Numbers 11-15

Numbers


Chapters11-15

11[1-3] The people were complainers, saying evil things about Yahweh, and hearing it, Yahweh was very angry; and the fire of Yahweh burned up the edge of the camp. When the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to Yahweh and the fire stopped. So the name of that place was called Taberah, which means burning, because the fire of Yahweh burned them up.

[4-6] The mixed people that was among them began to crave other foods and the people of Israel also cried again, and asked, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic which we freely ate in Egypt, but now we’re half-starved; and there’s nothing at all except this manna to look at.”

[7-9] The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like the yellow sap of the bdellium tree. The people went out and gathered it, grinding it in mills, or beating it with a stone in a bowl, and baked it in pans, and made cakes of it: and it tasted like fresh olive oil. When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on top.

[10-15] Moses heard the people crying throughout their families at the doors of their tents. Yahweh was very angry and Moses was upset. So Moses asked Yahweh, “Why have you hurt me this way? and why haven’t I pleased You that You put the hard work of all these people on me? Am I a parent to all these people? Have I birthed them that you should tell me, ‘Carry them in your arms like a nursing baby to the land which you promised to their ancestors?’ Where can I get meat to give them all? They cry to Me, ‘Give us meat to eat.’ I can’t handle all these people alone, it’s too much for me. So if You do this to me, please just kill me now, if I’ve pleased you; and don’t let me see all this trouble.”

[16-20] So Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather to Me seventy of the leaders of Israel, whom you know to be leaders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Meeting Place to stand there with you. I’ll come down and talk with you there: and I’ll take from the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they’ll help you with the hard work of the people, so that you won’t have it to do by yourself. Tell the people, ‘Dedicate yourselves for tomorrow, and you’ll eat meat because you’ve complained before Yahweh, ‘Who will give us meat to eat? We were well in Egypt.’ So Yahweh will give you meat, and you’ll eat. You won’t eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out your noses, and you’ll hate it; because you’ve rejected Yahweh who’s among you, and have complained before God, ‘Why did we come out of Egypt?’”

[21-25] Then Moses said, “There are 600,000 of my people on foot; and You’ve said, ‘I’ll give them meat to eat a whole month.’ Will flocks and herds be killed for them, and be enough for them? or will all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?” But Yahweh said to Moses, “Has Yahweh's power grown weak? Now you’ll see whether My word will happen to you or not.” Then Moses went out, and told the people what Yahweh had said and gathered seventy of the leaders of the people, and set them around the Place of Worship. Then Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to Moses, and took some of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy leaders: and when the Spirit rested on them, they preached, but not after that.

[26-30] But two men had stayed in the camp, the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit came on them; and they were of those who were listed, but had not gone out to the Place of Worship; and they preached in the camp. A young man ran out, and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are preaching in the camp.” And Joshua, the son of Nun, Moses’ helper, who was one of his young helpers, answered, Moses, tell them to stop. So Moses asked, “Are you jealous for my sake? I would want all of Yahweh's people to be preachers, and that Yahweh would put the Holy Spirit on them all! So Moses and the leaders of Israel went into the camp.

[31-35] So Yahweh sent a wind, and brought quails from the west, and let them fall in the camp, about a day's trip all around the camp, and about three feet deep on top of the ground. So the people got up all that day and night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. The smallest amount anyone gathered was about 800 gallons and they spread them all around the camp for themselves. And while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was even chewed, Yahweh was angry at the people, and sent the people a very bad disease. So the name of that place was called Kibrothhattaavah, which means Graves of Lust, because there they buried the people who lusted. From Kibrothhattaavah the people moved out to Hazeroth; and they stayed at Hazeroth.

12[1-5] Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; because Moses had married an Ethiopian woman. They asked, “Has Yahweh spoken only with Moses? Hasn't he spoken with us also?” But Yahweh heard it. Now Moses was more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth. Then Yahweh suddenly spoke to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, saying, “Come out to the Meeting Place, you three. So they came out. Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Place of Worship, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.

[6-9] Then Yahweh said, “Now hear My words: If there’s a preacher among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known to them in a vision, I’ll talk to them in a dream. My servant Moses isn’t so; who’s the only faithful one in my whole house. With Moses I talk face to face, very clearly, and not with confusing words; and he sees what Yahweh looks like. So why then weren’t you afraid to talk badly about My servant, Moses?” Then Yahweh was very angry with them; and left. The cloud moved from over the Place of Worship; and Miriam had a severe skin disease, and was white as snow. So when Aaron looked at Miriam, she had leprosy.

