’m in the middle of a people with 600,000 foot soldiers,^(R) yet You say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’ ²² If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?”^(S)

²³ The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited?^[i](T) You will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”

²⁴ Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He brought 70 men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. ²⁵ Then the Lord descended in the cloud and spoke to him.^(U) He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the 70 elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied,^(V) but they never did it again. ²⁶ Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad; the Spirit rested on them—they were among those listed, but had not gone out to the tent—and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸ Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth,^[j] responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”

²⁹ But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account?^(W) If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place His Spirit on them!” ³⁰ Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.

Quail in the Camp

³¹ A wind sent by the Lord^(X) came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them at the camp all around, three feet^[k] off^[l] the ground, about a day’s journey in every direction.^{(Y) 32} The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered 50 bushels^[m]—and they spread them out all around the camp.^[n](Z)

³³ While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned^(AA) against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague.^{(AB) 34} So they named that place Kibroth-hattaavah,^[o] because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.

³⁵ From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth^[p](AC) and remained there.

Miriam and Aaron Rebel

12 Miriam^(AD) and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite^[q][r] woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman). ² They said, “Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does He not also speak through us?” And the Lord heard it. ³ Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth.

⁴ Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went out. ⁵ Then the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud,^(AE) stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward, ⁶ He said:

So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” ⁹ The Lord’s anger burned against them,^(AJ) and He left.

¹⁰ As the cloud moved away from the tent, Miriam’s skin suddenly became diseased, as white as snow. When Aaron turned toward her, he saw that she was diseased ¹¹ and said to Moses, “My lord, please don’t hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed. ¹² Please don’t let her be like a dead baby^[u] whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”

¹³ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “God, please heal her!”^(AK)

¹⁴ The Lord answered Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn’t she remain in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp^(AL) for seven days;^(AM) after that she may be brought back in.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in.^{(AN) 16} After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

Scouting Out Canaan

13 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Send men to scout out the land of Canaan^(AO) I am giving to the Israelites. Send one man who is a leader among them from each of their ancestral tribes.” ³ Moses sent them from the Wilderness of Paran at the Lord’s command. All the men were leaders in Israel.^{(AP) 4} These were their names:

¹⁶ These were the names of the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and Moses renamed Hoshea son of Nun, Joshua.

¹⁷ When Moses sent them to scout out the land of Canaan, he told them, “Go up this way to the Negev, then go up into the hill country. ¹⁸ See what the land is like, and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ Is the land they live in good^(AS) or bad? Are the cities they live in encampments or fortifications?^{(AT) 20} Is the land fertile or unproductive?^(AU) Are there trees in it or not? Be courageous. Bring back some fruit from the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.^(AV)

²¹ So they went up and scouted out the land from the Wilderness of Zin^[v] as far as Rehob^[w] near the entrance to Hamath.^{[x] 22} They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak,^(AW) were living. Hebron was built seven years before Zoan^(AX) in Egypt. ²³ When they came to the Valley of Eshcol,^(AY) they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes, which was carried on a pole by two men. They also took some pomegranates and figs.^{(AZ) 24} That place was called the Valley of Eshcol^[y] because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut there. ²⁵ At the end of 40 days^(BA) they returned from scouting out the land.

Report about Canaan

²⁶ The men went back to Moses, Aaron, and the entire Israelite community in the Wilderness of Paran at Kadesh. They brought back a report for them and the whole community, and they showed them the fruit of the land.^{(BB) 27} They reported to Moses: “We went into the land where you sent us. Indeed it is flowing with milk and honey,^(BC) and here is some of its fruit. ²⁸ However, the people living in the land are strong, and the cities are large and fortified.^(BD) We also saw the descendants of Anak^(BE) there. ²⁹ The Amalekites^(BF) are living in the land of the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live by the sea and along the Jordan.”

³⁰ Then Caleb^(BG) quieted the people in the presence of Moses and said, “We must go up and take possession of the land because we can certainly conquer it!”

³¹ But the men who had gone up with him responded, “We can’t go up against the people because they are stronger than we are!” ³² So they gave a negative report to the Israelites about the land they had scouted: “The land we passed through to explore is one that devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw in it are men of great size. ³³ We even saw the Nephilim^[z](BH) there—the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim!^(BI) To ourselves we seemed like grasshoppers, and we must have seemed the same to them.”

