Numbers 11:10-12 New English Translation

Moses’ Complaint to the Lord

¹⁰^[a] Moses heard the people weeping^[b] throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and when the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, Moses was also displeased.^[c] ¹¹And Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you afflicted^[d] your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that^[e] you lay the burden of this entire people on me? ¹²Did I conceive this entire people?^[f] Did I give birth to^[g] them, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father^[h] bears a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to their fathers?

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Footnotes

Numbers 11:10 sn Moses begins to feel the burden of caring for this people, a stubborn and rebellious people. His complaint shows how contagious their complaining has been. It is one thing to cry out to God about the load of ministry, but it is quite another to do it in such a way as to reflect a lack of faith in God’s provision. God has to remind the leader Moses that he, the Lord, can do anything. This is a variation on the theme from Exodus—“who am I that I should lead….”
Numbers 11:10 tn The participle “weeping” is functioning here as the noun in the accusative case, an adverbial accusative of state. It is explicative of the object.
Numbers 11:10 tn Heb “it was evil in the eyes of Moses.”
Numbers 11:11 tn The verb is the Hiphil of רָעַע (raʿaʿ, “to be evil”). Moses laments (with the rhetorical question) that God seems to have caused him harm.
Numbers 11:11 tn The infinitive construct with the preposition is expressing the result of not finding favor with God (see R. J. Williams, Hebrew Syntax, 12-13, §57). What Moses is claiming is that because he has been given this burden God did not show him favor.
Numbers 11:12 sn The questions Moses asks are rhetorical. He is actually affirming that they are not his people, that he did not produce them, but now is to support them. His point is that God produced this nation, but has put the burden of caring for their needs on him.
Numbers 11:12 tn The verb means “to beget, give birth to.” The figurative image from procreation completes the parallel question, first the conceiving and second the giving birth to the nation.
Numbers 11:12 tn The word אֹמֵן (ʾomen) is often translated “nurse,” but the form is a masculine form and would better be rendered as a “foster parent.” This does not work as well, though, with the יֹנֵק (yoneq), the “sucking child.” The two metaphors are simply designed to portray the duty of a parent to a child as a picture of Moses’ duty for the nation. The idea that it portrays God as a mother pushes it too far (see M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 86-87).

New English Translation (NET)