Numbers 11-15

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 11

Discontent of the People. ¹ Now the people complained bitterly in the hearing of the Lord;^(A) and when he heard it his wrath flared up, so that the Lord’s fire burned among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. ² But when the people cried out to Moses, he prayed to the Lord and the fire died out. ³ Hence that place was called Taberah,^[a] because there the fire of the Lord burned among them.

⁴ The riffraff among them were so greedy for meat that even the Israelites lamented again,^(B) “If only we had meat for food! ⁵ We remember the fish we used to eat without cost in Egypt, and the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. ⁶ But now we are famished; we have nothing to look forward to but this manna.”^(C)

^7 (D)Manna was like coriander seed^[b] and had the appearance of bdellium. ⁸ When they had gone about and gathered it up, the people would grind it between millstones or pound it in a mortar, then cook it in a pot and make it into loaves, with a rich creamy taste. ⁹ At night, when the dew fell upon the camp, the manna also fell.^(E)

¹⁰ When Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents, so that the Lord became very angry, he was grieved. ¹¹ “Why do you treat your servant so badly?” Moses asked the Lord. “Why are you so displeased with me that you burden me with all this people? ¹² Was it I who conceived all this people? or was it I who gave them birth, that you tell me to carry them at my breast, like a nurse carrying an infant, to the land you have promised under oath to their fathers? ¹³ Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they are crying to me, ‘Give us meat for our food.’ ¹⁴ I cannot carry all this people by myself, for they are too heavy for me. ¹⁵ If this is the way you will deal with me, then please do me the favor of killing me at once, so that I need no longer face my distress.”

The Seventy Elders. ¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses: Assemble for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders and authorities among the people, and bring them to the tent of meeting. When they are in place beside you, ¹⁷ I will come down and speak with you there. I will also take some of the spirit that is on you and will confer it on them, that they may share the burden of the people with you. You will then not have to bear it by yourself.

¹⁸ To the people, however, you shall say: “Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, when you shall have meat to eat. For in the hearing of the Lord you have cried, ‘If only we had meat for food! Oh, how well off we were in Egypt!’ Therefore the Lord will give you meat to eat, ¹⁹ and you will eat it, not for one day, or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month—until it comes out of your very nostrils and becomes loathsome to you. For you have rejected the Lord who is in your midst, and in his presence you have cried, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”

²¹ But Moses said, “The people around me include six hundred thousand soldiers; yet you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month.’ ²² Can enough sheep and cattle be slaughtered for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” ²³ The Lord answered Moses: Is this beyond the Lord’s reach? You shall see now whether or not what I have said to you takes place.

The Spirit on the Elders. ²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. Gathering seventy elders of the people, he had them stand around the tent. ²⁵ The Lord then came down in the cloud and spoke to him. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, he bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied^[c] but did not continue.

²⁶ Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in the camp, yet the spirit came to rest on them also. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; and so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ So, when a young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” ²⁸ Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “My lord, Moses, stop them.” ²⁹ But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of the Lord were prophets! If only the Lord would bestow his spirit on them!” ³⁰ Then Moses retired to the camp, along with the elders of Israel.

The Quail. ³¹ There arose a wind^(F) from the Lord that drove in quail from the sea and left them all around the camp site, to a distance of a day’s journey and at a depth of two cubits upon the ground.^{[d] 32 (G)}So all that day, all night, and all the next day the people set about to gather in the quail. Even the one who got the least gathered ten homers^[e] of them. Then they spread them out all around the camp. ³³ But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it could be chewed, the Lord’s wrath flared up against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very great plague. ³⁴ So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah,^[f] because it was there that the greedy people were buried.

³⁵ From Kibroth-hattaavah the people set out for Hazeroth, where they stayed.

Chapter 12

Jealousy of Aaron and Miriam. ¹ Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on the pretext of the Cushite woman he had married; for he had in fact married a Cushite woman.^{[g] 2} They complained,^[h] “Is it through Moses alone that the Lord has spoken? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard this. ^3 (H)Now the man Moses was very humble, more than anyone else on earth. ⁴ So at once the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam: Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting. And the three of them went. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in a column of cloud, and standing at the entrance of the tent, called, “Aaron and Miriam.” When both came forward, ⁶ the Lord said: Now listen to my words:

Why, then, do you not fear to speak against my servant Moses? ⁹ And so the Lord’s wrath flared against them, and he departed.

