ple, and placed them around the tabernacle, the Lord descend25 ed in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took a portion of the spi

rit which was upon him, and put it on the seventy elders. And 26 soon as the spirit rested on them, they prophesied. Now there were two who had not joined them, but were left in the camp. The name of the one was Eldad and the name of the other, Modad; and the spirit rested on them. They were of those who were written down, but they had not come to the taber27 nacle. And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a 28 young man, who told Moses, saying, Eldad and Modad are

prophesying in the camp. Upon which Joshua the son of Nave, who was the chosen attendant of Moses, addressing 29 him said, My lord Moses, forbid them. But Moses said to him, Thou shouldst not envy, on my account. O that the people of the Lord had all been made prophets when the Lord 30 put his spirit on these! Then Moses went into the camp, ac31 companied with the elders of Israel; and there went forth a wind from the Lord, and brought a flock of quails from the and drove them upon the camp, a day's journey on this side, and a day's journey on that side, all around the camp about 32 two cubits from the ground. Whereupon the people arose,

sea,

and all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, they gathered the flocks of quails, and he who gathered the fewest 33 collected ten cores. Though they had heated for themselves kilns all around the camp, the flesh was already between their teeth before it was quite dead. Whereupon the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote the 34 people with a very great plague, so that the name of that place

35

XII.

was called Monuments of longing desire; because they had there buried the people who had expressed such a longing desire.

From the Monuments of longing desire, the people removed

to Aseroth; and while they were at Aseroth, Mariam and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of the Ethiopian woman 2 whom Moses had taken; because he had taken to wife an Ethiopian woman, therefore they said, Hath the Lord spoken 3 to Moses only? Hath he not spoken to us also? (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men on the earth,) And when the Lord heard, the Lord immediately said to Mo

ses, and Aaron, and Mariam. Come forth you three to the ta4 bernacle of the testimony. And when they three came out to 5 the tabernacle of the testimony, the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of the testi6 mony, and Aaron and Mariam were called. And when they both came out he said to them, Hear my words. If there be a prophet among you to the Lord, I will make myself known to 7 him by a vision, and speak to him in sleep. Not so with respect 8 to my servant Moses. In all my house he is faithful. Mouth to mouth, I will speak to him personally, and not in dark sentences. He hath actually seen the glory of God. Why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses.

9

And the wrath of the Lord was upon them, and the cloud withdrew from the tabernacle, and behold Mariam was le10 prous like snow. When Aaron looked on Mariam, and be

hold she was leprous, he said to Moses, O my lord, impute 11 not sin to us, because we have acted ignorantly-because we 12 have sinned, Let her not be as dead, as an abortive, for it de13 voureth the half of her flesh. Whereupon Moses cryed to the 14 Lord, saying, O God, I beseech thee, heal her. And the Lord

said to Moses, If her father had spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be set apart seven days, 15 without the camp, and after that let her come in. So Mariam was set apart without the camp, seven days, and the people did XIII. not remove till Mariam was cleansed. And after this the people removed from Aseroth, and encamped in the wil2 derness of Pharan. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Send men, and let them examine for thee the land of the Chananites, which I am about to give to the children of Israel for a possession. Thou shalt send a man for every tribe; according to the communities of their patriarchal families, thou shalt send them, every one a leader among them.

3

So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Pharan, by the 4 command of the Lord. All the men were principal officers of the children of Israel, and these were their names-Of the tribe of Reuben, Samuel, son of Zachur; of the tribe of Symeon, Saphat, son of Suri; Of the tribe of Judas, Chaleb, son of Jephonne; of the tribe of Issachar, Ilaal, son of Joseph; of the tribe of Ephraim, Ause, son of Nave; of the tribe of Ben

jamin, Phalti, son of Raphu; of the tribe of Zabulon, Gudiel, son of Sudi; of the tribe of Joseph-of the Manassites, Gaddi, son of Susi; of the tribe of Dan, Amiel, son of Gamali; of the tribe of Aser, Sathur, son of Michael; of the tribe of Nephthaleim, Nabi, son of Sabi; of the tribe of Gad, Gudiel, son of Makchi.

