Exodus 16:16-21
New English Translation
16 “This is what[a] the Lord has commanded:[b] ‘Each person is to gather[c] from it what he can eat, an omer[d] per person[e] according to the number[f] of your people;[g] each one will pick it up[h] for whoever lives[i] in his tent.’” 17 The Israelites did so, and they gathered—some more, some less. 18 When[j] they measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing; each one had gathered what he could eat.
19 Moses said to them, “No one[k] is to keep any of it[l] until morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses; some[m] kept part of it until morning, and it was full[n] of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them. 21 So they gathered it each morning,[o] each person according to what he could eat, and when the sun got hot, it would melt.[p]
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- Exodus 16:16 tn Heb “the thing that.”
- Exodus 16:16 tn The perfect tense could be taken as a definite past with Moses now reporting it. In this case a very recent past. But in declaring the word from Yahweh it could be instantaneous, and receive a present tense translation—“here and now he commands you.”
- Exodus 16:16 tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”
- Exodus 16:16 sn The omer is an amount mentioned only in this chapter, and its size is unknown, except by comparison with the ephah (v. 36). A number of recent English versions approximate the omer as “two quarts” (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT); TEV “two litres.”
- Exodus 16:16 tn Heb “for a head.”
- Exodus 16:16 tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).
- Exodus 16:16 tn Traditionally “souls.”
- Exodus 16:16 tn Heb “will take.”
- Exodus 16:16 tn “lives” has been supplied.
- Exodus 16:18 tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is subordinated here as a temporal clause.
- Exodus 16:19 tn The address now is for “man” (אִישׁ, ʾish), “each one”; here the instruction seems to be focused on the individual heads of the households.
- Exodus 16:19 tn Or “some of it,” “from it.”
- Exodus 16:20 tn Heb “men”; this usage is designed to mean “some” (see GKC 447 §138.h, n. 1).
- Exodus 16:20 tn The verb וַיָּרֻם (vayyarum) is equivalent to a passive—“it was changed”—to which “worms” is added as an accusative of result (GKC 388-89 §121.d, n. 2).
- Exodus 16:21 tn Heb “morning by morning.” This is an example of the repetition of words to express the distributive sense; here the meaning is “every morning” (see GKC 388 §121.c).
- Exodus 16:21 tn The perfect tenses here with vav (ו) consecutives have the frequentative sense; they function in a protasis-apodosis relationship (GKC 494 §159.g).
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