The Lord Provides Manna

16 Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of ^(A)Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on ^(B)the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. ² But the whole congregation of the sons of Israel ^(C)grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³ The sons of Israel said to them, “^(D)If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, ^(E)when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread until we were full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this entire assembly with hunger!”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, ^(F)I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may ^(G)test them, whether or not they will walk in My ^[a]instruction. ^5 (H)On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening ^[b](I)you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt; ⁷ and in the morning ^[c]you will see ^(J)the glory of the Lord, for ^(K)He hears your grumblings against the Lord; and ^(L)what are we, that you grumble against us?”

The Lord Provides Meat

⁸ And Moses said, “This will happen when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and bread to the full in the morning; for the Lord hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are ^(M)not against us but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘^(N)Come forward before the Lord, for He has heard your grumblings.’” ¹⁰ And it came about, as Aaron spoke to the entire congregation of the sons of Israel, that they ^[d]looked toward the wilderness, and behold, ^(O)the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. ¹¹ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² “^(P)I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘^[e]At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread; and ^(Q)you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ So it came about at evening that ^(R)the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^(S)there was a layer of dew around the camp. ^14 (T)When the layer of dew ^[f]evaporated, behold, on the ^[g]surface of the wilderness ^(U)there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “^[h]What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “^(V)It is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is ^[i]what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone gather ^[j]as much as he will eat; you shall take ^[k](W)an omer apiece according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷ The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little. ¹⁸ When they measured it by the ^[l]omer, ^(X)the one who had gathered much did not have too much, and the one who had gathered little did not have too little; everyone gathered ^[m]as much as he would eat. ¹⁹ Moses said to them, “^(Y)No one is to leave any of it until morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank; and Moses was angry with them. ²¹ They gathered it morning by morning, everyone ^[n]as much as he would eat; but when the sun became hot, it would melt.

The Sabbath

^22 (Z)Now on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, ^[o]two omers for each one. When all the ^(AA)leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, ²³ then he said to them, “This is what the Lord ^[p]meant: ^(AB)Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and ^(AC)all that is left over ^[q]put aside to be kept until morning.” ²⁴ So they put it aside until morning, as Moses had ordered, and ^(AD)it did not stink nor was there a maggot in it. ²⁵ Then Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. ^26 (AE)Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be ^[r]none.”

²⁷ Yet it came about on the seventh day that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(AF)How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My ^[s]instructions? ²⁹ See, ^[t]the Lord has given you the Sabbath; for that reason He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain, everyone, in his place; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ And the house of ^(AG)Israel named the bread ^[u]manna, and it was like ^(AH)coriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. ³² Then Moses said, “This is ^[v]what the Lord has commanded: ‘A ^[w]full omer of it is to be kept safe throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” ³³ And Moses said to Aaron, “^(AI)Take a jar and put a ^[x]full omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept safe throughout your generations.” ³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before ^(AJ)the Testimony, to be kept. ³⁵ And ^(AK)the sons of Israel ate the manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ (Now ^(AL)an ^[y]omer is a tenth of an ephah.)

¹⁵ Now when one of those who were reclining at the table with Him heard this, he said to Him, “^(A)Blessed is everyone who will eat bread in the kingdom of God!”

Parable of the Dinner

¹⁶ But He said to him, “^(B)A man was giving a big dinner, and he invited many; ¹⁷ and at the dinner hour he sent his slave to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, because everything is ready now.’ ¹⁸ And yet they all alike began to make excuses. The first one said to him, ‘I purchased a field and I need to go out to look at it; ^[a]please consider me excused.’ ¹⁹ And another one said, ‘I bought five yoke of oxen, and I am going to try them out; ^[b]please consider me excused.’ ²⁰ And another one said, ‘^(C)I took a woman as my wife, and for that reason I cannot come.’ ²¹ And the slave came back and reported this to his master. Then the head of the household became angry and said to his slave, ‘Go out at once into the streets and lanes of the city and bring in here those who are poor, those with disabilities, those who are blind, and those who are limping.’ ²² And later the slave said, ‘Master, what you commanded has been done, and still there is room.’ ²³ And the master said to the slave, ‘Go out into the roads and the hedges and press upon them to come in, so that my house will be filled. ²⁴ For I tell you, none of those men who were invited shall taste my dinner.’”

Discipleship Tested

²⁵ Now ^[c]large crowds were going along with Him, and He turned and said to them, ²⁶ “^(D)If anyone comes to Me and does not ^[d]hate his own father, mother, wife, children, brothers, sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. ²⁷ Whoever does not ^(E)carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. ²⁸ For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost, to see if he has enough to complete it? ²⁹ Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who are watching it will begin to ridicule him, ³⁰ saying, ‘This person began to build, and was not able to finish!’ ³¹ Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and ^(F)consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to face the one coming against him with twenty thousand? ³² Otherwise, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and requests terms of peace. ³³ So then, none of you can be My disciple who ^(G)does not ^[e]give up all his own possessions.

³⁴ “Therefore, salt is good; but ^(H)if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be ^[f]seasoned? ³⁵ It is useless either for the soil or the manure pile, so it is thrown out. ^(I)The one who has ears to hear, ^[g]let him hear.”