The Second Book of Moses: Exodus

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- Chapter 16 -

They left Elim, and all the Israelite people came to the wilderness of Sin between Elim and Sinai Mountain. That was on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left Egypt.

There in the wilderness, the Israelite people complained against Aaron and Moses.

They said to them, “We wish that Yahweh had killed us in Egypt! There we had meat to eat and all the bread that we wanted. But you have brought us into this desert in order that we will all starve to death!”

Yahweh said to Moses, “Listen to what I am going to do. I am going to send something from the sky that will take the place of bread for you. When I do that, the people must go out of their tents every day and gather enough to eat on that day. When I do that, I will find out whether they will obey me or not.

On the sixth day after I start doing that, they will be able to gather twice as much as on the other days and not have to gather any on the seventh day. Then they can prepare it to eat it.”

So Aaron and Moses said to all the Israelite people, “This evening you will know that it was Yahweh, not us, who brought you out of Egypt.

Tomorrow morning you will see how great Yahweh is because he has heard how you have complained against him. He is the one to whom you have really complained because we are just his servants.”

Then Moses also said, “Each evening Yahweh will give you meat to eat, and each morning he will give you something that will take the place of bread because he has heard what you have complained about. Yahweh is the one to whom you have really complained, not us. We are just his servants.”

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell all the Israelite people, ‘Come and stand here in the presence of Yahweh because he has heard what you have been complaining about.’”

So Aaron told them that. As Aaron was talking to all the Israelite people, they looked toward the desert and were surprised to see the dazzling light of Yahweh in the cloud that had been leading them.

Then Yahweh said to Moses,

“I have heard what the Israelite people have been complaining about. So say to them, ‘At twilight, you will have meat to eat, and tomorrow morning you will have something that will take the place of bread. You will have all you want of it to eat. Then you will know that I am Yahweh, your God.’”

That evening quails appeared, and there were so many that they covered the campsite. The next morning there was something like small drops of water all around the campsite.

When the water dried up, on the ground there was a thin layer of something that looked like small white flakes. It looked like ice laying on the ground.

When the Israelite people saw it, since they had never seen it before and did not know what it was, they said to each other, “What is it?” Moses replied to them, “It is something Yahweh has given you to eat, to take the place of bread.

This is what Yahweh has commanded: Each of you should gather as much as you need to eat. Gather two liters for each person who lives in your tents.”

So that is what the Israelite people did. Some gathered more and some gathered less.

But when they measured what they had gathered, those who had gathered a lot did not have anything left over. Those who had gathered less still had enough to eat. Each person gathered just enough.

Moses said to them, “Do not leave any of it to eat tomorrow morning!”

Some of them did not pay any attention to what Moses said. They kept some of it until the next morning. However, it was full of maggots and smelled rotten. That made Moses angry.

Each morning they gathered as much as they needed. Later, when the sun got hot, what was left on the ground melted.

The Sabbath Observed

(Genesis 2:1–3; Hebrews 4:1–11)

On the sixth day after they started gathering it, each person was able to gather four liters, which was twice as much as they gathered on the other days. When the leaders of the people came to Moses and told him about that,

Moses said to them, “This is what Yahweh has told you: Tomorrow will be a day for you to rest. It will be a day for Yahweh. So today, bake or boil what you will need for today and for tomorrow. Whatever is left this evening, you should put aside and keep it to eat tomorrow.”

So they did what Moses told them. What was left over, they kept until the next day. It did not spoil and did not get maggots in it!

On that day, Moses said, “Eat today what you have saved from yesterday because today is a day of rest to Yahweh. Today you will not find any of that food outside.

Every week, you must gather it for six days; but on the seventh day, which will be a day of rest for you, you will not find any.”

On the seventh day, some of the people went outside their tents to gather some of that food, but there was none.

Then Yahweh told Moses to say this to the people: “Yahweh is angry because for a long time you people have refused to do all the things that he has told you to do!

Listen! Yahweh has given you a day of rest. So on the sixth day of each week, he will be giving you enough of this food for two days. Each of you should stay in his tent and do no work on the seventh day!”

So the people rested on the seventh day.

The Jar of Manna

The Israelite people called this food ‘manna,’ which sounds like the Hebrew word that means ‘what is it?’ It looked white, like the color of coriander seeds, and it tasted like thin wafers made with honey.

Moses said, “This is what Yahweh has told you: ‘You must keep two liters of it for all future generations so that they can see the food that took the place of bread that I gave to your ancestors when I brought them out of Egypt.’”

And he said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put two liters of manna in it. Then put it in a place where Yahweh can see it. It is to be kept like that for all future generations.”

As Yahweh had commanded Moses, Aaron put the jar in front of the box that contained the stone slabs on which the Ten Commandments were written.

The Israelite people ate manna every day for forty years until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Now two liters is a tenth of an ephah.

They took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

The whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness;

and the children of Israel said to them, “We wish that we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not.

It shall come to pass on the sixth day, that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.”

Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, “At evening, you shall know that the LORD has brought you out from the land of Egypt.

In the morning, you shall see the LORD’s glory; because he hears your murmurings against the LORD. Who are we, that you murmur against us?”

Moses said, “Now the LORD will give you meat to eat in the evening, and in the morning bread to satisfy you, because the LORD hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And who are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.”

Moses said to Aaron, “Tell all the congregation of the children of Israel, ‘Come close to the LORD, for he has heard your murmurings.’”

As Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the LORD’s glory appeared in the cloud.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, ‘At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’”

In the evening, quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp.

When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground.

When the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.

This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer

(a)

a head, according to the number of your persons, you shall take it, every man for those who are in his tent.’”

The children of Israel did so, and some gathered more, some less.

When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They each gathered according to his eating.

Moses said to them, “Let no one leave of it until the morning.”

Notwithstanding they didn’t listen to Moses, but some of them left of it until the morning, so it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.

They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted.

The Sabbath Observed

(Genesis 2:1–3; Hebrews 4:1–11)

On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one; and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

He said to them, “This is that which the LORD has spoken, ‘Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake that which you want to bake, and boil that which you want to boil; and all that remains over lay up for yourselves to be kept until the morning.’”

They laid it up until the morning, as Moses ordered, and it didn’t become foul, and there were no worms in it.

Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you shall not find it in the field.

Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none.”

On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather, and they found none.

The LORD said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?

Behold, because the LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day the bread of two days. Everyone stay in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

So the people rested on the seventh day.

The Jar of Manna

The house of Israel called its name “Manna”,(b) and it was like coriander seed, white; and its taste was like wafers with honey.

Moses said, “This is the thing which the LORD has commanded, ‘Let an omer-full of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

Moses said to Aaron, “Take a pot, and put an omer-full of manna in it, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations.”

As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

The children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate the manna until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.

Now an omer is one tenth of an ephah.(c)

Footnotes

(a)16:16 An omer is about 2.2 liters or about 2.3 quarts

(b)16:31 “Manna” means “What is it?”