¹The people were like those who complain of trouble in the ears of Yahweh; and Yahweh heard, and his anger burned, and the fire of Yahweh burned among them and ate at the far end of the camp.

²The people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire sank.

³The name of that place was called Taberah, for the fire of Yahweh had burned among them.

⁴And the rabble that was in their midst felt a craving, and the children of Israel also turned back and wept, and said, Who will feed us meat?

⁵We remember the fish that we used to eat in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic.

⁶And now our being is dry; there is nothing at all except the manna before our eyes.

⁷And the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like the appearance of bdellium.

⁸The people would go about and gather it, and grind it in hand-mills, or pound it in a mortar, and boil it in a pot and make it into cakes; and its taste was like the taste of a rich cake of oil.

⁹And when the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna came down on it.

¹⁰Moses heard the people weeping by their clans, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of Yahweh burned exceedingly, and it was displeasing in the eyes of Moses.

¹¹Moses said to Yahweh, Why have you done harm to your slave, and why have I not found favor in your eyes, that you put the burden of all this people on me?

¹²Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who gave birth to them, that you say to me, Carry them in your bosom, as the foster-father carries the suckling, to the ground that you swore to their fathers?

¹³From where is there flesh for me to give to all this people? For they weep over me, saying, Give us flesh, and let us eat.

¹⁴I am not able, I alone, to carry all this people, for it is too heavy for me.

¹⁵And if this is how you are doing to me, kill me, please, kill me outright, if I have found favor in your eyes, and let me not see my misery.

¹⁶Yahweh said to Moses, Gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders of the people and its officials, and take them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.

¹⁷I will come down and I will speak with you there, and I will set aside some of the breath that is on you and I will put it on them, and they will carry the burden of the people with you, and you will not carry it, you alone.

¹⁸And to the people you shall say, Set yourselves apart for tomorrow, and you will eat flesh, for you wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, Who will feed us flesh? For it was good for us in Egypt. And Yahweh will give you flesh, and you will eat.

¹⁹Not one day will you eat, and not two days, and not five days, and not ten days, and not twenty days.

²⁰Up to a month of days, until it comes out of your nostrils, and it becomes a loathsome thing to you, because you have rejected Yahweh, who is in your midst, and have wept to his face, saying, Why did we ever come out of Egypt?

²¹Moses said, Six hundred thousand men on foot are the people in whose midst I am, and you have said, I will give them flesh, and they will eat for a month of days.

²²Could flocks and herds be slaughtered for them and be found enough for them? Or could all the fish of the sea be gathered for them and be found enough for them?

²³Yahweh said to Moses, Is the hand of Yahweh too short? Now you will see whether my word will befall you or not.

²⁴Moses went out and spoke the words of Yahweh to the people; and he gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and stationed them around the tent.

²⁵Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to him; he set aside some of the breath that was on him and put it on the seventy men, the elders. And when the breath settled on them, they prophesied, and they did not do it again.

²⁶Two men remained in the camp, the name of the one Eldad, and the name of the second Medad, and the breath settled on them. They were among those written down, but they had not gone out to the tent, and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷The lad ran and told Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.

²⁸Joshua the son of Nun, who served Moses from his youth, answered and said, My lord Moses, restrain them!

²⁹Moses said to him, Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of Yahweh were prophets, that Yahweh would put his breath on them!

³⁰Moses withdrew to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

³¹A wind set out from Yahweh and drove quails in from the sea and left them beside the camp, about a day's journey on this side, and about a day's journey on that side, around the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the land.

³²The people rose all that day and all the night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail. The one who had the least gathered ten homers. And they spread out for themselves far and wide around the camp.

³³The flesh was still between their teeth, before it was chewed through, when the anger of Yahweh burned against the people, and Yahweh struck the people with a very great blow.

³⁴So they called the name of that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had longed.

³⁵From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and they were at Hazeroth.