⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven^(A) for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test^(B) them and see whether they will follow my instructions. ⁵ On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice^(C) as much as they gather on the other days.”

¹³ That evening quail^(A) came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew^(B) around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost^(C) on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know^(D) what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread^(E) the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer^[a](F) for each person you have in your tent.’”

¹⁷ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.^(G) Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”^(H)

²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.^(I) So Moses was angry^(J) with them.

²¹ Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.

²³ “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like^(A) a king who wanted to settle accounts^(B) with his servants. ²⁴ As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold^[a] was brought to him. ²⁵ Since he was not able to pay,^(C) the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold^(D) to repay the debt.