Exodus 16–18

Manna and Quail

16The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin,ⁿ which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.^{o 2}In the desert the whole community grumbled^p against Moses and Aaron. ³The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt!^q There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food^r we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”^s

⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven^t for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test^u them and see whether they will follow my instructions. ⁵On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice^v as much as they gather on the other days.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt,^{w 7}and in the morning you will see the glory^x of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling^y against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?”^{z 8}Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling^a against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”^b

⁹Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’ ”

¹⁰While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory^c of the Lord appearing in the cloud.^d

¹¹The Lord said to Moses, ¹²“I have heard the grumbling^e of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’ ”^f

¹³That evening quail^g came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew^h around the camp. ¹⁴When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frostⁱ on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know^j what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread^k the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer^al for each person you have in your tent.’ ”

¹⁷The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.^m Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

¹⁹Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”ⁿ

²⁰However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.^o So Moses was angry^p with them.

²¹Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²²On the sixth day, they gathered twice^q as much—two omers^b for each person—and the leaders of the community^r came and reported this to Moses. ²³He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath^s to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’ ”

²⁴So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ²⁵“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. ²⁶Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath,^t there will not be any.”

²⁷Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. ²⁸Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you^c refuse to keep my commands^u and my instructions? ²⁹Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹The people of Israel called the bread manna.^dv It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. ³²Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’ ”

³³So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna^w in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”

³⁴As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law,^x so that it might be preserved. ³⁵The Israelites ate manna^y forty years,^z until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.^a

³⁶(An omer^b is one-tenth of an ephah.)^c

Water From the Rock

17The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin,^d traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim,^e but there was no water^f for the people to drink. ²So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water^g to drink.”^h

Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”ⁱ

³But the people were thirsty^j for water there, and they grumbled^k against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die^l of thirst?”

⁴Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone^m me.”

⁵The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staffⁿ with which you struck the Nile,^o and go. ⁶I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.^p Strike^q the rock, and water^r will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷And he called the place Massah^as and Meribah^bt because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

The Amalekites Defeated

⁸The Amalekites^u came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.^{v 9}Moses said to Joshua,^w “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff^x of God in my hands.”

¹⁰So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur^y went to the top of the hill. ¹¹As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning,^z but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ¹²When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset.^{a 13}So Joshua overcame the Amalekite^b army with the sword.

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write^c this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure that Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out^d the name of Amalek^e from under heaven.”

¹⁵Moses built an altar^f and called^g it The Lord is my Banner. ¹⁶He said, “Because hands were lifted up against^c the throne of the Lord,^d the Lord will be at war against the Amalekites^h from generation to generation.”ⁱ

Jethro Visits Moses

18Now Jethro,^j the priest of Midian^k and father-in-law of Moses, heard of everything God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.^l

²After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah,^m his father-in-law Jethro received her ³and her two sons.ⁿ One son was named Gershom,^a for Moses said, “I have become a foreigner in a foreign land”;^{o 4}and the other was named Eliezer,^bp for he said, “My father’s God was my helper;^q he saved me from the sword of Pharaoh.”

⁵Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, together with Moses’ sons and wife, came to him in the wilderness, where he was camped near the mountain^r of God. ⁶Jethro had sent word to him, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you with your wife and her two sons.”

⁷So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law and bowed down^s and kissed^t him. They greeted each other and then went into the tent. ⁸Moses told his father-in-law about everything the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for Israel’s sake and about all the hardships^u they had met along the way and how the Lord had saved^v them.

⁹Jethro was delighted to hear about all the good things^w the Lord had done for Israel in rescuing them from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹⁰He said, “Praise be to the Lord,^x who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. ¹¹Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods,^y for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly.”^{z 12}Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law,^a brought a burnt offering^b and other sacrifices^c to God, and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat a meal^d with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence^e of God.

¹³The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. ¹⁴When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

¹⁵Moses answered him, “Because the people come to me to seek God’s will.^{f 16}Whenever they have a dispute,^g it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and instructions.”^h

¹⁷Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone.^{i 19}Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you.^j You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes…