God

"Tell the people, 'Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat; because you cried in the ears of ADONAI, "If only we had meat to eat! We had the good life in Egypt!" All right, ADONAI is going to give you meat, and you will eat it.

but a whole month! -until it comes out of your nose and you hate it! -because you have rejected ADONAI, who is here with you, and distressed him with your crying and asking, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'"

But Moshe said, "Here I am with six hundred thousand men on foot, and yet you say, 'I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!'

ADONAI answered Moshe, "Has ADONAI's arm grown short? Now you will see whether what I said will happen or not!"

Moshe went out and told the people what ADONAI had said. Then he collected seventy of the leaders of the people and placed them all around the tent.

ADONAI came down in the cloud, spoke to him, took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied -then but not afterwards.

But Moshe replied, "Are you so zealous to protect me? I wish all of ADONAI's people were prophets! I wish ADONAI would put his Spirit on all of them!"

and ADONAI sent out a wind which brought quails from across the sea and let them fall near the camp, about a day's trip away on each side of the camp and all around it, covering the ground to a depth of three feet.

But while the meat was still in their mouth, before they had chewed it up, the anger of ADONAI flared up against the people, and ADONAI struck the people with a terrible plague.

They said, "Is it true that ADONAI has spoken only with Moshe? Hasn't he spoken with us too?"ADONAI heard them.

Suddenly ADONAI told Moshe, Aharon and Miryam, "Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting."The three of them went out.

ADONAI came down in a column of cloud and stood at the entrance to the tent. He summoned Aharon and Miryam, and they both went forward.

He said, "Listen to what I say: when there is a prophet among you, I, ADONAI, make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream.

But it isn't that way with my servant Moshe. He is the only one who is faithful in my entire household.

With him I speak face to face and clearly, not in riddles; he sees the image of ADONAI. So why weren't you afraid to criticize my servant Moshe?"

The anger of ADONAI flared up against them, and he left.

Moshe cried to ADONAI, "Oh God, I beg you, please, heal her!"

ADONAI answered Moshe, "If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn't she hide herself in shame for seven days? So let her be shut out of the camp for seven days; after that, she can be brought back in."

ADONAI said to Moshe,

"Send men on your behalf to reconnoiter the land of Kena'an, which I am giving to the people of Isra'el. From each ancestral tribe send someone who is a leader in his tribe."

Moshe dispatched them from the Pa'ran Desert as ADONAI had ordered; all of them were leading men among the people of Isra'el.

Moreover, all the people of Isra'el began grumbling against Moshe and Aharon; the whole community told them, "We wish we had died in the land of Egypt! or that we had died here in the desert!

Why is ADONAI bringing us to this land, where we will die by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will be taken as booty! Wouldn't it be better for us to return to Egypt?"

If ADONAI is pleased with us, then he will bring us into this land and give it to us -a land flowing with milk and honey.

Just don't rebel against ADONAI. And don't be afraid of the people living in the land - we'll eat them up! Their defense has been taken away from them, and ADONAI is with us! Don't be afraid of them!"