Miriam’s Punishment. ¹⁰ Now the cloud withdrew from the tent, and there was Miriam,^(K) stricken with a scaly infection, white as snow!^[j] When Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw her stricken with snow-white scales, ¹¹ he said to Moses, “Ah, my lord! Please do not charge us with the sin that we have foolishly committed! ¹² Do not let her be like the stillborn baby that comes forth from its mother’s womb with its flesh half consumed.” ¹³ Then Moses cried to the Lord, “Please, not this! Please, heal her!” ¹⁴ But the Lord answered Moses: Suppose her father had spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; afterwards she may be brought back. ¹⁵ So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not start out again until she was brought back.

¹⁶ After that the people set out from Hazeroth and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

Chapter 13

The Twelve Scouts. ¹ The Lord said to Moses: ² Send men to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, which I am giving the Israelites. You shall send one man from each ancestral tribe, every one a leader among them. ^3 (L)So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran, at the direction of the Lord. All of them were leaders among the Israelites. ⁴ These were their names:

¹⁶ These are the names of the men whom Moses sent to reconnoiter the land. But Hoshea, son of Nun, Moses called Joshua.^[k]

¹⁷ In sending them to reconnoiter the land of Canaan, Moses said to them, “Go up there in the Negeb, up into the highlands, ¹⁸ and see what kind of land it is and whether the people living there are strong or weak, few or many. ¹⁹ Is the country in which they live good or bad? Are the towns in which they dwell open or fortified? ²⁰ Is the soil fertile or barren, wooded or clear? And do your best to get some of the fruit of the land.” It was then the season for early grapes.

²¹ So they went up and reconnoitered the land from the wilderness of Zin^[l] as far as where Rehob adjoins Lebo-hamath. ^22 (M)Going up by way of the Negeb, they reached Hebron, where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, descendants of the Anakim,^[m] were. (Now Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) ²³ They also reached the Wadi Eshcol,^[n] where they cut down a branch with a single cluster of grapes on it, which two of them carried on a pole, as well as some pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ It was because of the cluster the Israelites cut there that they called the place Wadi Eshcol.^(N)

Their Report. ²⁵ They returned from reconnoitering the land forty days later. ^26 (O)Proceeding directly to Moses and Aaron and the whole community of the Israelites in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, they made a report to them and to the whole community, showing them the fruit of the land. ²⁷ They told Moses: “We came to the land to which you sent us. It does indeed flow with milk and honey, and here is its fruit. ²⁸ However, the people who are living in the land are powerful, and the towns are fortified and very large.^(P) Besides, we saw descendants of the Anakim there. ²⁹ Amalekites live in the region of the Negeb; Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites dwell in the highlands, and Canaanites along the sea and the banks of the Jordan.”

³⁰ Caleb, however, quieted the people before Moses and said, “We ought to go up and seize the land, for we can certainly prevail over it.” ³¹ But the men who had gone up with him said, “We cannot attack these people; they are too strong for us.” ³² They spread discouraging reports^(Q) among the Israelites about the land they had reconnoitered, saying, “The land that we went through and reconnoitered is a land that consumes its inhabitants. And all the people we saw there are huge. ^33 (R)There we saw the Nephilim^[o] (the Anakim are from the Nephilim); in our own eyes we seemed like mere grasshoppers, and so we must have seemed to them.”

Chapter 14

Threats of Revolt. ¹ At this, the whole community broke out with loud cries, and the people wept into the night. ^2 (S)All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, the whole community saying to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt,” or “If only we would die here in the wilderness! ³ Why is the Lord bringing us into this land only to have us fall by the sword? Our wives and little ones will be taken as spoil. Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?” ⁴ So they said to one another, “Let us appoint a leader and go back to Egypt.”

⁵ But Moses and Aaron fell prostrate before the whole assembled community of the Israelites; ⁶ while Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, who had been among those that reconnoitered the land, tore their garments ⁷ and said to the whole community of the Israelites,^(T) “The land which we went through and reconnoitered is an exceedingly good land. ⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us in to this land and give it to us, a land which flows with milk and honey. ^9 (U)Only do not rebel against the Lord! You need not be afraid of the people of the land, for they are but food for us!^[p] Their protection has left them, but the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

The Lord’s Sentence. ¹⁰ The whole community threatened to stone them. But the glory of the Lord appeared at the tent of meeting to all the Israelites. ¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses: How long will this people spurn me? How long will they not trust me, despite all the signs I have performed among them?^{(V) 12} I will strike them with pestilence and disown them. Then I will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.^(W)