[11-16] Then Aaron said to Moses, “Please, Moses, please don't lay this sin on us, because we’ve acted foolishly, and have sinned. Don’t let her, I pray, be as a dead baby, whose skin is half gone when it comes out of the mother's womb.” So Moses cried to Yahweh, “Please God, heal her, I beg you.” So Yahweh said to Moses, If someone had only spit in her face, shouldn't she be ashamed seven days? Let her be put out of the camp for seven days, and then she’ll come back. So Miriam was put out of the camp for seven days: and the people didn't move until Miriam came back. Afterward the people left from Hazeroth, and stayed in the countryside of Paran.

13[1-3] Yahweh told Moses, “Send some people to spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the people of Israel: send someone of every family, everyone a leader among them. So Moses sent them from the countryside of Paran by the word of Yahweh: all of those who were heads of the people of Israel.

[4-16] These were their names: Of the family of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. Of the family of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. Of the family of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Of the family of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. Of the family of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun. Of the family of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. Of the family of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. Of the family of Joseph, namely, of the family of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. Of the family of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. Of the family of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. Of the family of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. Of the family of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. These are the names of those who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea, the son of Nun, Joshua.

[17-20] Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, “Go up this way by the South, and go up into the hill country: and see what the land is like; and if the people who live in it are strong or weak, few or many; and if the land they live in is good or bad; and what cities they live in, whether in camps, or in strongholds; and if the land has food or not, and if it has wood in it, or not. Be brave, and bring some of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.

[21-24] So they went up, and spied out the land from the countryside of Zin to Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. They went up by the South, and came to Hebron; and Atheman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the giant people of Anak were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) They came to the river of Eshcol, and cut down a branch with a cluster of grapes from there, and they carried it on a staff between two of them; and they also brought some pomegranates and figs. That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the people of Israel cut down from there.

[25-29] They came back from spying out the land at the end of forty days. They went out and came back to Moses, Aaron, and all the people of the people of Israel, to the countryside of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word to them, and to all the people, and showed them the fruit of the land. They told them, “We came to the land where you sent us; and it’s full of milk and honey; and this is its fruit. But the people who live in the land are strong, and the cities are large and walled: and we also saw the giant people of Anak there. Amalek lives in the land of the South; the Hittite, the Jebusite, and the Amorite live in the hill country; and the Canaanite lives by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.

[30-33] Caleb calmed the people before Moses, and said, “Let’s go up at once, and take it; we’re strong enough to overcome it.” But the men who went up with them said, “We can't go up against these people; they’re stronger than we are.” So they said bad things about the land they had spied out to the people of Israel, saying, “The land that we’ve gone to spy out, is a land that destroys its people; and all the people who we saw in it are giants. We saw the giants, the sons of Anak, who come from the giants: and we looked as small as grasshoppers, both to ourselves and them.”

14[1-] All the people raised their voices, and cried all that night. All the people of Israel complained about Moses and Aaron: and all the people said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt or out in this countryside! Why does Yahweh bring us to this land to die in a war? Our wives and our little ones will be victims! Wouldn't it be better for us to go back to Egypt?” Then they said one to another, “Let’s make a captain, and go back to Egypt.”

[5-10] Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the people of Israel. Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were of those who spied out the land, tore their clothes in protest and they told all the people of Israel, “The land, which we went through to spy out, is a very good land. If Yahweh is pleased with us, God will bring us into this land, and give it to us; a land which is full of milk and honey. Only don't go against Yahweh, nor be afraid of the people of the land and they’re food will be ours! They have no protection, and Yahweh is with us, so don't be afraid of them.” But all the people called out to have them killed. Then the light of Yahweh appeared in the Meeting Place to all the people of Israel.

[11-19] Then Yahweh asked Moses, “How long will these people hate Me? and how long will they not believe in Me with all the great things that I’ve done among them? I’ll punish them with disease, and disown them, and make you a greater and stronger nation than they are.” But Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it. You brought up these people in Your power from among them; and they’ll tell it to the people of this land. They’ve heard that You Yahweh are in the midst of these people and are seen face to face, and that your cloud stands over them and goes before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night. Now if You kill these people as one person, then the nations which have heard of Your fame will say, ‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring these people into the land which was promised them, God has killed them in the countryside.’ Now please let the power of God be great, as you have said, ‘Yahweh is slow to become angry, and great in compassion, forgiving fault and disobedience; and that will in no way clear the guilty, passing down the faults of the fathers to their children up to the third and fourth generation. Please forgive the fault of these people by the greatness of your compassion, as you have forgiven these people, from Egypt even until now.”

