Quail From the Lord

The rabble with them began to crave other food,(A) and again the Israelites started wailing(B) and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.(C) But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!(D)

The manna was like coriander seed(E) and looked like resin.(F) The people went around gathering it,(G) and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew(H) settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

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Complaint over the lack of meat

The riffraff among them had a strong craving. Even the Israelites cried again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for free, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. Now our lives are wasting away. There is nothing but manna in front of us.”

The manna was like coriander seed and its color was like resin. The people would roam around and collect it and grind it with millstones or pound it in a mortar. Then they would boil it in pots and make it into cakes. It tasted like cakes baked in olive oil. When the dew fell on the camp during the night, the manna would fall with it.

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