Interea ortum est murmur populi, quasi dolentium pro labore, contra Dominum. Quod cum audisset Dominus, iratus est. Et accensus in eos ignis Domini, devoravit extremam castrorum partem.

Meanwhile, the people were assailing the Lord with complaints, and be-moaning their hard lot. The Lord was roused to anger when he heard it, and sent a fire which burnt up the outlying part of the camp.

In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it he was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp.

Cumque clamasset populus ad Moysen, oravit Moyses ad Dominum, et absorptus est ignis.

Whereupon the people had recourse to Moses; and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire died down.

And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up.

Vocavitque nomen loci illius, Incensio: eo quod incensus fuisset contra eos ignis Domini.

It was this divine punishment by fire which gave the place its name, the Place of Burning.

And he called the name of that place, The burning: for that the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them.

Vulgus quippe promiscuum, quod ascenderat cum eis, flagravit desiderio, sedens et flens, junctis sibi pariter filiis Israël, et ait: Quis dabit nobis ad vescendum carnes?

They were still accompanied by a crowd of mixed breed; and these infected the Israelites by their example, as they sat there lamenting; If we had but meat to feed on! they said.

For a mixt multitude of people, that came up with them, burned with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel also being joined with them, and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat?

recordamur piscium quos comedebamus in Ægypto gratis: in mentem nobis veniunt cucumeres, et pepones, porrique, et cæpe, et allia.

How well we remember the fish that Egypt afforded without stint, the cucumbers, the melons, leeks and onions and garlic!

We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt free cost: the cucumbers come into our mind, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.

Anima nostra arida est: nihil aliud respiciunt oculi nostri nisi man.

Our hearts faint within us, as we look round, and nothing but manna meets our eyes.

Our soul is dry, our eyes behold nothing else but manna.

Erat autem man quasi semen coriandri, coloris bdellii.

(This manna was a food that looked like coriander-seed, its colour like bdellium.

Now the manna was like coriander seed, of the colour of bdellium.

Circuibatque populus, et colligens illud, frangebat mola, sive terebat in mortario, coquens in olla, et faciens ex eo tortulas saporis quasi panis oleati.

The people would go round gathering it, and grind it in the mill or bray it in a mortar; then they would cook it in pots, making it into rolls that tasted like bread kneaded with oil.

And the people went about, and gathering it, ground it in a mill, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes thereof of the taste of bread tempered with oil.

Cumque descenderet nocte super castra ros, descendebat pariter et man.

Every night, as the dew fell on the camp, the manna fell there too.)

And when the dew fell in the night upon the camp, the manna also fell with it.

Audivit ergo Moyses flentem populum per familias, singulos per ostia tentorii sui. Iratusque est furor Domini valde: sed et Moysi intoleranda res visa est,

From household after household Moses heard these complaints, as the men sat bemoaning themselves at their tent doors, till he could bear it no longer, that the Lord’s displeasure should be provoked so grievously.

Now Moses heard the people weeping by their families, every one at the door of his tent. And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled: to Moses also the thing seemed insupportable.

et ait ad Dominum: Cur afflixisti servum tuum? quare non invenio gratiam coram te? et cur imposuisti pondus universi populi hujus super me?

Lord, he said, why dost thou treat me thus? How is it that I have fallen out of favour with thee? Must I carry a whole people like a weight on my back?

And he said to the Lord: Why hast thou afflicted thy servant? wherefore do I not find favour before thee? and why hast thou laid the weight of all this people upon me?

Numquid ego concepi omnem hanc multitudinem, vel genui eam, ut dicas mihi: Porta eos in sinu tuo sicut portare solet nutrix infantulum, et defer in terram, pro qua jurasti patribus eorum?

I did not bring this multitude of men into the world; I did not beget them; and thou wouldst have me nurse them in my bosom like a child, till they reach the land promised to their race.

Have I conceived all this multitude, or begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me: Carry them in thy bosom as the nurse is wont to carry the little infant, and bear them into the land, for which thou hast sworn to their fathers?

Unde mihi carnes ut dem tantæ multitudini? flent contra me, dicentes: Da nobis carnes ut comedamus.

Where am I to find meat for such a host as this? And that is the complaint they bring me; they would have meat for their food.

