---
title: "Numbers 11 – Catholic Bible (CPDV) & Latin Vulgate · Bless"
url: https://blessbible.app/bible/numbers/11/
description: "The people murmur and are punished with fire. God appointeth seventy ancients… Numbers 11 in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin Vulgate."
---

# Numbers 11

Numbers 11 is chapter 11 of 36 in the Book of Numbers. Here are all 34 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

> The people murmur and are punished with fire. God appointeth seventy ancients for assistants to Moses. They prophesy. The people have their fill of flesh, but forthwith many die of the plague.
>
> — Bp. Richard Challoner, chapter summary

## Numbers 11 (Catholic Public Domain Version)

1. Meanwhile, there arose a murmur among the people against the Lord, as if they were grief-stricken because of their labors. And when the Lord had heard it, he was angry. And when the fire of the Lord was enflamed against them, it devoured those who were at the extreme end of the camp.
2. And when the people had cried out to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was consumed.
3. And he called the name of that place, ‘The Burning,’ because the fire of the Lord had burned against them.
4. So then, the mix of common people, who had ascended with them, were enflamed with desire, and sitting and weeping, with the sons of Israel joining them, they said, “Who will give us flesh to eat?
5. We remember the fish that we ate freely in Egypt; we call to mind the cucumbers, and melons, and leeks, and onions, and garlic.
6. Our life is dry; our eyes look out to see nothing but manna.”
7. Now the manna was like coriander seed, but with the color of bdellium.
8. And the people wandered about, gathering it, and they crushed it with a millstone, or ground it with a mortar; then they boiled it in a pot, and made biscuits out of it, with a taste like bread made with oil.
9. And when the dew descended in the night over the camp, the manna descended together with it.
10. And so, Moses heard the people weeping by their families, each one at the door of his tent. And the fury of the Lord was greatly enflamed. And to Moses also the matter seemed intolerable.
11. And so he said to the Lord: “Why have you afflicted your servant? Why do I not find favor before you? And why have you imposed the weight of this entire people upon me?
12. Could I have conceived this entire multitude, or have given birth to them, so that you might say to me: Carry them in your bosom, as a nursemaid usually carries a little infant, and bring them into the land, about which you have sworn to their fathers?
13. From where would I obtain the flesh to give to so great a multitude? They weep against me, saying, ‘Give us flesh, so that we may eat.’
14. I alone am unable to sustain this entire people, because it is too heavy for me.
15. But if it seems to you otherwise, I beg you to put me to death, and so may I find grace in your eyes, lest I be afflicted with such evils.”
16. And the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders, as well as teachers, of the people. And you shall lead them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and you shall cause them to stand there with you,
17. so that I may descend and speak to you. And I will take from your spirit, and I will deliver it to them, so that, with you, they may sustain the burden of the people, and so that you will not be weighed down alone.
18. You shall also say to the people: Be sanctified. Tomorrow you will eat flesh. For I have heard you say: ‘Who will give us flesh to eat? It was well with us in Egypt.’ So then, may the Lord give you flesh. And you will eat,
19. not for one day, nor for two, nor for five, nor for ten, nor even for twenty,
20. but for up to a month of days, until it exits from your nostrils, and until it turns into nausea for you, because you have slipped away from the Lord, who is in your midst, and because you have wept before him, saying: ‘Why did we go forth out of Egypt?’”
21. And Moses said: “There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and yet you say, ‘I will give them flesh to eat for a whole month.’
22. Could a multitude of sheep and oxen be slain, so that there would be enough food? Or will the fishes of the sea be gathered together, in order to satisfy them?”
23. And the Lord answered him: “Can the hand of the Lord be ineffective? Soon now, you shall see whether my word will be fulfilled in this work.”
24. And so, Moses went and explained the words of the Lord to the people. Gathering together seventy men from the elders of Israel, he caused them to stand around the tabernacle.
25. And the Lord descended in a cloud, and he spoke to him, taking from the Spirit which was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the Spirit had rested in them, they prophesied; nor did they cease afterwards.
26. Now there had 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 they did not go forth to the tabernacle.
27. And when they were prophesying in the camp, a boy ran and reported to Moses, saying: “Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.”
28. Promptly, Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses and chosen from many, said: “My lord Moses, prohibit them.”
29. But he said, “Why are you jealous on my behalf? Who decides that any of the people may prophesy and that God may give to them his Spirit?”
30. And Moses returned, with those greater by birth of Israel, into the camp.
31. Then a wind, going out from the Lord and moving forcefully across the sea, brought quails and cast them into the camp, across a distance of one day’s journey, in every part of the camp all around, and they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground.
32. Therefore, the people, rising up, gathered quails all that day and night, and the next day; he who did least well gathered ten homers. And they dried them throughout the camp.
33. The flesh was still between their teeth, neither had this kind of food ceased, and behold, the fury of the Lord was provoked against the people, and he struck them with an exceedingly great scourge.
34. And that place was called, ‘The Graves of Lust.’ For there, they buried the people who had desired. Then, departing from the Graves of Lust, they arrived in Hazeroth, and they stayed there.

