Exodus 15:22-18:27

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

V. The Journey in the Wilderness to Sinai

At Marah and Elim. ^22 (A)Then Moses led Israel forward from the Red Sea,^[a] and they marched out to the wilderness of Shur. After traveling for three days through the wilderness without finding water, ²³ they arrived at Marah, where they could not drink its water, because it was too bitter. Hence this place was called Marah. ²⁴ As the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” ²⁵ he cried out to the Lord, who pointed out to him a piece of wood. When he threw it into the water, the water became fresh.^(B)

It was here that God, in making statutes and ordinances for them, put them to the test. ²⁶ He said: If you listen closely to the voice of the Lord, your God, and do what is right in his eyes: if you heed his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases with which I afflicted the Egyptians;^(C) for I, the Lord, am your healer.

²⁷ Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.^(D)

Chapter 16

The Wilderness of Sin. ¹ Having set out from Elim, the whole Israelite community came into the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month^[b] after their departure from the land of Egypt. ² Here in the wilderness the whole Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died at the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, as we sat by our kettles of meat and ate our fill of bread! But you have led us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of famine!”

The Quail and the Manna. ⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses:^(E) I am going to rain down bread from heaven^[c] for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather their daily portion; thus will I test them, to see whether they follow my instructions or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, however, when they prepare what they bring in, let it be twice as much as they gather on the other days. ⁶ So Moses and Aaron told all the Israelites,^(F) “At evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt; ⁷ and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, when he hears your grumbling against him. But who are we that you should grumble against us?” ⁸ And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and in the morning your fill of bread, and hears the grumbling you utter against him, who then are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole Israelite community: Approach the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.” ¹⁰ But while Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they turned in the direction of the wilderness, and there the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud! ¹¹ The Lord said to Moses: ¹² I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread, and then you will know that I, the Lord, am your God.

¹³ In the evening, quail^(G) came up and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all about the camp, ¹⁴ and when the layer of dew evaporated, fine flakes were on the surface of the wilderness, fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground. ¹⁵ On seeing it, the Israelites asked one another, “What is this?”^[d] for they did not know what it was. But Moses told them, “It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.^(H)

Regulations Regarding the Manna. ¹⁶ “Now, this is what the Lord has commanded. Gather as much of it as each needs to eat, an omer^[e] for each person for as many of you as there are, each of you providing for those in your own tent.” ¹⁷ The Israelites did so. Some gathered a large and some a small amount. ^18 [f]But when they measured it out by the omer, the one who had gathered a large amount did not have too much, and the one who had gathered a small amount did not have too little. They gathered as much as each needed to eat. ¹⁹ Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over until morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses, and some kept a part of it over until morning, and it became wormy and stank. Therefore Moses was angry with them.

²¹ Morning after morning they gathered it, as much as each needed to eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²² On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers for each person. When all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses, ²³ he told them, “That is what the Lord has prescribed. Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy sabbath of the Lord. Whatever you want to bake, bake; whatever you want to boil, boil; but whatever is left put away and keep until the morning.” ²⁴ When they put it away until the morning, as Moses commanded, it did not stink nor were there worms in it. ²⁵ Moses then said, “Eat it today, for today is the sabbath of the Lord. Today you will not find any in the field. ²⁶ Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, it will not be there.” ²⁷ Still, on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they did not find any. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses: How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions? ²⁹ Take note! The Lord has given you the sabbath. That is why on the sixth day he gives you food for two days. Each of you stay where you are and let no one go out on the seventh day. ³⁰ After that the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The house of Israel named this food manna.^(I) It was like coriander seed,^[g] white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey.

³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded. Keep a full omer of it for your future generations, so that they may see the food I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.” ³³ Moses then told Aaron, “Take a jar^[h] and put a full omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to keep it for your future generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord had commanded Moses, Aaron placed it in front of the covenant^[i] to keep it.

