Exodus 15:22–17:16

Yahweh Sweetens the Water

^22aThen Moses ¹had Israel set out from the ²Red Sea, and they went out into ^bthe wilderness of ^cShur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.

²³And they came to ^aMarah, but they could not drink the waters ¹of Marah, for they were ²bitter; therefore it was named ³Marah.

²⁴So the people ^agrumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”

²⁵Then he ^acried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him ^ba tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.

There He ^cset for them a statute and a judgment, and there He ^dtested them.

²⁶And He said, “^aIf you will earnestly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear ^bto His commandments, and keep all His statutes, ^cI will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, ^dYahweh, am your healer.”

²⁷Then they came to ^aElim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

CHAPTER 16

Yahweh Rains Bread from Heaven

¹Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of ^aSin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on ^bthe fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt.

²And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel ^agrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

³And the sons of Israel said to them, “^aWould that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, ^bwhen we sat by the pots of ¹meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to put this whole assembly to death with hunger.”

⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, ^aI will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may ^btest them, whether or not they will walk in My ¹law.

⁵“^aNow it will be on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather daily.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening ^1ayou will know that Yahweh has brought you out of the land of Egypt;

⁷and in the morning ¹you will see ^athe glory of Yahweh, for ^bHe hears your grumblings against Yahweh; and ^cwhat are we, that you grumble against us?”

Yahweh Gives Meat and Bread

⁸And Moses said, “This will happen when Yahweh gives you ¹meat to eat in the evening and bread to the full in the morning; for Yahweh hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are ^anot against us but against Yahweh.”

⁹Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘^aCome near before Yahweh, for He has heard your grumblings.’”

¹⁰Now it happened as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, ^athe glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud.

¹¹And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,

¹²“^aI have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘¹At twilight you shall eat ²meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, so that ^byou shall know that I am Yahweh your God.’”

¹³So it happened at evening that ^athe quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^bthere was a layer of dew around the camp.

^14aThen the layer of dew ¹evaporated, and behold, on the ²surface of the wilderness ^bthere was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.

¹⁵And the sons of Israel saw it and said to one another, “¹What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “^aIt is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat.

¹⁶“This is ¹what Yahweh has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man ²as much as he should eat; you shall take an ^3aomer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’”

¹⁷And the sons of Israel did so; some gathered much and some little.

¹⁸And they measured it with an ¹omer, and ^ahe who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered ²as much as he should eat.

¹⁹And Moses said to them, “^aLet no man leave any of it until morning.”

²⁰But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them.

²¹So they gathered it morning by morning, every man ¹as much as he should eat; but the sun would grow hot, and it would melt.

Yahweh Gives Bread for Two Days

^22aNow it happened that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. Then all the ^bleaders of the congregation came and told Moses.

²³And he said to them, “This is what Yahweh has spoken: ^aTomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to Yahweh. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and ^ball that is in excess ¹put aside to be kept until morning.”

²⁴So they ¹put it aside until morning, as Moses had commanded, and ^ait did not become foul nor was there any worm in it.

²⁵And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to Yahweh; today you will not find it in the field.

²⁶“^aSix days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be ¹none.”

²⁷Now it happened on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.

²⁸Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^aHow long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My ¹laws?

²⁹“See, Yahweh has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.”

³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹And the house of ^aIsrael named it ¹manna, and it was like ^bcoriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey.

³²Then Moses said, “This is ¹what Yahweh has commanded, ‘Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

³³And Moses said to Aaron, “^aTake a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before Yahweh to be kept throughout your generations.”

³⁴As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before ^athe Testimony to be kept.

^35aAnd the sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

³⁶(Now ^aan ¹omer is a tenth of an ²ephah.)

CHAPTER 17

Water from the Rock

¹Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by ¹stages from the wilderness of ^aSin, according to the ²command of Yahweh, and they camped at ^bRephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

²Therefore the people ^acontended with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “^bWhy do you contend with me? ^cWhy do you test Yahweh?”

³But the people thirsted there for water; and ¹they ^agrumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to put ²us and ³our children and ^4bour livestock to death with thirst?”

⁴So Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A ^alittle more and they will stone me.”

⁵Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of ^athe elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which ^byou struck the Nile, and go.

⁶“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at ^aHoreb; and ^byou shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

⁷So he named the place ^1aMassah and ^2bMeribah because of the contending of the sons of Israel, and because they ^ctested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us or not?”

Israel Overwhelms Amalek

⁸Then ^aAmalek came and fought against Israel at ^bRephidim.

⁹So Moses said to ^aJoshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will take my stand on the top of the hill with ^bthe staff of God in my hand.”

¹⁰And Joshua did as Moses ¹told him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and ^aHur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹So it happened when Moses raised his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand ¹down, Amalek prevailed.

¹²But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur ^asupported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.

¹³So Joshua ¹overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^aWrite this in ¹a book as a memorial and ²recite it in Joshua’s hearing, ³that ^bI will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵And Moses built an ^aaltar and named it ^bYahweh is My Banner;

¹⁶and he said, “^aBecause He has sworn with a hand upon the throne of Yah, Yahweh will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”