Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

When the Israelites complained about their food, it displeased the Lord. He heard their grumbling and His anger burned fiercely against them. Fire broke out among them, consuming those at the outskirts of the camp.

The people cried out to Moses for help, and when he prayed to the Lord, the fire was extinguished. They called that place Taberah because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

Among the Israelites, a mixed multitude longed intensely for meat. The Israelites wept again, saying, "Who will give us meat to eat?" They remembered eating fish in Egypt without cost, along with cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. Their soul was dried away, and there was nothing at all before their eyes except the manna that God had given them.

The manna looked like coriander seed and resembled bdellium in appearance. The people gathered it, ground it into flour with mills or beat it in mortars, and baked it into cakes that tasted like fresh oil. When the dew fell upon the camp at night, the manna fell upon it.

Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at his tent's door. The Lord's anger burned greatly against them, and Moses was displeased. He said to the Lord, "Why have you afflicted your servant and not shown favor in my sight? Have I conceived all this people that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom as a nursing father bears his sucking child, to the land which you swore to their fathers'?"

Moses asked, "Where will I get flesh for all these people since they are weeping to me and saying, 'Give us meat'? I am overwhelmed by this people, and I cannot carry them alone because the burden is too great for me. If you deal thus with me, kill me at once so I may not see my misery if indeed I have found favor in your sight."

The Lord said to Moses, "Gather seventy men of Israel whom you know as leaders among their people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle so they may stand with you. I will come down and speak with you there, taking some of the Spirit that is on you and placing it upon them; they shall bear the burden of the people with you."

Moses was instructed to say to the people, "Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow because you have wept before the Lord, saying, 'Who will give us meat to eat?' It was well with us in Egypt, so the Lord will give you meat and you will eat. You shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days but even a whole month until it comes out at your nostrils and is loathsome to you because you have despised the Lord who is among you."

The people were told that they would eat meat for a whole month. Moses asked, "Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered to suffice them or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together to satisfy their hunger?" The Lord replied, "Has my hand grown weak?"

Moses went out and told the people the Lord's words, gathering seventy men of the elders around the tabernacle. The Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him, taking some of the Spirit that was on him and giving it to the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied without ceasing.

However, there remained two men in the camp, Eldad and Medad, who had the Spirit rest upon them though they were not among those who went out to the tabernacle; and they prophesied in the camp. A young man ran to Moses and told him, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." Joshua, one of Moses' young men and his servant, replied to Moses, saying, "My lord Moses, stop them."

Moses said to him, "Do you envy me because I am speaking with God? Would that all of the Lord's people were prophets and the Lord would put his Spirit upon them!" Moses entered the camp with the elders of Israel.

A wind from the Lord went forth, bringing quails from the sea and dropping them around the camp in layers two cubits high on all sides. The people ate the quail flesh while it was still between their teeth, before it could be chewed. However, the Lord's wrath burned against the people, and He struck them with a very severe plague.

The Israelites called that place Kibroth-hattaavah because there they buried the people who had lusted. They journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah to Hazeroth, where they encamped.