Numbers
11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29
(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!
(5) We remember the fish we ate in
Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and
the garlic.
(6)
But now our strength is dried up, and there is
nothing at all but this manna to look at."
(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.
(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?
(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?
(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.'
(14) I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.
(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."
(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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
(27) And a young man ran and told
Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."
(28) And Joshua the son of Nun, the
assistant of Moses from his youth, said, "My lord Moses, stop them."
(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!"