Exodus 16

¹They set out from Elim , and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin , which is between Elim and Sinai , on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt .

²And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness ,

³and the people of Israel said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt , when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full , for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger .

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses , Behold , I am about to rain bread from heaven 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 .

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

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel , At evening you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt ,

⁷and in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For what are we , that you grumble against us?

⁸And Moses said , When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full , because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him— what are we ? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.

⁹Then Moses said to Aaron , Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel , Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling .

¹⁰And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel , they looked toward the wilderness , and behold , the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud .

¹¹And the Lord said to Moses ,

¹²I have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel . Say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat , and in the morning you shall be filled with bread . Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God .

¹³In the evening quail came up and covered the camp , and in the morning dew lay around the camp .

¹⁴And when the dew had gone up , there was on the face of the wilderness a fine , flake-like thing , fine as frost on the ground .

¹⁵When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another , What is it ? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat .

¹⁶This is what the Lord has commanded : Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat . You shall each take an omer , according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent .

¹⁷And the people of Israel did so. They gathered , some more , some less .

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

¹⁹And Moses said to them, Let no one leave any of it over till the morning .

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

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

²²On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread , two omers each . And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses ,

²³he said to them, This is what the Lord has commanded : Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest , a holy Sabbath to the Lord; 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 .

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

²⁵Moses said , Eat it today , for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field .

²⁶Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day , which is a Sabbath , there will be none .

²⁷On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather , but they found none .

²⁸And the Lord said to Moses , How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws ?

²⁹See ! The Lord has given you the Sabbath ; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days . Remain each of you in his place ; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day .

³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day .

³¹Now the house of Israel called its name manna . It was like coriander seed , white , and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey .

³²Moses said , This is what the Lord 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 wilderness , when I brought you out of the land of Egypt .

³³And Moses said to Aaron , Take a jar , and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations .

³⁴As the Lord commanded Moses , so Aaron placed it before the testimony to be kept .

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

³⁶(An omer is the tenth part of an ephah .)