Exodus 16
Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh Rains Bread from Heaven
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 And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel (C)grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 And the sons of Israel said to them, “(D)Would that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, (E)when we sat by the pots of [a]meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to put this whole assembly to death with hunger.”
4 Then Yahweh 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, that I may (G)test them, whether or not they will walk in My [b]law. 5 (H)Now it will be on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening [c](I)you will know that Yahweh has brought you out of the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning [d]you will see (J)the glory of Yahweh, for (K)He hears your grumblings against Yahweh; and (L)what are we, that you grumble against us?”
Yahweh Gives Meat and Bread
8 And Moses said, “This will happen when Yahweh gives you [e]meat to eat in the evening and bread to the full in the morning; for Yahweh hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are (M)not against us but against Yahweh.”
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘(N)Come near before Yahweh, for He has heard your grumblings.’” 10 Now it happened as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, (O)the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud. 11 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 12 “(P)I have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘[f]At twilight you shall eat [g]meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, so that (Q)you shall know that I am Yahweh your God.’”
13 So it happened 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)Then the layer of dew [h]evaporated, and behold, on the [i]surface of the wilderness (U)there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. 15 And the sons of Israel saw it and said to one another, “[j]What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “(V)It is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat. 16 This is [k]what Yahweh has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man [l]as much as he should eat; you shall take an [m](W)omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the sons of Israel did so; some gathered much and some little. 18 And they measured it with an [n]omer, and (X)he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered [o]as much as he should eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “(Y)Let no man 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 became foul; and Moses was angry with them. 21 So they gathered it morning by morning, every man [p]as much as he should eat; but the sun would grow hot, and it would melt.
Yahweh Gives Bread for Two Days
22 (Z)Now it happened that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. Then all the (AA)leaders of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 And he said to them, “This is what Yahweh has spoken: (AB)Tomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to Yahweh. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and (AC)all that is in excess [q]put aside to be kept until morning.” 24 So they [r]put it aside until morning, as Moses had commanded, and (AD)it did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. 25 And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to Yahweh; 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 [s]none.”
27 Now it happened on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “(AF)How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My [t]laws? 29 See, Yahweh has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 And the house of (AG)Israel named it [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 Yahweh has commanded, ‘Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, 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 an omerful of manna in it, and place it before Yahweh to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before (AJ)the Testimony to be kept. 35 (AK)And the sons of Israel ate the manna 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 [w]omer is a tenth of an [x]ephah.)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 16:3 Or flesh
- Exodus 16:4 Or instruction
- Exodus 16:6 Lit and you
- Exodus 16:7 Lit and you
- Exodus 16:8 Or flesh
- Exodus 16:12 Lit Between the two evenings
- Exodus 16:12 Or flesh
- Exodus 16:14 Lit had gone up
- Exodus 16:14 Lit face of
- Exodus 16:15 Heb Man hu, sounds similar to manna; cf. 16:31
- Exodus 16:16 Lit the thing which
- Exodus 16:16 Lit according to his eating
- Exodus 16:16 Lit an omer for a head; an omer was approx. 2.1 qt. or 2.3 l
- Exodus 16:18 An omer was approx. 2.1 qt. or 2.3 l
- Exodus 16:18 Lit according to his eating
- Exodus 16:21 Lit according to his eating
- Exodus 16:23 Lit lay up for you
- Exodus 16:24 Lit laid it up
- Exodus 16:26 Lit none on it
- Exodus 16:28 Or instructions
- Exodus 16:31 Heb man, cf. 16:15
- Exodus 16:32 Lit the thing which
- Exodus 16:36 An omer was approx. 2.1 qt. or 2.3 l
- Exodus 16:36 An ephah was approx. 21 qt. or 23 l
Exodus 16
Evangelical Heritage Version
The Lord Provides Manna and Quail
16 On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt, the entire Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin,[a] which is between Elim and Sinai. 2 The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat around pots of meat and ate as much food as we wanted, but now you have brought us out into this wilderness to have this whole community die of hunger.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Watch what I will do. I will rain down bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether they will follow my instructions or not. 5 On the sixth day they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “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, because he has heard your constant grumbling against the Lord. Who are we that you should grumble against us?”
8 Moses said, “Now the Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because the Lord has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 As Aaron spoke to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and suddenly the Glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.
11 The Lord spoke to Moses: 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Say to them, ‘At evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 So in the evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew surrounded the camp. 14 When the layer of dew was gone, there were thin flakes on the surface of the wilderness, thin as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?”[b] because they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given to you as food to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: All of them are to gather as much of it as they need to eat. You are to take an omer[c] per person based on the number of people each of you has in your tents.”
17 The Israelites did this, and some gathered more, some less. 18 When they measured it with an omer, the one who gathered more did not have too much, and the one who gathered less did not have too little. All of them gathered as much as they needed to eat. 19 Moses said to them, “No one is to leave any of it until morning.” 20 However, they did not listen to Moses. Some of them left part of it until morning, and it became full of worms and stank. So Moses was angry with them.
21 They gathered it each morning. All of them gathered as much as they needed to eat. When the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers for each person, and all the leaders of the community came and reported to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: Tomorrow is a complete rest, a holy sabbath[d] to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, but set aside for yourselves all the rest of it to be kept until morning.”
24 So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Today eat whatever is left over, for today is a sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find any around the camp.[e] 26 Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they did not find any. 28 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you people refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions? 29 Look, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days’ worth of bread. All of you are to stay where you are. None of you are to leave your places on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The house of Israel called it manna.[f] It looked like white coriander seed, and it tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: A full omer[g] of it is to be kept throughout your generations so that they may see the bread which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
33 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a container, and put a full omer of manna in it. Place it before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 To obey the Lord’s command to Moses, Aaron placed an omer before the Testimony,[h] to be preserved. 35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to a land that was inhabited. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer, by the way, is one-tenth of an ephah.)
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Exodus 16:1 Sin is a geographic name like Sinai. It does not refer to Israel’s sin.
- Exodus 16:15 The Hebrew for What is it? sounds like the word for manna.
- Exodus 16:16 An omer is a container that holds approximately two quarts. Since the term here means both the container and the amount that it holds, and an omer is compared with an ephah, another ancient measurement, the translation retains the Hebrew term rather than converting it to a present-day measurement. See verse 36.
- Exodus 16:23 The Hebrew word shabbat means a day of rest. Here the Hebrew reads a shabbaton, a holy shabbat to the Lord.
- Exodus 16:25 Literally in the field
- Exodus 16:31 Manna sounds like the Hebrew for What is it? See verse 15.
- Exodus 16:32 An omer is a container that holds about two quarts. See the note on verse 16.
- Exodus 16:34 The Testimony is another name for the Ten Commandments and for the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Ten Commandments.
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