Israel’s Refusal to Enter Canaan

14 Then the whole community broke into loud cries, and the people wept that night. ² All the Israelites complained about Moses and Aaron,^(BJ) and the whole community told them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt, or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land to die by the sword? Our wives and little children will become plunder.^(BK) Wouldn’t it be better for us to go back to Egypt?”^{(BL) 4} So they said to one another, “Let’s appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ Then Moses and Aaron fell down with their faces to the ground in front of the whole assembly of the Israelite community. ⁶ Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who scouted out the land, tore their clothes ⁷ and said to the entire Israelite community: “The land we passed through and explored is an extremely good land.^{(BM) 8} If the Lord is pleased with us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(BN) and give it to us. ⁹ Only don’t rebel against the Lord, and don’t be afraid of the people of the land, for we will devour them.^(BO) Their protection^(BP) has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us. Don’t be afraid of them!”

¹⁰ While the whole community threatened to stone them,^(BQ) the glory of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the tent of meeting.

God’s Judgment of Israel’s Rebellion

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people despise Me? How long will they not trust in Me despite all the signs I have performed among them?^{(BR) 12} I will strike them with a plague and destroy them. Then I will make you into a greater and mightier nation than they are.”^(BS)

¹³ But Moses replied to the Lord, “The Egyptians will hear about it, for by Your strength You brought up this people from them. ¹⁴ They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land.^(BT) They have heard that You, Lord, are among these people, how You, Lord, are seen face to face, how Your cloud stands over them, and how You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.^{(BU) 15} If You kill this people with a single blow,^[aa](BV) the nations that have heard of Your fame^(BW) will declare, ¹⁶ ‘Since the Lord wasn’t able to bring this people into the land He swore to give them,^(BX) He has slaughtered them in the wilderness.’^(BY)

¹⁷ “So now, may my Lord’s power be magnified just as You have spoken: ¹⁸ The Lord is slow to anger and rich in faithful love,^(BZ) forgiving wrongdoing and rebellion.^(CA) But He will not leave the guilty unpunished,^(CB) bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children to the third and fourth generation.^{(CC) 19} Please pardon the wrongdoing of this people, in keeping with the greatness of Your faithful love,^(CD) just as You have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”

²⁰ The Lord responded, “I have pardoned them as you requested. ²¹ Yet as surely as I live and as the whole earth is filled with the Lord’s glory,^{(CE) 22} none of the men who have seen My glory and the signs I performed in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tested Me these 10 times and did not obey Me, ²³ will ever see the land I swore to give their fathers.^(CF) None of those who have despised Me^(CG) will see it. ²⁴ But since My servant Caleb has a different spirit and has followed Me completely, I will bring him into the land where he has gone, and his descendants will inherit it.^{(CH) 25} Since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the lowlands,^[ab] turn back tomorrow and head for the wilderness in the direction of the Red Sea.”^(CI)

²⁶ Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: ²⁷ “How long must I endure this evil community that keeps complaining about Me? I have heard the Israelites’ complaints that they make against Me.^{(CJ) 28} Tell them: As surely as I live,” this is the Lord’s declaration, “I will do to you exactly as I heard you say. ²⁹ Your corpses will fall in this wilderness—all of you who were registered in the census, the entire number of you 20 years old or more^(CK)—because you have complained about Me. ³⁰ I swear that none of you will enter the land I promised^[ac] to settle you in, except Caleb son of Jephunneh and Joshua son of Nun. ³¹ I will bring your children whom you said would become plunder^(CL) into the land you rejected, and they will enjoy it.^{(CM) 32} But as for you, your corpses will fall in this wilderness. ³³ Your children will be shepherds in the wilderness for 40 years and bear the penalty for your acts of unfaithfulness until all your corpses lie scattered in the wilderness. ³⁴ You will bear the consequences of your sins 40 years based on the number of the 40 days that you scouted the land, a year for each day.^[ad](CN) You will know My displeasure.^{[ae] 35} I, Yahweh, have spoken. I swear that I will do this to the entire evil community that has conspired against Me.^(CO) They will come to an end in the wilderness, and there they will die.”^(CP)

³⁶ So the men Moses sent to scout out the land, and who returned and incited the entire community to complain about him by spreading a negative report about the land— ³⁷ those men who spread the negative report about the land were struck down by the Lord. ³⁸ Only Joshua son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh remained alive of those men who went to scout out the land.

Israel Routed

³⁹ When Moses reported these words to all the Israelites, the people were overcome with grief. ⁴⁰ They got up early the next morning and went up the ridge of the hill country, saying, “Let’s go to the place the Lord promised, for we were wrong.”^(CQ)

⁴¹ But Moses responded, “Why are you going against the Lord’s command? It won’t succeed. ⁴² Don’t go, because the Lord is not among you and you will be defeated by your enemies. ⁴³ The Amalekites and Canaanites are right in front of you, and you will fall by the sword. The Lord won’t be with you, since you have turned from following Him.”