^13 (X)But Moses said to the Lord: “The Egyptians will hear of this, for by your power you brought out this people from among them. ¹⁴ They will tell the inhabitants of this land, who have heard that you, Lord, are in the midst of this people; you, Lord, who directly revealed yourself! Your cloud stands over them, and you go before them by day in a column of cloud and by night in a column of fire.^{(Y) 15} If now you slay this people all at once, the nations who have heard such reports of you will say, ¹⁶ ‘The Lord was not able to bring this people into the land he swore to give them; that is why he slaughtered them in the wilderness.’^{(Z) 17} Now then, may my Lord’s forbearance be great, even as you have said, ^18 (AA)‘The Lord is slow to anger and abounding in kindness, forgiving iniquity and rebellion; yet certainly not declaring the guilty guiltless, but punishing children to the third and fourth generation for their parents’ iniquity.’ ¹⁹ Pardon, then, the iniquity of this people in keeping with your great kindness, even as you have forgiven them from Egypt until now.”^(AB)

²⁰ The Lord answered: I pardon them as you have asked. ²¹ Yet, by my life and the Lord’s glory that fills the whole earth, ²² of all the people who have seen my glory and the signs I did in Egypt and in the wilderness,^(AC) and who nevertheless have put me to the test ten times already and have not obeyed me, ²³ not one shall see the land which I promised on oath to their ancestors. None of those who have spurned me shall see it. ²⁴ But as for my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and follows me unreservedly,^(AD) I will bring him into the land which he entered, and his descendants shall possess it. ²⁵ But now, since the Amalekites and Canaanites are living in the valleys,^[q] turn away tomorrow and set out into the wilderness by way of the Red Sea road.

²⁶ The Lord also said to Moses and Aaron: ²⁷ How long will this wicked community grumble against me?^(AE) I have heard the grumblings of the Israelites against me. ²⁸ Tell them:^[r] “By my life”—oracle of the Lord—“I will do to you just what I have heard you say. ²⁹ Here in the wilderness^(AF) your dead bodies shall fall. Of all your men of twenty years or more, enrolled in your registration, who grumbled against me, ³⁰ not one of you shall enter the land where I solemnly swore to settle you, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, son of Nun. ³¹ Your little ones, however, who you said would be taken as spoil, I will bring in, and they shall know the land you rejected.^{(AG) 32} But as for you, your bodies shall fall here in the wilderness, ³³ while your children will wander for forty years, suffering for your infidelity, till the last of you lies dead in the wilderness.^{(AH) 34} Corresponding to the number of days you spent reconnoitering the land—forty days—you shall bear your punishment one year for each day: forty years. Thus you will realize what it means to oppose me. ³⁵ I, the Lord, have spoken; and I will surely do this to this entire wicked community that conspired against me: here in the wilderness they shall come to their end and there they will die.”

³⁶ And the men whom Moses had sent to reconnoiter the land^(AI) and who on returning had set the whole community grumbling against him by spreading discouraging reports about the land— ³⁷ these men who had spread discouraging reports about the land were struck down by the Lord and died. ³⁸ Only Joshua, son of Nun, and Caleb, son of Jephunneh, survived of all the men who had gone to reconnoiter the land.^(AJ)

Unsuccessful Invasion. ³⁹ When Moses repeated these words to all the Israelites, the people mourned greatly. ⁴⁰ Early the next morning they started up high into the hill country, saying, “Here we are, ready to go up to the place that the Lord spoke of:^(AK) for we did wrong.” ⁴¹ But Moses said, “Why are you now transgressing the Lord’s order? This cannot succeed. ⁴² Do not go up, because the Lord is not in your midst; do not allow yourself to be struck down by your enemies.^{(AL) 43} For there the Amalekites and Canaanites will face you, and you will fall by the sword. You have turned back from following the Lord; therefore the Lord will not be with you.”

