Beginning
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.)
Water From the Rock
17 The entire Israelite community set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sin[i] as the Lord had commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses said to them, “Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the Lord?”
3 But the people were thirsty for water there, so they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us up out of Egypt to let us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?”
4 Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me!”
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go in front of the people, and take the elders of Israel with you. Also take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 Watch me. I will stand there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. You are to strike the rock. Water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” Moses did that in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah[j] and Meribah,[k] because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Battle With the Amalekites
8 Then the Amalekites came and fought against the Israelites at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Select some men for us, and go out and fight against the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop, and God’s staff will be in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did just as Moses told him.
While Joshua was fighting against the Amalekites, Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the hilltop. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, the Israelites would start winning, but whenever he lowered his hand,[l] the Amalekites would start winning. 12 When Moses’ arms became tired, they took a stone and placed it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands—one on one side, and one on the other side. In this way his hands were steady until sunset. 13 So Joshua defeated the Amalekite army with the sword.
14 The Lord then said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a memorial, and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely erase the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven.” 15 Moses built an altar and named it “The Lord Is My Banner,” 16 because he had said, “Since a hand was raised against the throne of the Lord,[m] the Lord will be at war with the Amalekites from generation to generation.”
Jethro Visits Moses
18 Now Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, priest of Midian, heard about everything that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.
2 After Moses had sent his wife Zipporah away, his father-in-law Jethro had taken her in, 3 along with her two sons. The name of one son was Gershom,[n] for Moses had said, “I have become an alien in a foreign land.” 4 The name of the other was Eliezer,[o] for he had said, “My father’s God was my helper, and he has delivered me from Pharaoh’s sword.”
5 Moses’ father-in-law Jethro, Moses’ sons, and his wife were coming to Moses in the wilderness where he had camped at the mountain of God. 6 He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, your wife, and her two sons are coming to you.”
7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law, and he bowed down and kissed him. They asked each other how they had been,[p] and they went into the tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law about everything that the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, about all the hardships that had confronted them along the way, and how the Lord had delivered them. 9 Jethro rejoiced over all the good things that the Lord had done for Israel when he delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians.
10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians and the hand of Pharaoh. Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered the people out of the hand of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all gods because he did this to those who acted arrogantly against the Israelites.”
12 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat a meal with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.
13 The next day Moses sat down to serve as a judge for the people, and the people stood around Moses from morning till evening. 14 When Moses’ father-in-law saw everything that he did for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge with all the people standing around you from morning till evening?”
15 Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God. 16 Whenever there is a dispute between them, they come to me, and I judge between the two sides, and I reveal the regulations of God and his laws.”
17 Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good. 18 You will certainly wear out both yourself and these people who are with you, for the work is too much for you. You are not able to handle this alone. 19 Listen to me now. I will give you advice, and may God be with you. Represent the people before God, and bring their disputes to God. 20 Instruct them about the regulations and laws, and show them the way they are to live and the things that they are to do. 21 But you should select capable men from among all the people, God-fearing, trustworthy men, who hate dishonest gain. Then place them over the people as officials over groups of a thousand, a hundred, fifty, or ten. 22 Have them judge all the disputes of the people at the first level. They can refer any difficult case to you, but every easy case they can judge themselves. Make your load lighter; they can carry it with you. 23 If you will do this, and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people will also return home satisfied.”
24 Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything that he had said. 25 Moses chose capable men from all of Israel and made them leaders over the people: officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 26 They judged all the cases of the people initially. They brought the difficult cases to Moses, but every easy case they judged themselves. 27 Then Moses sent his father-in-law on his way, and he returned to his own land.
The Holy Bible, Evangelical Heritage Version®, EHV®, © 2019 Wartburg Project, Inc. All rights reserved.