## Numbers 11 in Latin (Clementine Vulgate, 1592)

1. 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.
2. Cumque clamasset populus ad Moysen, oravit Moyses ad Dominum, et absorptus est ignis.
3. Vocavitque nomen loci illius, Incensio: eo quod incensus fuisset contra eos ignis Domini.
4. 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?
5. recordamur piscium quos comedebamus in Ægypto gratis: in mentem nobis veniunt cucumeres, et pepones, porrique, et cæpe, et allia.
6. Anima nostra arida est: nihil aliud respiciunt oculi nostri nisi man.
7. Erat autem man quasi semen coriandri, coloris bdellii.
8. Circuibatque populus, et colligens illud, frangebat mola, sive terebat in mortario, coquens in olla, et faciens ex eo tortulas saporis quasi panis oleati.
9. Cumque descenderet nocte super castra ros, descendebat pariter et man.
10. Audivit ergo Moyses flentem populum per familias, singulos per ostia tentorii sui. Iratusque est furor Domini valde: sed et Moysi intoleranda res visa est,
11. et ait ad Dominum: Cur afflixisti servum tuum? quare non invenio gratiam coram te? et cur imposuisti pondus universi populi hujus super me?
12. 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?
13. Unde mihi carnes ut dem tantæ multitudini? flent contra me, dicentes: Da nobis carnes ut comedamus.
14. Non possum solus sustinere omnem hunc populum, quia gravis est mihi.
15. Sin aliter tibi videtur, obsecro ut interficias me, et inveniam gratiam in oculis tuis, ne tantis afficiar malis.
16. 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,
17. ut descendam et loquar tibi: et auferam de spiritu tuo, tradamque eis, ut sustentent tecum onus populi, et non tu solus graveris.
18. 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:
19. non uno die, nec duobus, vel quinque aut decem, nec viginti quidem,
20. 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?
21. Et ait Moyses: Sexcenta millia peditum hujus populi sunt: et tu dicis: Dabo eis esum carnium mense integro?
22. numquid ovium et boum multitudo cædetur, ut possit sufficere ad cibum? vel omnes pisces maris in unum congregabuntur, ut eos satient?
23. Cui respondit Dominus: Numquid manus Domini invalida est? jam nunc videbis utrum meus sermo opere compleatur.
24. Venit igitur Moyses, et narravit populo verba Domini, congregans septuaginta viros de senibus Israël, quos stare fecit circa tabernaculum.
25. 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.
26. 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.
27. Cumque prophetarent in castris, cucurrit puer, et nuntiavit Moysi, dicens: Eldad et Medad prophetant in castris.
28. Statim Josue filius Nun, minister Moysi, et electus e pluribus, ait: Domine mi Moyses, prohibe eos.
29. At ille: Quid, inquit æmularis pro me? quis tribuat ut omnis populus prophetet, et det eis Dominus spiritum suum?
30. Reversusque est Moyses, et majores natu Israël in castra.
31. 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.
32. Surgens ergo populus toto die illo, et nocte, ac die altero, congregavit coturnicum: qui parum, decem coros: et siccaverunt eas per gyrum castrorum.
33. Adhuc carnes erant in dentibus eorum, nec defecerat hujuscemodi cibus: et ecce furor Domini concitatus in populum, percussit eum plaga magna nimis.
34. Vocatusque est ille locus, Sepulchra concupiscentiæ: ibi enim sepelierunt populum qui desideraverat. Egressi autem de Sepulchris concupiscentiæ, venerunt in Haseroth, et manserunt ibi.

## Catechism of the Catholic Church

Paragraph numbers and the Catechism's own section headings (never quoted); text at vatican.va.
- cf. CCC ¶ 1541: The Sacrament of Holy Orders in the Economy of Salvation ([vatican.va index](https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM))

## Bishop Challoner's notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750); they comment on its older wording.
- Verse 3: “The burning” … Hebrew, Taberah.
- Verse 4: These were people that came with them out of Egypt, who were not of the race of Israel; who, by their murmuring, drew also the children of Israel to murmur: this should teach us the danger of associating ourselves with the children of Egypt, that is, with the lovers and admirers of this wicked world.
- Verse 7: “Bdellium” … Bdellium, according to Pliny, 1. 21, c. 9. was of the colour of a man's nail, white and bright.
- Verse 16: “Seventy men” … This was the first institution of the council or senate, called the Sanhedrin, consisting of seventy or seventy-two senators or counsellors.
- Verse 34: “The graves of lust” … Or, the sepulchres of concupiscence: so called from their irregular desire of flesh. In Hebrew, Kibroth. Hattaavah.

## Read at Mass (US)

- Mon, Aug 2, 2027 (computed): Monday of the Eighteenth Week in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Numbers 11:4b-15
- Sun, Sep 26, 2027 (computed): Twenty-sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time — First Reading, Numbers 11:25-29

Dates after May 31, 2027 are computed by Bless from the US Lectionary cycle — confirm with your parish.

Source: Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain; Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592).