Exodus 16

Exodus 16:1 They pulled up from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel entered the Sin open country, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt.

Exodus 16:2 And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron in the open country,

Exodus 16:3 and the people of Israel said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of Yahveh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, because you have brought us out into this open country to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

Exodus 16:4 Then Yahveh told Moses, “Notice, I am about to rain bread from the sky for you, and the people will go out and gather a day’s portion every day, so that I may test them, whether they will walk by my instruction or not.

Exodus 16:5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”

Exodus 16:6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, “At evening you will know that it was Yahveh who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

Exodus 16:7 and in the morning, you will see the glory of Yahveh, because he has heard your grumbling against Yahveh. Because what are we, that you grumble against us?”

Exodus 16:8 And Moses said, “When Yahveh gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to satisfy you, because Yahveh has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him- what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against Yahveh.”

Exodus 16:9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ‘Approach the face of Yahveh, because he has heard your complaining.'”

Exodus 16:10 And while Aaron was speaking to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, they looked toward the open country, and noticed the glory of Yahveh appearing in the cloud.

Exodus 16:11 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Exodus 16:12 “I have heard the complaining of the sons of Israel. Tell them, For the next full day you will eat meat, and in the morning, you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am Yahveh your God.'”

Exodus 16:13 In the evening quail came up and covered the camp, and it lay around the camp with the morning dew.

Exodus 16:14 And when the dew had gone up, they noticed on the face of the open country a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.

Exodus 16:15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” Because they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that Yahveh has given you to eat.

Exodus 16:16 This is what Yahveh has commanded: ‘Collect it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You will each take one omer per person, according to the number of throats that each of you has in his tent.'”

Exodus 16:17 And the sons of Israel did so. They collected, some more, some less.

Exodus 16:18 But when they measured it with an omer, whoever collected much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them collected as much as he could eat.

Exodus 16:19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.”

Exodus 16:20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and it was wormy and stank. And Moses was angry with them.

Exodus 16:21 Morning by morning they collected it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

Exodus 16:22 On the sixth day they collected double the amount of bread, two omers for one person. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,

Exodus 16:23 he told them, “This is what Yahveh has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a sacred rest day, a sacred Sabbath to Yahveh; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.'”

Exodus 16:24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it.

Exodus 16:25 Moses said, “Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath to Yahveh; today you will not find it in the field.

Exodus 16:26 Six days you will collect it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

Exodus 16:27 On the seventh day some of the people did go out to collect, but they found none.

Exodus 16:28 And Yahveh said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions?

Exodus 16:29 See! Yahveh has given you the Sabbath; on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days for this reason. Each of you stay in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.”

Exodus 16:30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Exodus 16:31 The house of Israel called its name man.[1] It was white like a coriander seed, and it tasted like wafers made with honey.

Exodus 16:32 Moses said, “This is what Yahveh has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the open country, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'”

Exodus 16:33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of man in it, and place it before Yahveh to be kept throughout your generations.”

Exodus 16:34 Aaron placed it before the reminder[2] to be kept just as Yahveh commanded Moses

Exodus 16:35 The people of Israel ate the man forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the man till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Exodus 16:36 (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)

[1] מָן = man (traditionally, manna). Exodus 16:31, 33, 35.

[2]עֵדוּת = reminder. Exodus 16:34; 25:16, 21-22; 26:33-34; 27:21; 30:6, 26, 36; 31:7, 18; 32:15; 34:29; 38:21; 39:35; 40:3, 5, 20-21.

Exodus 16 quotes:

“The instructions were clear, but some people gathered more than they needed. Perhaps they remembered times when food was not available, so they wanted to protect against that possibility. Or maybe they were simply greedy. At any rate, any unneeded manna rotted overnight. On the other hand, some didn’t gather enough..(Were they lazy or inept?) The people were being instructed on how to “listen” to God, how to hear and act obediently. They did not actually meet God’s expectations yet (see Exodus 16:28). Nonetheless, by divine grace, all of the needs of the people were met (Exodus 16:16-21), giving the prayer that some of us have learned much later—“give us this day our daily bread”—added significance as well.”

March, W. Eugene. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Abingdon Press, 2012. p. 25.

“Some scholars seek an explanation for manna in nature, yet the Israelites recognized this strange substance as a gift from God—a supernatural phenomenon that expressed his generosity and his care for them. Extraordinary quantities of manna were continuously available to them except on the sabbath (Exodus 16:26)—a strange lack if the manna was simply a natural occurrence—and sustained them over quite a protracted duration of time. The Israelites received the manna as divine provision, bread rained down on them from heaven (16:4).”

Kun, Jeanne. Food from Heaven : The Eucharist in Scripture. Word Among Us Press, 2007. p. 19.

“When the manna came, Israel didn’t know what it was. The name “manna” (given later in Exodus 16:31) meant, “what’s that?” It came from the question asked in Exodus 16:15. When God provides we often don’t recognize it. God has promised to meet all our needs – not all our expectations. Today, let God do His part while you do your part.”

Guzik, David. Free And Clear. Enduring Word Media. 2004. p. 65.