Beginning
God sends special food
16 Then all the Israelites left Elim and they went into the desert called Sin. This is between Elim and Sinai. They arrived in the desert on the 15th day of the second month after they had left Egypt. 2 When they were in the desert, all the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, ‘It would have been better if the Lord had killed us in Egypt! There, we sat round pots with plenty of meat. We ate all the food that we wanted. But now you have brought us into this desert. We are so hungry that we will soon die!’
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I will cause bread to fall down from the sky for you like rain. Each day, the people must go out and pick up enough bread for that day. In this way I will test them. I will discover whether they will obey my rules. 5 On the sixth day, they must pick up and prepare twice as much bread.’
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, ‘In the evening, you will know who brought you out of Egypt. It was the Lord! 7 Then, in the morning, you will see how great the Lord is. The Lord has heard the bad things that you have said against him. We, Moses and Aaron, are the Lord's servants. So you are complaining against him, not against us!’
8 Moses said to them, ‘The Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening. And in the morning, he will give you all the bread that you want. He will do this because he has heard you when you complained against him. We are only his servants. You have said bad things against the Lord, not against us.’
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Say to all the Israelites, “The Lord has heard the bad things that you have said against him. Now come together, and stand in front of him.” ’ 10 While Aaron spoke, the Israelites looked towards the desert. They saw the bright glory of the Lord which appeared in the cloud.
11 Then the Lord said to Moses, 12 ‘I have heard the bad things that the Israelites have said against me. Tell them this: “In the evening, you will eat meat. And in the morning you will eat all the bread that you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.” ’
13 That evening, quails appeared. They covered all the ground round the tents.[a]
In the morning, there was dew on the ground round the tents. 14 When the dew had gone, thin white pieces remained on the dry ground, there in the desert. It seemed like frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw these pieces, they said, ‘What is it?’ They did not understand what it was. But Moses said to them, ‘This is the bread that the Lord has given to you. It is for you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: “Each family must pick up as much as they need to eat. Pick up two litres for each person who lives in your tent.” ’
17 So the Israelites did this. Some of them picked up a lot of the food. Some of them picked up only a little food. 18 But when they measured the right amount, everyone had enough to eat. The person who had picked up a lot did not have too much. And the person who had picked up only a little food still had enough to eat. Each person had picked up what he needed.
19 Then Moses said to them, ‘Do not keep any of it until the morning.’ 20 But some of the people did not listen to Moses. They kept part of the food until the morning. But worms appeared in it, and it began to have a bad smell. Then Moses was angry with those people.
21 Each morning, everyone picked up as much food as they needed. But when the sun became hot, the food would melt away. 22 On the sixth day, the Israelites picked up twice as much food. They picked up four litres for each person. Then the leaders of the people told Moses what they had done. 23 Moses said to them, ‘This is what the Lord has said: “Tomorrow is a special day of rest. It is a Sabbath day, to worship the Lord. Today, you must bake any food that you want to bake. Boil the meat that you want to boil. Keep until the morning whatever food you do not eat today.” ’
24 So they kept some food until the morning, as Moses had said. This time, the food did not have a bad smell and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, ‘Eat the food today, because this day is a Sabbath day, to worship the Lord. You will not find any food on the ground today. 26 On six days of each week, you must pick food up from the ground. But on the seventh day of the week, there will not be any food on the ground. That is because the seventh day is the Sabbath day of rest.’
27 But on the seventh day, some of the people went out to pick up food. But they did not find any. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘The people continue to refuse to obey my commands. They refuse to do what I tell them! 29 Remember this: The Lord has given the Sabbath day to you. That is why, on the sixth day, he gives you enough food for two days. Then everyone must stay at home on the seventh day. Nobody must leave his home that day.’ 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The Israelites called the special food ‘manna’. It was white, like seeds called coriander. When they tasted the manna, it was like thin pieces of bread with honey in it.
32 Moses said, ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: “Keep one bowl (an omer) of manna for people to look at in future times. They will see the bread that I fed to you in the desert, after I had brought you out of Egypt.” ’
33 So Moses said to Aaron, ‘Put an omer of manna into a jar. Then put the jar in the place where we worship the Lord. We must keep it safe, so that our descendants can see it in the future.’
34 Aaron did what the Lord had told Moses. He put the jar in the Covenant Box, to keep it safe.[b]
35 The Israelites ate the manna for 40 years, until they had finished their journey in the desert. After those 40 years, they arrived at the edge of Canaan.
36 (The people used omers to measure the food. Ten omers is equal to one ephah.)[c]
God gives water out of a rock
17 Then all the Israelites continued to travel on from the desert called Sin. They moved from one place to another, as the Lord told them. When they arrived at Rephidim, they put up their tents there. But there was no water for the people to drink. 2 Because of this, the people quarrelled with Moses. They said, ‘Give us water to drink!’ Moses said to them, ‘You should not quarrel with me! You should not try to test the Lord!’
3 But the people needed water to drink. They complained against Moses. They said, ‘You should not have brought us out of Egypt! You will kill us and our children and our animals. We will all die, because we have no water to drink.’