³⁵ The Israelites ate the manna for forty years, until they came to settled land;^(J) they ate the manna until they came to the borders of Canaan. ³⁶ (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)^[j]

Chapter 17

Water from the Rock. ¹ From the wilderness of Sin the whole Israelite community journeyed by stages, as the Lord directed, and encamped at Rephidim.^(K)

But there was no water for the people to drink, ^2 (L)and so they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to a test?” ³ Here, then, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why then did you bring us up out of Egypt? To have us die of thirst with our children and our livestock?” ⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” ⁵ The Lord answered Moses: Go on ahead of the people, and take along with you some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the Nile. ⁶ I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.^(M) Moses did this, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ The place was named Massah and Meribah,^[k] because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”^(N)

Battle with Amalek. ⁸ Then Amalek^[l] came and waged war against Israel in Rephidim.^{(O) 9} So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us, and tomorrow go out and engage Amalek in battle. I will be standing on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ Joshua did as Moses told him: he engaged Amalek in battle while Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of the hill. ¹¹ As long as Moses kept his hands raised up, Israel had the better of the fight, but when he let his hands rest, Amalek had the better of the fight. ¹² Moses’ hands, however, grew tired; so they took a rock and put it under him and he sat on it. Meanwhile Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side and one on the other, so that his hands remained steady until sunset. ¹³ And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses: Write this down in a book as something to be remembered, and recite it to Joshua:^(P) I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens. ¹⁵ Moses built an altar there, which he named Yahweh-nissi;^{[m] 16} for he said, “Take up the banner of the Lord!^[n] The Lord has a war against Amalek through the ages.”

Chapter 18

Meeting with Jethro. ¹ Now Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel: how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. ² So his father-in-law Jethro took along Zipporah, Moses’ wife—now this was after Moses had sent her back—^{[o] 3} and her two sons. One of these was named Gershom;^(Q) for he said, “I am a resident alien in a foreign land.” ⁴ The other was named Eliezer; for he said, “The God of my father is my help; he has rescued me from Pharaoh’s sword.” ⁵ Together with Moses’ wife and sons, then, his father-in-law Jethro came to him in the wilderness where he was encamped at the mountain of God,^{[p] 6} and he sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, along with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷ Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, bowed down, and then kissed him. Having greeted each other, they went into the tent. ⁸ Moses then told his father-in-law of all that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the sake of Israel, and of all the hardships that had beset them on their journey, and how the Lord had rescued them. ⁹ Jethro rejoiced over all the goodness that the Lord had shown Israel in rescuing them from the power of the Egyptians. ¹⁰ “Blessed be the Lord,” he said, “who has rescued you from the power of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh. ¹¹ Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; for he rescued the people from the power of the Egyptians when they treated them arrogantly.” ¹² Then Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, brought a burnt offering^[q] and sacrifices for God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to share with Moses’ father-in-law in the meal before God.

Appointment of Minor Judges. ¹³ The next day Moses sat in judgment for the people, while they stood around him from morning until evening. ¹⁴ When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he asked, “What is this business that you are conducting for the people? Why do you sit alone while all the people have to stand about you from morning till evening?” ¹⁵ Moses answered his father-in-law, “The people come to me to consult God. ¹⁶ Whenever they have a disagreement, they come to me to have me settle the matter between them and make known to them God’s statutes and instructions.”

¹⁷ “What you are doing is not wise,” Moses’ father-in-law replied. ¹⁸ “You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. The task is too heavy for you;^(R) you cannot do it alone. ^19 [r]Now, listen to me, and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. Act as the people’s representative before God, and bring their disputes to God. ²⁰ Enlighten them in regard to the statutes and instructions, showing them how they are to conduct themselves and what they are to do. ²¹ But you should also look among all the people for able and God-fearing men, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain, and set them over the people as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens.^{(S) 22} Let these render decisions for the people in all routine cases. Every important case they should refer to you, but every lesser case they can settle themselves. Lighten your burden by letting them bear it with you! ²³ If you do this, and God so commands you,^[s] you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people, too, will go home content.”

²⁴ Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. ²⁵ He picked out able men from all Israel and put them in charge of the people as commanders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties, and of tens. ²⁶ They rendered decisions for the people in all routine cases. The more difficult cases they referred to Moses, but all the lesser cases they settled themselves. ²⁷ Then Moses said farewell to his father-in-law, who went off to his own country.