Exodus 16
English Standard Version
Bread from Heaven
16 They (A)set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel (B)grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, (C)“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, (D)when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain (E)bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may (F)test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, (G)it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, (H)“At evening (I)you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the (J)glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For (K)what are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—(L)what are we? Your grumbling is not (M)against us but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses (N)said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, (O)‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the (P)glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I (Q)have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At (R)twilight you shall eat meat, and (S)in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 In the evening (T)quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning (U)dew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, (V)“What is it?”[a] For they (W)did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, (X)“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an (Y)omer,[b] according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, (Z)whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and (AA)it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
22 On (AB)the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of (AC)solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and (AD)it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for (AE)today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, (AF)“How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people (AG)rested on the seventh day.
31 Now the house of Israel called its name (AH)manna. It was (AI)like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a (AJ)jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before (AK)the testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel (AL)ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till (AM)they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is (AN)the tenth part of an ephah.)[c]
Footnotes
- Exodus 16:15 Or “It is manna”; Hebrew man hu
- Exodus 16:16 An omer was about 2 quarts or 2 liters
- Exodus 16:36 An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters
Exodus 16
New Century Version
The People Demand Food
16 The whole Israelite community left Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which was between Elim and Sinai; they arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. 2 Then the whole Israelite community grumbled to Moses and Aaron in the desert. 3 They said to them, “It would have been better if the Lord had killed us in the land of Egypt. There we had meat to eat and all the food we wanted. But you have brought us into this desert to starve us to death.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will cause food to fall like rain from the sky for all of you. Every day the people must go out and gather what they need for that day. I want to see if the people will do what I teach them. 5 On the sixth day of each week, they are to gather twice as much as they gather on other days. Then they are to prepare it.”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites: “This evening you will know that the Lord is the one who brought you out of Egypt. 7 Tomorrow morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard you grumble against him. We are nothing, so you are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.” 8 And Moses said, “Each evening the Lord will give you meat to eat, and every morning he will give you all the bread you want, because he has heard you grumble against him. You are not grumbling against Aaron and me, because we are nothing; you are grumbling against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Speak to the whole community of the Israelites, and say to them, ‘Meet together in the presence of the Lord, because he has heard your grumblings.’”
10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole community of the Israelites, they looked toward the desert. There the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.
11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel. So tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and every morning you will eat all the bread you want. Then you will know I am the Lord your God.’”
13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost were on the desert ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, “What is it?” because they did not know what it was.
So Moses told them, “This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. 16 The Lord has commanded, ‘Each one of you must gather what he needs, about two quarts for every person in your family.’”
17 So the people of Israel did this; some people gathered much, and some gathered little. 18 Then they measured it. The person who gathered more did not have too much, nor did the person who gathered less have too little. Each person gathered just as much as he needed.
19 Moses said to them, “Don’t keep any of it to eat the next day.” 20 But some of the people did not listen to Moses and kept part of it to eat the next morning. It became full of worms and began to stink, so Moses was angry with those people.
21 Every morning each person gathered as much food as he needed, but when the sun became hot, it melted away.
22 On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much food—four quarts for every person. When all the leaders of the community came and told this to Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded, because tomorrow is the Sabbath, the Lord’s holy day of rest. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil today. Save the rest of the food until tomorrow morning.”
24 So the people saved it until the next morning, as Moses had commanded, and none of it began to stink or have worms in it. 25 Moses told the people, “Eat the food you gathered yesterday. Today is a Sabbath, the Lord’s day of rest; you will not find any out in the field today. 26 You should gather the food for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day. On that day there will not be any food on the ground.”
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather food, but they couldn’t find any. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you people refuse to obey my commands and teachings? 29 Look, the Lord has made the Sabbath a day of rest for you. So on the sixth day he will give you enough food for two days, but on the seventh day each of you must stay where you are. Do not go anywhere.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The people of Israel called the food manna. It was like small white seeds and tasted like wafers made with honey.
32 Then Moses said, “The Lord said, ‘Save two quarts of this food for your descendants. Then they can see the food I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’”
33 Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. Then place it before the Lord, and save it for your descendants.” 34 So Aaron did what the Lord had commanded Moses. He put the jar of manna in front of the Agreement to keep it safe. 35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to the land where they settled—the edge of the land of Canaan. 36 The measure they used for the manna was two quarts, or one-tenth of an ephah.[a]
Footnotes
- 16:36 ephah An ephah was a measure that equaled twenty quarts.
The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. ESV Text Edition: 2025.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.