Whence should I have flesh to give to so great a multitude? they weep against me, saying: Give us flesh that we may eat.

Non possum solus sustinere omnem hunc populum, quia gravis est mihi.

I cannot bear, alone, the charge of so many; it is too great a burden for me.

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

Sin aliter tibi videtur, obsecro ut interficias me, et inveniam gratiam in oculis tuis, ne tantis afficiar malis.

If I may not have my way in this, then in mercy, I beseech thee, rid me of these miseries by taking my life away.

But if it seem unto thee otherwise, I beseech thee to kill me, and let me find grace in thy eyes, that I be not afflicted with so great evils.

Et dixit Dominus ad Moysen: Congrega mihi septuaginta viros de senibus Israël, quos tu nosti quod senes populi sint ac magistri: et duces eos ad ostium tabernaculi fœderis, faciesque ibi stare tecum,

Whereupon the Lord said to Moses, Choose out for me seventy Israelites of ripe age, men already known to thee as elders and officers of the people, bring them to the door of the tabernacle that bears record of my covenant, and let them stand there at thy side.

And the Lord said to Moses: Gather unto me seventy men of the ancients of Israel, whom thou knowest to be ancients and masters of the people: and thou shalt bring them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and shalt make them stand there with thee,

ut descendam et loquar tibi: et auferam de spiritu tuo, tradamque eis, ut sustentent tecum onus populi, et non tu solus graveris.

I will come down and converse with thee there; taking away some of the spirit which rests upon thee and giving it to them instead, so that they may share with thee that charge over the people which thou canst not support unaided.

That I may come down and speak with thee: and I will take of thy spirit, and will give to them, that they may bear with thee the burden of the people, and thou mayest not be burthened alone.

Populo quoque dices: Sanctificamini (cras comedetis carnes: ego enim audivi vos dicere: Quis dabit nobis escas carnium? bene nobis erat in Ægypto), ut det vobis Dominus carnes, et comedatis:

And say to the people, You must purify yourselves in readiness for the banquet of meat you will have to-morrow. I have heard you complaining that no meat is given you; that you were better off in Egypt. And now the Lord will give you meat to feed on,

And thou shalt say to the people: Be ye sanctified: to morrow you shall eat flesh: for I have heard you say: Who will give us flesh to eat? it was well with us in Egypt. That the Lord may give you flesh, and you may eat:

non uno die, nec duobus, vel quinque aut decem, nec viginti quidem,

not for one day or two, for five days or ten, or for a score of days,

Not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, no nor for twenty.

sed usque ad mensem dierum, donec exeat per nares vestras, et vertatur in nauseam, eo quod repuleritis Dominum, qui in medio vestri est, et fleveritis coram eo, dicentes: Quare egressi sumus ex Ægypto?

but for a whole month, till it comes out at your nostrils, and you are sick with surfeit. That shall be your reward for disowning the Lord that dwells among you, and lamenting, here in his presence, that you ever left Egypt behind.

But even for a month of days, till it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you, because you have cast off the Lord, who is in the midst of you, and have wept before him, saying: Why came we out of Egypt?

Et ait Moyses: Sexcenta millia peditum hujus populi sunt: et tu dicis: Dabo eis esum carnium mense integro?

Why, said Moses, here is a people that counts six hundred thousand foot-soldiers; wilt thou promise them meat for a whole month?

And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and sayest thou: I will give them flesh to eat a whole month?

numquid ovium et boum multitudo cædetur, ut possit sufficere ad cibum? vel omnes pisces maris in unum congregabuntur, ut eos satient?

If all the flocks and herds were slaughtered, would that be enough for them? Nay, if all the fish in the sea could be brought into one place, would they even so be content?

Shall then a multitude of sheep and oxen be killed, that it may suffice for their food? or shall the fishes of the sea be gathered together to fill them?

Cui respondit Dominus: Numquid manus Domini invalida est? jam nunc videbis utrum meus sermo opere compleatur.

And the Lord’s answer was, Has my arm lost its power? Thou wilt see for thyself, in a little, whether this promise of mine comes true.

And the Lord answered him: Is the hand of the Lord unable? Thou shalt presently see whether my word shall come to pass or no.

Venit igitur Moyses, et narravit populo verba Domini, congregans septuaginta viros de senibus Israël, quos stare fecit circa tabernaculum.

