¹⁸ Then you shall say to the people, ^[a]‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept ^(A)in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. ¹⁹ You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, ^20 (B)but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have ^(C)despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, ^(D)“Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?” ’ ”

²¹ And Moses said, ^(E)“The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ ^22 (F)Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”

²³ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(G)“Has^[b] the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether ^(H)what I say will happen to you or not.”