[20-25] Yahweh said, “I’ve forgiven them by your word: but as sure as I live, and as all the earth will be filled with the light of Yahweh, all those who have seen My light, and My signs, which I did in Egypt and in the countryside, yet have tempted Me these ten times, and have not listened to My voice, won’t see the land which I promised their ancestors, nor will any of those who hated Me see it. But My servant Caleb, who had another spirit, and has fully followed Me, I’ll bring into the land into which he went; and his children will own it. Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite live in the valley: tomorrow turn around, and go back into the countryside by the way of the Red Sea.”

[26-30] Yahweh told Moses and Aaron, “How long will I put up with these evil people, that complain against Me? I’ve heard the complaints of the people of Israel, which they say against Me. Tell them, as I live, says Yahweh, just as you’ve said to me, I’ll do to you: your dead bodies will fall in this countryside; and all who were counted of your whole number, from twenty years old and up, who have complained against Me won’t come into the land that I promised I would let you live in, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

[31-35] But your little ones, that you said would be victims, them I’ll bring in, and they’ll know the land which you have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies will fall in this countryside. Your children will wander through the countryside for forty years, and will die for your unfaithfulness, until your dead bodies have rotted in the countryside. After the number of days which you spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, you’ll be punished for your faults, and for forty years, you’ll know that I have left you. I, Yahweh, have spoken, and I’ll do this to all these evil people, who are gathered together against Me: in this countryside they’ll fall, and there they’ll die.”

[36-40] Then those who Moses sent to spy out the land, and who came back, and made all the people complain, by saying bad things about the land, died from the disease that Yahweh sent on them. But only Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, stayed alive out of those who went to spy out the land. When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, they cried tdo wrongibly. They got up early in the morning, and went to the top of the mountain, saying, “See, we’re here, and will go to the place which Yahweh has promised us: we’ve sinned.”

[41-45] but Moses said, “Now why are you disobeying the word of Yahweh, seeing it won’t prosper? Don't go up, for Yahweh isn't with you; so that you won’t be struck down by your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and you’ll die in the war: because you’ve turned from following Yahweh, so Yahweh won’t be with you.” And they went up to the top of the mountain anyway, but the Box of the Law of Yahweh, and Moses, didn't go out of the camp. Then the Amalekite and the Canaanite who lived in that mountain came down, and attacked them and beat them back down to Hormah.

15[1-5] Yahweh told Moses, “Tell the people of Israel, When you come into your home land, which I’m giving to you, and make an offering by fire to Yahweh, a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to keep a promise, or as a freewill offering, or in your set feasts, to make a good smell to Yahweh, of the herd, or of the flock; then whoever gives their offering will give to Yahweh a meal offering of a 3 quart jar of fine flour mixed with one-fourth of a 5 quart jar of oil: and one-fourth of a 5 quart jar of wine for the drink offering, you’ll fix with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, for each lamb.

[6-11] Or for a male goat, fix for a meal offering of two 3 quart jars of fine flour mixed with one third of a 5 quart jar of oil and for the drink offering give one third of a 5 quart jar of wine, for a good smell to Yahweh. When you fix a bull for a burnt offering, or for a sacrifice, to keep a promise, or for peace offerings to Yahweh; then offer with the bull a meal offering of three 3 quart jars of fine flour mixed with half a 5 quart jar of oil: and offer for the drink offering half a 5 quart jar of wine, for an offering made by fire, for a good smell to Yahweh. Do this for each bull, or for each male goat, or for each of the male lambs, or of the young goats.

[12-16] By the number that you fix, do with everyone by their number. All who are native-born will do these things in this way, in giving an offering made by fire, for a good smell to Yahweh. If a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, or whoever may be among you throughout your people, and gives an offering made by fire, for a good smell to Yahweh; as you do, so they’ll do. There will be one law for all the people, both for you and for anyone else who lives as a foreigner with you, a law forever for all your people. As you are, so will the foreigner be before Yahweh. One law and one rule will be for you, and for anyone else who lives as a foreigner with you.