Day 43 of 365

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Make two trumpets of silver. You shall make them of beaten work. You shall use them for the calling of the congregation, and for the journeying of the camps.

³When they blow them, all the congregation shall gather themselves to you at the door of the Tent of Meeting.

⁴If they blow just one, then the princes, the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves to you.

⁵When you blow an alarm, the camps that lie on the east side shall go forward.

⁶When you blow an alarm the second time, the camps that lie on the south side shall go forward. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys.

⁷But when the assembly is to be gathered together, you shall blow, but you shall not sound an alarm.

⁸The sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow the trumpets. This shall be to you for a statute forever throughout your generations.

⁹When you go to war in your land against the adversary who oppresses you, then you shall sound an alarm with the trumpets. Then you will be remembered before the Lord your God, and you will be saved from your enemies.

¹⁰"Also in the day of your gladness, and in your set feasts, and in the beginnings of your months, you shall blow the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings; and they shall be to you for a memorial before your God. I am the Lord your God."

¹¹It happened in the second year, in the second month, on the twentieth day of the month, that the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle of the testimony.

¹²The children of Israel went forward according to their journeys out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran.

¹³They first went forward according to the commandment of the Lord by Moses.

¹⁴First, the standard of the camp of the children of Judah went forward according to their armies. Nahshon the son of Amminadab was over his army.

¹⁵Nethanel the son of Zuar was over the army of the tribe of the children of Issachar.

¹⁶Eliab the son of Helon was over the army of the tribe of the children of Zebulun.

¹⁷The tabernacle was taken down; and the sons of Gershon and the sons of Merari, who bore the tabernacle, went forward.

¹⁸The standard of the camp of Reuben went forward according to their armies. Elizur the son of Shedeur was over his army.

¹⁹Shelumiel the son of Zurishaddai was over the army of the tribe of the children of Simeon.

²⁰Eliasaph the son of Deuel was over the army of the tribe of the children of Gad.

²¹The Kohathites set forward, bearing the sanctuary. The others set up the tabernacle before they arrived.

²²The standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies. Elishama the son of Ammihud was over his army.

²³Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur was over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh.

²⁴Abidan the son of Gideoni was over the army of the tribe of the children of Benjamin.

²⁵The standard of the camp of the children of Dan, which was the rearward of all the camps, set forward according to their armies. Ahiezer the son of Ammishaddai was over his army.

²⁶Pagiel the son of Ochran was over the army of the tribe of the children of Asher.

²⁷Ahira the son of Enan was over the army of the tribe of the children of Naphtali.

²⁸Thus were the travels of the children of Israel according to their armies; and they went forward.

²⁹Moses said to Hobab, the son of Reuel the Midianite, Moses' father-in-law, "We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, 'I will give it to you.' Come with us, and we will treat you well; for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel."

³⁰He said to him, "I will not go; but I will depart to my own land, and to my relatives."

³¹He said, "Do not leave us, please; because you know how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and you can be our eyes.

³²It shall be, if you go with us, yes, it shall be, that whatever good the Lord does to us, we will do the same to you."

³³They set forward from the Mount of the Lord three days' journey. The ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them three days' journey, to seek out a resting place for them.

³⁴The cloud of the Lord was over them by day, when they set forward from the camp.

³⁵It happened, when the ark went forward, that Moses said, "Rise up, Lord, and let your enemies be scattered! Let those who hate you flee before you!"

³⁶When it rested, he said, "Return, Lord, to the ten thousands of the thousands of Israel."

¹The people were complaining in the ears of the Lord. When the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled; and the Lord's fire burnt among them, and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

²The people cried to Moses; and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire abated.

³The name of that place was called Taberah, because the Lord's fire burnt among them.

⁴The mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, "Who will give us flesh to eat?

⁵We remember the fish, which we ate in Egypt for nothing; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic;

⁶but now we have lost our appetite. There is nothing at all except this manna to look at."

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

⁸The people went around, gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it. Its taste was like the taste of fresh oil.

⁹When the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

¹⁰Moses 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.

¹¹Moses said to the Lord, "Why have you treated with your servant so badly? Why haven't I found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?

¹²Have I conceived all this people? Have I brought them forth, that you should tell me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which you swore to their fathers?'

¹³Where could I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.'

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

¹⁵If you treat me this way, please kill me right now, if I have found favor in your sight; and do not let me see my wretchedness."

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, "Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with you.

¹⁷I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you not bear it yourself alone.

¹⁸"Say to the people, 'Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and you will eat flesh; for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, "Who will give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt." Therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and you will eat.

¹⁹You will 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 is loathsome to you; because that you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, "Why did we come out of Egypt?"'"

²¹Moses said, "The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, 'I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.'

²²Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?"

²³The Lord said to Moses, "Has the Lord's hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not."

²⁴Moses 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 around the Tent.

²⁵The Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders: and it happened that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.

²⁶But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷A young man ran, and told Moses, and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"

²⁸Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, "My lord Moses, forbid them!"

²⁹Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!"

³⁰Moses went into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

³¹A wind from the Lord went out 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, around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the earth.

³²The people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails. He who gathered least gathered ten homers; and they spread them all abroad for themselves around the camp.

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

³⁴The name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who lusted.

³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth; and they stayed at Hazeroth.

¹Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman.

²They said, "Has the Lord indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn't he spoken also with us?" And the Lord heard it.

³Now the man Moses was very humble, above all the men who were on the surface of the earth.

⁴The Lord spoke suddenly to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, "You three come out to the Tent of Meeting!" The three of them came out.

⁵The 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 forward.

⁶He said, "Hear now my words. If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.

⁷My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house.

⁸With him I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see the Lord's form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?"

⁹The anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.

¹⁰The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

¹¹Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord, please do not count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned.

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

¹³Moses cried to the Lord, saying, "Heal her, God, I beg you!"

¹⁴The Lord said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, shouldn't she be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside of the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again."

¹⁵Miriam was shut up outside of the camp seven days, and the people did not travel until Miriam was brought in again.

¹⁶Afterward the people traveled from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

¹The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²"Send men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give to the children of Israel. Of every tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one a prince among them."

³Moses 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.

⁴These 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, 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 who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

¹⁷Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said to them, "Go up this way by the Negev, and go up into the hill country:

¹⁸and see the land, what it is; and the people who dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many;

¹⁹and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds;

²⁰and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. Be courageous, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes."

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

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

²³They came to the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from there a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bore it on a staff between two. They also brought some of the pomegranates and figs.

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

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

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

²⁷They told him, and said, "We came to the land where you sent us; and surely it flows with milk and honey; and this is its fruit.

²⁸However the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. Moreover, we saw the children of Anak there.

²⁹Amalek dwells in the land of the Negev: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill country; and the Canaanite dwells by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan."

³⁰Caleb 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 who went up with him said, "We aren't able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we."

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

³³There we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight."