Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God takes care of his people^[a]

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.

⁵ Think carefully about how you are living. Are you really believing the message about Christ? I hope you know that Jesus Christ is in you. You ought to know that, unless you have completely failed. ⁶ I hope that you will know that we ourselves have not failed. We do belong to Christ, as you do.

⁷ Now we pray to God that you will not do any wrong things. We do not pray this to show that God has accepted us as good. We pray like that because we want you to do what is right. We want that, even if we ourselves seem to have failed. ⁸ We can only work to show what is true. We cannot do anything against what is true. ⁹ We are happy when we seem to be weak, if you become strong as a result. We pray that you will become completely as you should be.

¹⁰ That is why I am writing these things to you now, while I am away from you. Then, when I arrive, I will not need to be angry with you. I will not have to use my authority to punish you. The Lord gave that authority to me to help you to become stronger as believers. He did not give it to me so that I could destroy you.