Exodus 16:1-36 - Yahweh Provides Food In The Desert

¹ And they set out from Elim, and all the community of the {Israelites} came to the desert of Sin, which [is] between Elim {and Sinai}, in the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out from the land of Egypt. ² And all the community of the {Israelites} grumbled against Moses and against Aaron in the desert. ³ And the {Israelites} said to them, "{If only we had died} by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread {until we were full}, because you have brought us out to this desert to kill all of this assembly with hunger."

⁴ And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, I am going to rain down for you bread from the heavens, and the people will go out and gather enough for the day on its day; in that way I will test them: Will they go according to my law or not? ⁵ And then on the sixth day, they will prepare what they bring, and it will be twice over what they will gather every [other] day."

⁶ And Moses and Aaron said to all the {Israelites}, "[In the] evening, you will know that Yahweh has brought you out from the land of Egypt, ⁷ and [in the] morning, you will see the glory of Yahweh, {for he hears} your grumblings against Yahweh, and what [are] we that you grumble against us?" ⁸ And Moses said, "When in the evening Yahweh gives you meat to eat and bread in the morning {to fill up on}, {for he hears} your grumblings that you grumble against him--and what [are] we? Your grumblings [are] not against us but against Yahweh."

⁹ And Moses said to Aaron, "Say to all the community of the {Israelites}, 'Come near before Yahweh because he has heard your grumblings.'" ¹⁰ And at the moment of Aaron's speaking to all the community of the {Israelites}, they turned to the desert, {and just then} the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud.

¹¹ And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹² "I have heard the grumblings of the {Israelites}. Speak to them, saying, '{At twilight} you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be full [with] bread, and you will know that I [am] Yahweh your God.'"

¹³ And so it was, in the evening, the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning, a layer of dew was all around the camp. ¹⁴ And the layer of dew came up, {and there} on the face of the desert was a fine granular substance, fine like frost on the ground. ¹⁵ And the {Israelites} saw, and they said {to each other}, "What [is] this?" because they did not know what it [was]. And Moses said to them, "That [is] the bread that Yahweh has given to you as food. ¹⁶ This [is] the word that Yahweh commanded, 'Gather from it, {each according to what he can eat}, an omer per person [according to] the number of you. You each shall take [enough] for whoever [is] in his tent.'"

¹⁷ And the {Israelites} did so, and they gathered, some more and some less. ¹⁸ And [when] they measured with the omer, the one gathering more had no surplus, and the one gathering less had no lack; they gathered {each according to what he could eat}. ¹⁹ And Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it until morning." ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses. Some people left [some] of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

²¹ And they gathered it morning by morning, {each according to what he could eat}, and it melted [when] the sun was hot. ²² And when it was the sixth day, they gathered twice [as much] bread, two omers for one [person], and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses. ²³ And he said to them, "This is what Yahweh has said. Tomorrow [is] a rest period, a holy Sabbath for Yahweh. Bake what you [want to] bake, and boil what you [want to] boil. Put aside all the surplus for yourselves for safekeeping until the morning."

²⁴ And they put it aside until the morning, as Moses had commanded, and it did not make a stench, and not a maggot was in it. ²⁵ And Moses said, "Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath for Yahweh. Today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶ Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, [the] Sabbath, it will not be [present] on it."

²⁷ And on the seventh day [some] of the people went out to gather, and they did not find [any]. ²⁸ And Yahweh said to Moses, "How long do you refuse to keep my commands and my laws? ²⁹ See, because Yahweh has given to you the Sabbath, therefore he is giving to you on the sixth day bread for two days. Stay, {each in his location}; let no one go from his place on the seventh day." ³⁰ And the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ And the house of Israel called its name "manna." And it [was] like coriander seed, white, and its taste [was] like a wafer with honey. ³² And Moses said, "This is the word that Yahweh has commanded. 'A full omer of it [is] for safekeeping for your generations so that they will see the bread that I fed you in the desert when I brought you from the land of Egypt.'"

³³ And Moses said to Aaron, "Take one jar and put there a full omer of manna. Leave it before Yahweh for safekeeping for your generations." ³⁴ As Yahweh had commanded Moses, so Aaron left it before the testimony for safekeeping.

³⁵ And the {Israelites} ate the manna forty years, until their coming to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until their coming to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ (And an omer [is] a tenth of an ephah.)