Exodus 16:12–36

¹²“I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.”

¹³So at evening quail^e came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. ¹⁴When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was.

Moses told them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat.^{f 16}This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take two quarts^A per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’ ”

¹⁷So the Israelites did this. Some gathered a lot, some a little. ¹⁸When they measured it by quarts,^B the person who gathered a lot had no surplus, and the person who gathered a little had no shortage. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat.^{g 19}Moses said to them, “No one is to let any of it remain until morning.” ²⁰But they didn’t listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. Therefore Moses was angry with them.

²¹They gathered it every morning. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted. ²²On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts^C apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. ²³He told them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath^h to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and set aside everything left over to be kept until morning.’ ”

²⁴So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it didn’t stink or have maggots in it. ²⁵“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you won’t find any in the field. ²⁶For six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

²⁷Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find any. ²⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you^D refuse to keep my commandsⁱ and instructions? ²⁹Understand that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days’ worth of bread. Each of you stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹The house of Israel named the substance manna.^j It resembled coriander seed, was white, and tasted like wafers made with honey. ³²Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Two quarts^B of it are to be preserved throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ”

³³Moses told Aaron, “Take a container and put two quarts^C of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be preserved throughout your generations.” ³⁴As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the testimony^k to be preserved.

³⁵The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan.^{l 36}(They used a measure called an omer, which held two quarts.^D)