Exodus
Chapter 16
1 They left Elim, and all the Israelites reached the Sin desert, between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month since leaving Egypt.
2 The whole group of Israel’s people complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert.
3 The Israelites said to them, “We wish we had died by God’s hand in Egypt, where we sat around pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. You have led us into this desert to starve us all to death.”
4 God told Moses, “Look, I will make bread fall from the sky for you. Every day the people must go out and collect what they need for that day. This is to test if they will follow my rules or not.”
5 On the sixth day, they will get ready what they have collected; it will be twice as much as they gather each day.
6 Moses and Aaron told all the Israelites, “In the evening, you will know that God has taken you out of Egypt.”
7 In the morning, you will see God’s glory because he has heard your complaints against him: and who are we that you complain against us?
8 Moses said, “This will happen when God gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you need in the morning; because God hears your complaints which you make against him. And who are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against God.”
9 Moses told Aaron, “Tell all the Israelites to come before God, because he has heard your complaints.”
10 As Aaron was talking to all of Israel’s people, they looked at the desert and saw God’s glory in the cloud.
11 God spoke to Moses, saying,
12 I have heard the Israelites complaining. Tell them, ‘In the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will understand that I am God, your God.’
13 In the evening, quails flew in and spread over the camp; and in the morning, dew was all around the people.
14 When the dew disappeared, there was a small, round substance on the desert ground, as tiny as frost.
15 When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was. Then Moses told them, “This is the food that God has given you to eat.”
16 God has ordered this: Each person should collect as much as they need to eat, one omer per person, based on the number of people in your tent.
17 The Israelites did this and collected food, some gathering more, others less.
18 When they measured it with an omer, those who collected a lot had no extra, and those who collected a little had enough. Each person gathered as much as they needed to eat.
19 Moses said, “Don’t let anyone keep any of it until morning.”
20 Even though they did not listen to Moses, some people kept some until morning, and it got worms and smelled bad; and Moses was angry with them.
21 They collected it every morning, each person as much as they needed; and when the sun got hot, it melted.
22 On the sixth day, they collected double the bread, two omers per person, and the leaders of the group told Moses about it.
23 He told them, “This is what God has said, ‘Tomorrow is the Sabbath rest, a holy day for God: cook what you want to cook today, and boil what you want to boil; keep any leftovers to eat tomorrow morning.’”
24 They kept it until morning, as Moses instructed, and it didn’t smell bad or have any worms in it.
25 Moses said, “Eat that today; for today is a Sabbath to God: you will not find it in the field today.”
26 Gather food for six days, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.
27 It happened that on the seventh day some people went out to collect food, but they found nothing.
28 God asked Moses, “How long will you refuse to follow my commands and laws?”
29 Look, because God has given you the Sabbath, he gives you two days’ worth of bread on the sixth day; stay where you are, nobody should leave their place on the seventh day.
30 The people rested on the seventh day.
31 The people of Israel named it Manna; it was like white coriander seed and tasted like honey cakes.
32 Moses said, “This is what God commands: Take a full omer to save for future generations, so they can see the bread I gave you in the desert when I led you out of Egypt.”
33 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, put a full omer of manna in it, and place it before God to save for your descendants.”
34 As God directed Moses, Aaron put it in front of the Testimony to be preserved.
35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they reached an area where people lived; they ate manna until they got to the edge of Canaan.
36 An omer is one-tenth of an ephah.