Numbers 11-14

Numbers 11

¹And the people were as murmurers, speaking evil in the ears of the LORD: and when the LORD heard it, his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp.

²And the people cried unto Moses; and Moses prayed unto the LORD, and the fire abated.

³And the name of that place was called Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.

⁴And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

⁵We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

⁶but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all: we have nought save this manna to look to.

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

⁸The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and seethed it in pots, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.

⁹And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

¹⁰And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; and Moses was displeased.

¹¹And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou evil entreated thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?

¹²Have I conceived all this people? have I brought them forth, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father carrieth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

¹³Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.

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

¹⁵And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

¹⁶And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with thee.

¹⁷And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

¹⁸And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.

¹⁹Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

²⁰but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have rejected the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

²¹And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.

²²Shall flocks and herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

²³And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD’S hand waxed short? now shalt thou see whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

²⁴And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD: and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the Tent.

²⁵And the LORD came down in the cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.

²⁶But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but had not gone out unto the Tent: and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

²⁸And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

²⁹And Moses said unto him, Art thou jealous for my sake? would God that all the LORD’S people were prophets, that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

³⁰And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

³¹And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth.

³²And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp.

³³While the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the anger of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.

³⁴And the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

³⁵From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed unto Hazeroth; and they abode at Hazeroth.

Numbers 12

¹And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married: for he had married a Cushite woman.

²And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only with Moses? hath he not spoken also with us? And the LORD heard it.

³Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.

⁴And the LORD spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting. And they three came out.

⁵And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.

⁶And he said, Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream.

⁷My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all mine house:

⁸with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches; and the form of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?

⁹And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.

¹⁰And the cloud removed from over the Tent; and, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

¹¹And Aaron said unto Moses, Oh my lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned.

¹²Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb.

¹³And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her, O God, I beseech thee.

¹⁴And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut up without the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again.

¹⁵And Miriam was shut up without the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

¹⁶And afterward the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

Numbers 13

¹And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

²Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them.

³And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of the LORD: all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

⁴And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.

⁵Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.

⁶Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.

⁷Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.

⁸Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun.

⁹Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.

¹⁰Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.

¹¹Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.

¹²Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.

¹³Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.

¹⁴Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.

¹⁵Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.

¹⁶These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the mountains:

¹⁸and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwelleth therein, whether they be strong or weak, whether they be few or many;

¹⁹and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it be good or bad; and what cities they be that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strong holds;

²⁰and what the land is, whether it be fat or lean, whether there be wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the firstripe grapes.

²¹So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, to the entering in of Hamath.

²²And they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

²³And they came unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs.

²⁴That place was called the valley of Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

²⁵And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days.

²⁶And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and shewed them the fruit of the land.

²⁷And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it.

²⁸Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fenced, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there.

²⁹Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of Jordan.

³⁰And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it.

³¹But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we.

³²And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

³³And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, which come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Numbers 14

¹And all the congregation lifted up their voice, and cried; and the people wept that night.

²And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

³And wherefore doth the LORD bring us unto this land, to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones shall be a prey: were it not better for us to return into Egypt?

⁴And they said one to another, Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt.

⁵Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the assembly of the congregation of the children of Israel.

⁶And Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that spied out the land, rent their clothes:

⁷and they spake unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceeding good land.

⁸If the LORD delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us; a land which floweth with milk and honey.

⁹Only rebel not against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is removed from over them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.

¹⁰But all the congregation bade stone them with stones. And the glory of the LORD appeared in the tent of meeting unto all the children of Israel.

¹¹And the LORD said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?

¹²I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of thee a nation greater and mightier than they.

¹³And Moses said unto the LORD, Then the Egyptians shall hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them;

¹⁴and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: they have heard that thou LORD art in the midst of this people; for thou LORD art seen face to face, and thy cloud standeth over them, and thou goest before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.

¹⁵Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying,

¹⁶Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness.

¹⁷And now, I pray thee, let the power of the Lord be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying,

¹⁸The LORD is slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.

¹⁹Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy mercy, and according as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.

²⁰And the LORD said, I have pardoned according to thy word:

²¹but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the LORD;

²²because all those men which have seen my glory, and my signs, which I wrought in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;

²³surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it:

²⁴but my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.

²⁵Now the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley: tomorrow turn ye, and get you into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.

²⁶And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,

²⁷How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against me? I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel, which they murmur against me.

²⁸Say unto them, As I live, saith the LORD, surely as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

²⁹your carcases shall fall in this wilderness; and all that were numbered of you, according to your whole number, from twenty years old and upward, which have murmured against me,

³⁰surely ye shall not come into the land, concerning which I lifted up my hand that I would make you dwell therein, save Caleb the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua the son of Nun.

³¹But your little ones, which ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected.

³²But as for you, your carcases shall fall in this wilderness.

³³And your children shall be wanderers in the wilderness forty years, and shall bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be consumed in the wilderness.

³⁴After the number of the days in which ye spied out the land, even forty days, for every day a year, shall ye bear your iniquities, even forty years, and ye shall know my alienation.

³⁵I the LORD have spoken, surely this will I do unto all this evil congregation, that are gathered together against me: in this wilderness they shall be consumed, and there they shall die.

³⁶And the men, which Moses sent to spy out the land, who returned, and made all the congregation to murmur against him, by bringing up an evil report against the land,

³⁷even those men that did bring up an evil report of the land, died by the plague before the LORD.

³⁸But Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, remained alive of those men that went to spy out the land.

³⁹And Moses told these words unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly.

⁴⁰And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, Lo, we be here, and will go up unto the place which the LORD hath promised: for we have sinned.

⁴¹And Moses said, Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of the LORD, seeing it shall not prosper?

⁴²Go not up, for the LORD is not among you; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies.

⁴³For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned back from following the LORD, therefore the LORD will not be with you.

⁴⁴But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and Moses, departed not out of the camp.

⁴⁵Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite which dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah.