carrieth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?' Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, ‘Give us flesh, that we may eat.' I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. And 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."

And Yahweh said unto Moses, "Say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh; for ye have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, 'Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore Yahweh will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because that ye have rejected Yahweh who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, 'Why came we forth out of Egypt?'" And 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. Shall 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? And Yahweh said unto Moses, "Is Yahweh's hand waxed short? now shalt thou see whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not."

And Moses went out, and told the people the words of Yahweh.

And there went forth a wind from Yahweh, 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. And 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. While the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the people, and Yahweh smote the people with a very great plague. And the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried

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

Moses said unto the spies, "Get you up this way by the South, and go up into the hill-country; and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many; and 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; and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is 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 first

ripe grapes.

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

They returned to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And 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. Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South; and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan."

And 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." But the men that went up with him said, "We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature.

And there 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."

And the people wept that night.

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

And they said one to another, “Let us make a captain, and let us return into Egypt. If Yahweh delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it unto us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not against Yahweh, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is removed from over them, and Yahweh is with us: fear them not."

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

And Moses said unto Yahweh, " Then the Egyptians will hear it; for thou broughtest up this people in thy might from among them; and they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land: they have heard that thou Yahweh art in the midst of this people; for thou Yahweh 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. Now if thou shalt kill this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, "Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them, therefore he hath slain them in the wilderness. And now, I pray thee, let the power of Yahweh be great, according as thou hast spoken, saying, 'Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, 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. Pardon, I pray thee, the iniquity of this people according unto the greatness of thy lovingkindness, and accord

ing as thou hast forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.'

And Yahweh said, "I have pardoned according to thy word: but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Yahweh; because all those men that 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; surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that despised me see it: but 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. Now 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. But your little ones, that ye said should be a prey, them will I bring in, and they shall know the land which ye have rejected. But as for you, your dead bodies shall fall in this wilderness."

And Moses told these words unto all the children of Israel: and the people mourned greatly. And they rose up early in the morning, and gat them up to the top of the mountain, saying, “Lo, we are here, and will go up unto the place which Yahweh hath promised: for we have sinned. And Moses said, "Wherefore now do ye transgress the commandment of Yahweh, seeing it shall not prosper? Go not up, for Yahweh is not among you; that ye be not smitten down before your enemies. For there the Amalekite and the Canaanite are before you, and ye shall fall by the sword: because ye are turned back from following Yahweh, therefore Yahweh will not be with you." But they presumed to go up to the top of the mountain: nevertheless the ark of the covenant of Yahweh, and Moses, departed not out of the camp. Then the Amalekite came down, and the Canaanite who dwelt in that mountain, and smote them and beat them down, even unto Hormah.

Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men.

And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab;

and they said, "We will not come up: is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but thou must needs make thyself also a prince over us? Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up."

And Moses was very wroth, and said unto Yahweh, "Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt one of them."

And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation, saying, "Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins."

And Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood at the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little ones. And Moses said, "Hereby ye shall know that Yahweh hath set me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then Yahweh hath not sent me. But if Yahweh make a new thing, and the ground open its mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down alive into Sheol; then ye shall understand that these men have despised Yahweh."

And it came to pass, as he made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them; and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and so they, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into Sheol: and the earth closed upon them, and they perished from among the assembly. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them; for they said, "Lest the earth swallow us up."

And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

And there was no water for the congregation: and they as