Exodus 16 — Legacy Standard Bible

Yahweh Rains Bread from Heaven

16Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of ^aSin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on ^bthe fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. ²And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel ^agrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³And the sons of Israel said to them, “^aWould that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, ^bwhen we sat by the pots of ¹meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to put this whole assembly to death with hunger.”

⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, ^aI will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may ^btest them, whether or not they will walk in My ¹law. ⁵“^aNow it will be on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening ¹^,^ayou will know that Yahweh has brought you out of the land of Egypt; ⁷and in the morning ¹you will see ^athe glory of Yahweh, for ^bHe hears your grumblings against Yahweh; and ^cwhat are we, that you grumble against us?”

Yahweh Gives Meat and Bread

⁸And Moses said, “This will happen when Yahweh gives you ¹meat to eat in the evening and bread to the full in the morning; for Yahweh hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are ^anot against us but against Yahweh.”

⁹Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘^aCome near before Yahweh, for He has heard your grumblings.’” ¹⁰Now it happened as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, ^athe glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud. ¹¹And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“^aI have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘¹At twilight you shall eat ²meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, so that ^byou shall know that I am Yahweh your God.’”

¹³So it happened at evening that ^athe quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^bthere was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴^aThen the layer of dew ¹evaporated, and behold, on the ²surface of the wilderness ^bthere was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. ¹⁵And the sons of Israel saw it and said to one another, “¹What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “^aIt is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat. ¹⁶“This is ¹what Yahweh has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man ²as much as he should eat; you shall take an ³^,^aomer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷And the sons of Israel did so; some gathered much and some little. ¹⁸And they measured it with an ¹omer, and ^ahe who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered ²as much as he should eat. ¹⁹And Moses said to them, “^aLet no man leave any of it until morning.” ²⁰But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. ²¹So they gathered it morning by morning, every man ¹as much as he should eat; but the sun would grow hot, and it would melt.

Yahweh Gives Bread for Two Days

²²^aNow it happened that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. Then all the ^bleaders of the congregation came and told Moses. ²³And he said to them, “This is what Yahweh has spoken: ^aTomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to Yahweh. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and ^ball that is in excess ¹put aside to be kept until morning.” ²⁴So they ¹put it aside until morning, as Moses had commanded, and ^ait did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. ²⁵And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to Yahweh; today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶“^aSix days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be ¹none.”

²⁷Now it happened on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^aHow long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My ¹laws? ²⁹“See, Yahweh has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹And the house of ^aIsrael named it ¹manna, and it was like ^bcoriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. ³²Then Moses said, “This is ¹what Yahweh has commanded, ‘Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” ³³And Moses said to Aaron, “^aTake a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before Yahweh to be kept throughout your generations.” ³⁴As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before ^athe Testimony to be kept. ³⁵^aAnd the sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶(Now ^aan ¹omer is a tenth of an ²ephah.)