16 These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to examine the land: (now Moses had surnamed Ause, son of Nave, 17 Joshua.) And upon sending them to view the land of Chanaan, 18 Moses said to them, Having gone up through this wilderness,

you shall go up to the mountain, and view the land, of what sort it is; and the people who are settled in it, whether they be 19 strong or weak; whether few or many; and what sort of a country it is in which they are settled, whether it is good or bad; and what sort of cities they inhabit, whether they dwell 20 in cities with walls, or without walls; and what the quality of the soil is, whether rich or poor; and whether there are trees there, or not. And having made a strict examination, you will bring with you some of the fruits of the land: (for their days, it being then the spring season, would reach to the time of the first ripe 21 grapes.) So they went up, and viewed the country from the 22 wilderness of Sin, as far as Roob on the way to Aimath. Then they went up, on a course parallel with the front of the desart; then turned down to Chebron, where were the Achimans and the Sessians, and the Thelamins, descendants of Enach. Now 23 Chebron was built seven years before Tanis in Egypt. And

having come to the valley of grapes, and viewed it, they cut there a branch with a cluster of grapes on it, and carried it on 24 poles, with some pomegranates and figs: and they called the

name of that place, Valley of Grapes; because of the bunch 25 of grapes which the children of Israel cut there. And having

viewed the land, they set out thence on their return, after forty 26 days, and journeying on came to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation of the Israelites in the wilderness of Pharan Kades, and made report to them and to all the congregation, 27 and shewed them the fruit of the land. And they gave him a

minute detail and said, We went to the country to which thou didst send us, a land flowing with milk and honey, and this 28 is the fruit of it. But nevertheless because the nation which

inhabiteth it is bold and the cities strong, defended with walls, and very large, and we have seen there the race of Enach; and 29 the Amalekites dwell in the land to the south, and the Chettites, and the Evites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, inhabit the hilly country; and the Chananites dwell on the sea 30 shore, and along the river Jordan (Here Chaleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, We have only to go up, and 31 we shall possess it, for we are stronger than they. But the men who went up with him said) We will not go up; for we are not able to go up against that nation; for it is much more power32 ful than we are. And they gave an astonishing account of the land which they had viewed, to the children of Israel, saying, The land through which we passed to view it, is a land which devoureth them who dwell therein; and all the people 33 which we saw are men of immense stature. There indeed we XIV. saw the giants, and we were before them like grasshop

pers—indeed we were nothing else before them. Upon this, all the congregation, raising their voices, shouted aloud, and 2 the people wept that whole night. And all the Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, O that we had died in the land of Egypt, or even 3 in this wilderness! If we must die, why doth the Lord lead us into that land to fall in battle? Our wives and our children will be for a prey. Now therefore it is better for us to return 4 to Egypt. Then they said to one another, Let us appoint a 5 leader, and return to Egypt. Upon this Moses and Aaron fell on their faces before all the congregation of the children of Is6 rael, and Joshua the son of Nave, and Chaleb the son of Je

phonne, two of them who had viewed the land, rent their 7 clothes, and spoke to all the congregation of the Israelites, say8 ing, The land which we viewed is indeed a most excellent land. If the Lord delighteth in us, he will lead us to that land, 9 and give it to us. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. Only rebel not against the Lord, and you need not be afraid of the people of the land, for they are food for us. For their time 10 is over, and the Lord is with us. Fear them not. And when

all the congregation ordered to stone them with stones, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, over the tabernacle 11 of the testimony, to all the children of Israel. And the Lord

said to Moses, How long shall this people provoke me? And how long will they disbelieve me, notwithstanding all the mi12 racles which I have done among them? Let me smite them

with pestilence and destroy them, and I will make thee and the house of thy father a great nation and much more nume13 rous than this. Thereupon Moses said to the Lord, Though Egypt may publish that thou by thy mighty power didst bring 14 this people out from among them-Nay though all the inhabitants of this land have heard that thou the Lord art among this people-that they with their eyes may behold thee, O Lord, exposed to view; and that thy cloud hath stood over them, and that thou marchest before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night; yet when thou shalt destroy this 15 people as one man, then will all the nations who have heard of 16 thy name speak, saying, Because the Lord was not able to

bring this people into the land which, with an oath, he promised 17 them, he hath destroyed them in the wilderness. Now there

fore let thy power, O Lord, be exalted. As thou hast spoken, saying, "The Lord is long suffering, abundant in mercy and 18 true, taking away iniquities, transgressions and sins; and, when he will not by purification clear the guilty, retributing the sins of fathers on children to the third and fourth generation," 19 forgive the sin of this people according to thy great mercy, as

thou hast been gracious to them from Egypt even to this time. 20 Then the Lord said to Moses, I am merciful to them accord21 ing to thy word. But as I live, and my name liveth, and the 22 glory of the Lord shall fill the whole earth; because all these

men, who have seen my glory, and the wonders which I have done in Egypt, and in this wilderness, have actually tempted 23 me now the tenth time, and have not hearkened to my voice, they indeed shall not see the land which I, with an oath, promised their fathers. But with regard to their children who are here with me as many as have not known good or evil-every one who is too young to be taught by experience, to them I 24 will give the land. As for all them who have provoked me, they shall not see it; But with regard to my servant Chaleb, because there was a different spirit in him, and he followed me, him I will bring into the land to which he went, and his seed 25 shall inherit it. Now the Amalekites and the Chananites dwell