The Seventy Elders. ¹⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses: Assemble for me seventy of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be elders and authorities among the people, and bring them to the tent of meeting. When they are in place beside you, ¹⁷ I will come down and speak with you there. I will also take some of the spirit that is on you and will confer it on them, that they may share the burden of the people with you. You will then not have to bear it by yourself.

The Spirit on the Elders. ²⁴ So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. Gathering seventy elders of the people, he had them stand around the tent. ²⁵ The Lord then came down in the cloud and spoke to him. Taking some of the spirit that was on Moses, he bestowed it on the seventy elders; and as the spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied^[a] but did not continue.

²⁶ Now two men, one named Eldad and the other Medad, had remained in the camp, yet the spirit came to rest on them also. They too had been on the list, but had not gone out to the tent; and so they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ So, when a young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” ²⁸ Joshua, son of Nun, who from his youth had been Moses’ aide, said, “My lord, Moses, stop them.” ²⁹ But Moses answered him, “Are you jealous for my sake? If only all the people of the Lord were prophets! If only the Lord would bestow his spirit on them!”