So Moses went back to the people, and told them what the Lord had said. Then he chose seventy of the elders of Israel, and ranged them in a half-circle at the tabernacle door.

Moses therefore came, and told the people the words of the Lord, and assembled seventy men of the ancients of Israel, and made them to stand about the tabernacle.

Descenditque Dominus per nubem, et locutus est ad eum, auferens de spiritu qui erat in Moyse, et dans septuaginta viris. Cumque requievisset in eis spiritus, prophetaverunt, nec ultra cessaverunt.

And when the Lord came down, hidden in the cloud, to converse with him, he took some of the spirit which rested upon Moses and gave it to the seventy elders instead; whereupon they received a gift of prophecy which never left them.

And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, taking away of the spirit that was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the spirit had rested on them they prophesied, nor did they cease afterwards.

Remanserat autem in castris duo viri, quorum unus vocabatur Eldad, et alter Medad, super quos requievit spiritus. Nam et ipsi descripti fuerant, et non exierant ad tabernaculum.

This same spirit rested even upon two men, Eldad and Medad, who were still in the camp; their names were enrolled among the rest; but they had never gone out to the tabernacle.

Now there remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, upon whom the spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, but were not gone forth to the tabernacle.

Cumque prophetarent in castris, cucurrit puer, et nuntiavit Moysi, dicens: Eldad et Medad prophetant in castris.

There in the camp they fell a-prophesying, and a messenger ran to bring Moses tidings of it.

And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a young man, and told Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.

Statim Josue filius Nun, minister Moysi, et electus e pluribus, ait: Domine mi Moyses, prohibe eos.

At this, Josue the son of Nun, that was Moses’ favourite servant, cried out, My lord Moses, bid them keep silence.

Forthwith Josue the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, and chosen out of many, said: My lord Moses forbid them.

At ille: Quid, inquit æmularis pro me? quis tribuat ut omnis populus prophetet, et det eis Dominus spiritum suum?

What, said he, so jealous for my honour? For myself, I would have the whole people prophesy, with the spirit of the Lord resting on them too.

But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his spirit!

Reversusque est Moyses, et majores natu Israël in castra.

So Moses went back to the camp, and the elders of Israel with him.

And Moses returned, with the ancients of Israel, into the camp.

Ventus autem egrediens a Domino, arreptans trans mare coturnices detulit, et demisit in castra itinere quantum uno die confici potest, ex omni parte castrorum per circuitum, volabantque in aëre duobus cubitis altitudine super terram.

And now the Lord sent a wind that brought a flight of quails over the sea, and drove them down where the camp was, a day’s journey away on each side; quails that hovered only two cubits above the ground.

And a wind going out from the Lord, taking quails up beyond the sea brought them, and cast them into the camp for the space of one day’s journey, on every side of the camp round about, and they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground.

Surgens ergo populus toto die illo, et nocte, ac die altero, congregavit coturnicum: qui parum, decem coros: et siccaverunt eas per gyrum castrorum.

All that day and that night and the next day the Israelites busied themselves gathering in the quails, which lay so thick that a man made nothing of gathering a hundred bushels; then they spread them out to dry, round the camp.

The people therefore rising up all that day, and night, and the next day, gathered together of quails, he that did least, ten cores: and they dried them round about the camp.

Adhuc carnes erant in dentibus eorum, nec defecerat hujuscemodi cibus: et ecce furor Domini concitatus in populum, percussit eum plaga magna nimis.

They had meat between their teeth yet, and the supply had not begun to fail, when suddenly a grievous plague fell on them, sentence of the divine anger they had provoked;

As yet the flesh was between their teeth, neither had that kind of meat failed: when behold the wrath of the Lord being provoked against the people, struck them with an exceeding great plague.

Vocatusque est ille locus, Sepulchra concupiscentiæ: ibi enim sepelierunt populum qui desideraverat. Egressi autem de Sepulchris concupiscentiæ, venerunt in Haseroth, et manserunt ibi.

and the place was called ever after, The Graves of Greed, from the men that lay buried there whose greed was their undoing. From the Graves of Greed they made their way to Haseroth, and there encamped.

And that place was called, The graves of lust: for there they buried the people that had lusted. And departing from the graves of lust, they came unto Haseroth, and abode there.