⁴⁴ But they dared to go up the ridge of the hill country, even though the ark of the Lord’s covenant and Moses did not leave the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and Canaanites who lived in that part of the hill country came down, attacked them, and routed them as far as Hormah.^(CR)

Laws about Offerings

15 The Lord instructed Moses: ² “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: When you enter the land I am giving you to settle in, ³ and you make a fire offering to the Lord from the herd or flock—either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow,^(CS) or as a freewill offering, or at your appointed festivals—to produce a pleasing aroma for the Lord, ⁴ the one presenting his offering to the Lord must also present a grain offering of two quarts^[af] of fine flour mixed with a quart^[ag] of oil. ⁵ Prepare a quart^[ah] of wine as a drink offering with the burnt offering or sacrifice of each lamb.

⁶ “If you prepare a grain offering with a ram, it must be four quarts^[ai] of fine flour mixed with a third of a gallon^[aj] of oil. ⁷ Also present a third of a gallon^[ak] of wine for a drink offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord.

⁸ “If you prepare a young bull as a burnt offering or as a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a fellowship offering to the Lord, ⁹ a grain offering of six quarts^[al] of fine flour mixed with two quarts^[am] of oil must be presented with the bull. ¹⁰ Also present two quarts^[an] of wine as a drink offering. It is a fire offering of pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹¹ This is to be done for each ox, ram, lamb, or goat. ¹² This is how you must prepare each of them, no matter how many.

¹³ “Every Israelite is to prepare these things in this way when he presents a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ¹⁴ When a foreigner resides with you or someone else is among you and wants to prepare a fire offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, he is to do exactly as you do throughout your generations. ¹⁵ The assembly is to have the same statute for^[ao] both you and the foreign resident as a permanent statute throughout your generations. You and the foreigner will be alike before the Lord. ¹⁶ The same law and the same ordinance will apply to both you and the foreigner who resides with you.”^(CT)

¹⁷ The Lord instructed Moses: ¹⁸ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them: After you enter the land where I am bringing you, ¹⁹ you are to offer a contribution to the Lord when you eat from the food of the land. ²⁰ You are to offer a loaf from your first batch of dough^(CU) as a contribution; offer it just like a contribution from the threshing floor.^{(CV) 21} Throughout your generations, you are to give the Lord a contribution from the first batch of your dough.

²² “When you sin unintentionally and do not obey all these commands that the Lord spoke to Moses^(CW)— ²³ all that the Lord has commanded you through Moses, from the day the Lord issued the commands and onward throughout your generations— ²⁴ and if it was done unintentionally without the community’s awareness, the entire community is to prepare one young bull for a burnt offering as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, with its grain offering and drink offering according to the regulation, and one male goat as a sin offering. ²⁵ The priest must then make atonement for the entire Israelite community so that they may be forgiven, for the sin was unintentional. They are to bring their offering, one made by fire to the Lord, and their sin offering before the Lord for their unintentional sin. ²⁶ The entire Israelite community and the foreigner who resides among them will be forgiven, since it happened to all the people unintentionally.

²⁷ “If one person sins unintentionally,^(CX) he is to present a year-old female goat as a sin offering. ²⁸ The priest must then make atonement before the Lord on behalf of the person who acts in error sinning unintentionally, and when he makes atonement for him, he will be forgiven. ²⁹ You are to have the same law for the person who acts in error, whether he is an Israelite or a foreigner who lives among you.

³⁰ “But the person who acts defiantly,^[ap] whether native or foreign resident, blasphemes the Lord.^(CY) That person is to be cut off from his people. ³¹ He will certainly be cut off, because he has despised the Lord’s word and broken His command; his guilt remains on him.”

Sabbath Violation

³² While the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day.^{(CZ) 33} Those who found him gathering wood brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the entire community. ³⁴ They placed him in custody because it had not been decided what should be done to him. ³⁵ Then the Lord told Moses, “The man is to be put to death. The entire community is to stone him outside the camp.” ³⁶ So the entire community brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Tassels for Remembrance

³⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ³⁸ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels^(DA) for the corners of their garments, and put a blue cord on the tassel at each corner. ³⁹ These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the Lord’s commands and obey them and not become unfaithful by following your own heart and your own eyes. ⁴⁰ This way you will remember and obey all My commands and be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I am Yahweh your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God; I am Yahweh your God.”^(DB)