Numbers 11:1-13 ▼

1 Now the people became like those who complain of adversity in the ears of the LORD; and the LORD heard them and His anger was kindled, and the fire of the LORD burned among them and consumed some at the outskirts of the camp.

2 The people then cried out to Moses; and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died out.

3 So that place was named Taberah, because the fire of the LORD burned among them.

4 Now the rabble who were among them had greedy cravings; and the sons of Israel also wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat?

5 We remember the fish which we used to eat for free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic;

6 but now our appetite is gone. There is nothing at all to look at except this manna!”

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

8 The people would roam about and gather it and grind it between two millstones, or pound it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make loaves with it; and its taste was like the taste of cake baked with oil.

9 When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna would come down with it.

10 Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each one at the entrance of his tent; and the anger of the LORD became very hot, and Moses was displeased.

11 So Moses said to the LORD, “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have put the burden of all this people on me?

12 Was it I who conceived all this people? Or did I give birth to them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’?

13 Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat so that we may eat!’