4 Then Moses called to the Lord for help. He said, ‘What can I do with these people? They will soon be throwing stones at me to kill me.’
5 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Take some of the leaders of the Israelites with you and go in front of the people. Take your stick in your hand. Take the stick that you used to hit the Nile river. Now go! 6 I will stand there, in front of you, by the rock at Sinai. Hit the rock with your stick, and water will come out of it. Then the people can drink.’ So Moses did this, while the leaders of the Israelites watched him.
7 Moses called that place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled there. They tried to test the Lord to see what he would do. They said, ‘Let us see if the Lord is really with us. Will he help us, or not?’[d]
The Israelites fight the Amalekites
8 At Rephidim, the Amalekites came and they fought against the Israelites. 9 Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some of our men. Then go out with them and fight against the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, and I will hold God's stick in my hand.’
10 So Joshua fought against the Amalekites. He did what Moses had told him to do. Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 When Moses lifted up his hands, the Israelites were winning in the fight. But when Moses brought his hands down, the Amalekites were winning. 12 Moses' hands became very tired. So Aaron and Hur put a big stone under Moses for him to sit on. Then Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hands. Aaron stood on one side of Moses, and Hur stood on the other side. They held his hands up, until sunset. 13 As a result, Joshua and his men destroyed the Amalekite army in the fight.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down what happened here in a book. Then people will remember it. Read it aloud for Joshua to hear. Say that I will completely destroy all the Amalekites. Nobody in the whole world will remember them any more.’
15 Then Moses used big stones to build an altar. He called it ‘The Lord is my flag in war’.[e] 16 Moses said, ‘Take hold of the Lord's flag! The Lord will always continue to fight against the Amalekites.’
Jethro visits Moses
18 The father of Moses' wife was called Jethro. He was the priest for the Midian people. He heard about all the things that God had done for Moses and for the Israelites. He also heard how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.
2 Moses had sent his wife, Zipporah, back to her home. He also sent his two sons with her. Jethro took care of them. 3 Moses' older son was called Gershom.[f] Moses said about him, ‘I have become a stranger in a foreign country.’ 4 The other son was called Eliezer.[g] Moses said about him, ‘My ancestors' God gave me help. He saved me from Pharaoh, when Pharaoh wanted to kill me.’
5 Jethro came to visit Moses in the wilderness. He brought with him Moses' wife and two sons. The Israelites had put up their tents near the mountain of God. 6 Jethro had already sent a message to Moses. He said, ‘I am coming with your wife and her two sons to see you.’
7 So Moses went out to meet his wife's father. He bent down and he kissed Jethro. They said ‘hello’ and they spoke together. Then they went into Moses' tent. 8 Moses told Jethro about all the things that the Lord had done to help the Israelites. He told him what the Lord had done against Pharaoh and against the Egyptians. He told Jethro about the troubles that had happened to the Israelites during their journey. And Moses told him how the Lord had saved his people.
9 When Jethro heard what Moses said, he was very happy. He realized that the Lord had saved the Israelites from the power of the Egyptians.
10 Jethro said, ‘Praise the Lord! He has saved you from the power of the Egyptians and their king, Pharaoh. Yes! He has saved the Israelites from the powerful Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods. He destroyed the proud Egyptians when they were cruel to his people.’
12 Then Jethro brought an animal to burn as a sacrifice to God. He also brought other sacrifices. Aaron came, with all the leaders of the Israelites. They ate a special meal together with Jethro, to worship God.
Moses chooses some judges
13 The next day, Moses sat down to judge people who had quarrels against each other. From morning until evening, people were coming to him with their quarrels.
14 Jethro saw all these things that Moses did to help the people. So he said, ‘You are trying to do too much! Why do you sit there alone to judge all these people during the whole day?’
15 Moses answered Jethro, ‘The people come to me to discover what God says. 16 When they quarrel, they come to me to decide who is right. I tell them what God's laws and commands teach.’
17 Jethro replied, ‘The thing that you are doing is not good. 18 You will become too tired. The people who come to you will also become tired. You cannot do all this work alone. 19 Now listen to me! I will tell you what I think will help you. God will take care of you. When people have quarrels, you must continue to speak to God on their behalf. 20 You are the person who must teach them God's laws and commands. You must show them how they should live and what they must do.
21 But you must also choose some other clever men to help you. They must be honest men who respect God. They must not want to take money from people. Choose these men to be officers with authority over groups of the people. They will be leaders of 1,000 people, or 100 people, or 50 people, or 10 people. 22 They will be able to work as judges for the people, every day. They can decide the small quarrels. But if there is a difficult problem, they must bring it to you. That will make your work easier, because they will help you with the work. 23 If you agree with my idea, and if God commands you to do it, it will help you. The work will not be too hard for you. And all these people will go home happily.’
24 Moses listened to Jethro and he did everything that Jethro had said.
25 Moses chose wise men from all the Israelites. He made them officers to lead 1,000 people, or 100 people, or 50 people, or 10 people. 26 They worked as judges for the people at all times. If there was a difficult problem, they took it to Moses for him to decide. But they themselves decided the small problems.
27 Then Moses said ‘goodbye’ to his wife's father, Jethro. Jethro returned to his own country.
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