⁴⁴ Yet they dared to go up high into the hill country,^(AM) even though neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses left the camp. ⁴⁵ And the Amalekites and Canaanites who dwelt in that hill country came down and defeated them, beating them back as far as Hormah.^[s]

Chapter 15

Secondary Offerings. ¹ The Lord spoke to Moses: ^2 [t]Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land that I am giving you for your settlements, ³ if you make to the Lord an oblation from the herd or from the flock—either a burnt offering or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a voluntary offering, or for one of your festivals—to produce a pleasing aroma for the Lord, ⁴ the one presenting the offering shall also present to the Lord a grain offering, a tenth of a measure^[u] of bran flour mixed with a fourth of a hin of oil, ⁵ as well as wine for a libation, a fourth of a hin. You will do this with the burnt offering or the sacrifice, for each lamb. ⁶ Alternatively for a ram you shall make a grain offering of two tenths of a measure of bran flour mixed with a third of a hin of oil, ⁷ and for a libation, a third of a hin of wine, thereby presenting a pleasing aroma to the Lord. ⁸ If you make an offering from the herd—either a burnt offering, or a sacrifice, to fulfill a vow, or as a communion offering to the Lord, ⁹ with it a grain offering of three tenths of a measure of bran flour mixed with half a hin of oil will be presented; ¹⁰ and you will present for a libation, half a hin of wine—a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. ¹¹ The same is to be done for each ox, ram, lamb or goat. ¹² Whatever the number you offer, do the same for each of them.

¹³ All the native-born shall make these offerings in this way, whenever they present a sweet-smelling oblation to the Lord. ¹⁴ Likewise, in any future generation, any alien residing with you or anyone else in your midst, who presents an oblation of pleasing aroma to the Lord, must do as you do. ¹⁵ There is but one statute for you and for the resident alien, a perpetual statute throughout your generations. You and the resident alien will be alike before the Lord; ¹⁶ you and the alien residing with you will have the same rule and the same application of it.

¹⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses: ¹⁸ Speak to the Israelites and say to them: When you enter the land into which I am bringing you ¹⁹ and eat of the bread of the land, you shall offer the Lord a contribution. ²⁰ A round loaf from your first batch of dough^[v] you shall offer as a contribution. Just like a contribution from the threshing floor you shall offer it.^{(AN) 21} Throughout your generations you shall give a contribution to the Lord from your first batch of dough.

Purification Offerings.^{[w] 22} If through inadvertence you fail to do any of these commandments which the Lord has given to Moses—^{(AO) 23} anything the Lord commanded you through Moses from the time the Lord first gave the command down through your generations— ²⁴ if it was done inadvertently without the community’s knowledge, the whole community shall sacrifice one bull from the herd as a burnt offering of pleasing aroma to the Lord, along with its prescribed grain offering and libation, as well as one he-goat as a purification offering. ^25 (AP)Then the priest shall make atonement for the whole Israelite community; and they will be forgiven, since it was inadvertence, and for their inadvertence they have brought their offering: an oblation to the Lord as well as their purification offering before the Lord. ²⁶ Not only the whole Israelite community but also the aliens residing among you shall be forgiven, since the inadvertent fault affects all the people.

²⁷ If it is an individual who sins inadvertently,^(AQ) this person shall bring a yearling she-goat as a purification offering. ²⁸ And the priest shall make atonement before the Lord for the one who erred, since the sin was inadvertent, making atonement for the person to secure forgiveness. ²⁹ You shall have but one rule for the person who sins inadvertently, whether a native-born Israelite or an alien residing among you.

³⁰ But anyone who acts defiantly,^(AR) whether a native or an alien, reviles the Lord, and shall be cut off from among the people. ^31 (AS)For having despised the word of the Lord and broken his commandment, he must be cut off entirely and bear the punishment.

The Sabbath-breaker. ³² While the Israelites were in the wilderness, a man was discovered gathering wood on the sabbath day. ³³ Those who caught him at it brought him to Moses and Aaron and the whole community. ³⁴ But they put him in custody, for there was no clear decision^[x] as to what should be done with him.^{(AT) 35} Then the Lord said to Moses: This man shall be put to death; let the whole community stone him outside the camp. ³⁶ So the whole community led him outside the camp and stoned him to death, as the Lord had commanded Moses.

Tassels on the Cloak. ³⁷ The Lord said to Moses: ³⁸ Speak to the Israelites and tell them that throughout their generations they are to make tassels^[y] for the corners of their garments, fastening a violet cord to each corner.^{(AU) 39} When you use these tassels, the sight of the cord will remind you of all the commandments of the Lord and you will do them, without prostituting yourself going after the desires of your hearts and your eyes. ⁴⁰ Thus you will remember to do all my commandments and you will be holy to your God. ⁴¹ I, the Lord, am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt to be your God: I, the Lord your God.^(AV)