ESV

ESV

Click to Change

Return to Top

Return to Top

Printer Icon

Print

Copy
Copy Options
Format by: Verse Paragraph
Strong's
Red Letter
Audio Bibles
The Blue Letter Bible

Numbers 11 :: English Standard Version (ESV)

toggle collapse
Choose a new font size and typeface
Audio Bibles

The People Complain

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:1 - And the people complained in the hearing of the LORD about their misfortunes, and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:2 - Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:3 - So the name of that place was called Taberah,[fn] because the fire of the LORD burned among them.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:4 - Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat!
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:5 - We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:6 - But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:7 - Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:8 - The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:9 - When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:10 - Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:11 - Moses said to the LORD, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:12 - Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers?
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:13 - Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:14 - I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:15 - If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”

Elders Appointed to Aid Moses

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:16 - Then the LORD said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:17 - And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:18 - And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the LORD, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:19 - You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:20 - but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the LORD who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’”
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:21 - But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:22 - Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?”
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:23 - And the LORD said to Moses, “Is the LORD’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.”
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:24 - So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:25 - Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:26 - Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:27 - And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:28 - And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.”
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:29 - But Moses 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!”
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:30 - And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

Quail and a Plague

Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:31 - Then a wind from the LORD sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits[fn] above the ground.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:32 - And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers.[fn] And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:33 - While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD struck down the people with a very great plague.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:34 - Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,[fn] because there they buried the people who had the craving.
Unchecked Copy BoxNum 11:35 - From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth.
ESV Footnotes
Taberah means burning
A cubit was about 18 inches or 45 centimeters
A homer was about 6 bushels or 220 liters
Kibroth-hattaavah means graves of craving
ESV

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Books and Bibles, a Publishing Ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

See detailed copyright information.

For more information on this translation, see the ESV Preface.

BLB Searches
Search the Bible
ESV
 [?]

Advanced Options

Other Searches

Multi-Verse Retrieval
x
ESV

Daily Devotionals
x

Blue Letter Bible offers several daily devotional readings in order to help you refocus on Christ and the Gospel of His peace and righteousness.

Daily Bible Reading Plans
x

Recognizing the value of consistent reflection upon the Word of God in order to refocus one's mind and heart upon Christ and His Gospel of peace, we provide several reading plans designed to cover the entire Bible in a year.

One-Year Plans

Two-Year Plan