Exodus 16:4–35

⁴And Yahweh said to Moses, “Look, I am going to rain down for you bread from the heavens, and the people will go out and gather enough for the day on its day; in that way I will test them: Will they go according to my law or not? ⁵And then on the sixth day, they will prepare what they bring, and it will be twice over what they will gather every other day.”

⁶And Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites,^h “In the evening, you will know that Yahweh has brought you out from the land of Egypt, ⁷and in the morning, you will see the glory of Yahweh, for he hearsⁱ your grumblings against Yahweh, and what are we that you grumble against us?” ⁸And Moses said, “When in the evening Yahweh gives you meat to eat and bread in the morning to fill up on,^j for he hears^k your grumblings that you grumble against him—and what are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against Yahweh.” ⁹And Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the community of the Israelites,^l ‘Come near before Yahweh because he has heard your grumblings.’ ”

¹⁰And at the moment of Aaron’s speaking to all the community of the Israelites,^m they turned to the desert, and just thenⁿ the glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud. ¹¹And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“I have heard the grumblings of the Israelites.^o Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight^p you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be full with bread, and you will know that I am Yahweh your God.’ ”

¹³And so it was, in the evening, the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning, a layer of dew was all around the camp. ¹⁴And the layer of dew came up, and there^q on the face of the desert was a fine granular substance, fine like frost on the ground. ¹⁵And the Israelites^r saw, and they said to each other,^s “What is this?” because they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “That is the bread that Yahweh has given to you as food. ¹⁶This is the word that Yahweh commanded, ‘Gather from it, each according to what he can eat,^t an omer per person^u according to the number of you.^v You each shall take enough for whoever is in his tent.’ ”

¹⁷And the Israelites^w did so, and they gathered, some more and some less. ¹⁸And when they measured with the omer, the one gathering more had no surplus, and the one gathering less had no lack; they gathered each according to what he could eat.^{x 19}And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it until morning.” ²⁰But they did not listen to Moses. Some people^y left some of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. ²¹And they gathered it morning by morning, each according to what he could eat,^z and it melted when the sun was hot.^a

²²And when it was the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one person, and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses. ²³And he said to them, “This is what Yahweh has said. Tomorrow is a rest period, a holy Sabbath for Yahweh. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. Put aside all the surplus for yourselves for safekeeping until the morning.” ²⁴And they put it aside until the morning, as Moses had commanded, and it did not make a stench, and not a maggot was in it. ²⁵And Moses said, “Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath for Yahweh. Today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, it will not be present on it.”

²⁷And on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they did not find any. ²⁸And Yahweh said to Moses, “How long do you^b refuse to keep my commands and my laws? ²⁹See, because Yahweh has given to you the Sabbath, therefore he is giving to you on the sixth day bread for two days. Stay, each in his location;^c let no one go from his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰And the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹And the house of Israel called its name “manna.” And it was like coriander seed, white, and its taste was like a wafer with honey. ³²And Moses said, “This is the word that Yahweh has commanded. ‘A full omer of it is for safekeeping for your generations so that they will see the bread that I fed you in the desert when I brought you from the land of Egypt.’ ” ³³And Moses said to Aaron, “Take one jar and put there a full omer of manna. Leave it before Yahweh for safekeeping for your generations.” ³⁴As Yahweh had commanded Moses, so Aaron left it before the testimony for safekeeping. ³⁵And the Israelites^d ate the manna forty years, until their coming to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until their coming to the border of the land of Canaan.