Exodus 15:22–17:16

²²And Moses causeth Israel to journey from the Red Sea, and they go out unto the wilderness of Shur, and they go three days in the wilderness, and have not found water, ²³and they come in to Marah, and have not been able to drink the waters of Marah, for they are bitter; therefore hath one called its name Marah. ²⁴And the people murmur against Moses, saying, ‘What do we drink?’ ²⁵and he crieth unto Jehovah, and Jehovah sheweth him a tree, and he casteth unto the waters, and the waters become sweet. There He hath made for them a statute, and an ordinance, and there He hath tried them, ²⁶and He saith, ‘If thou dost really hearken to the voice of Jehovah thy God, and dost that which is right in His eyes, and hast hearkened to His commands, and kept all His statutes: none of the sickness which I laid on the Egyptians do I lay on thee, for I, Jehovah, am healing thee. ²⁷And they come to Elim, and there are twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees; and they encamp there by the waters.

Chapter 16

¹And they journey from Elim, and all the company of the sons of Israel come in unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out from the land of Egypt. ²And all the company of the sons of Israel murmur against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness; ³and the sons of Israel say unto them, ‘Oh that we had died by the hand of Jehovah in the land of Egypt, in our sitting by the flesh-pot, in our eating bread to satiety—for ye have brought us out unto this wilderness to put all this assembly to death with hunger.’ ⁴And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Lo, I am raining to you bread from the heavens—and the people have gone out and gathered the matter of a day in its day—so that I try them whether they walk in My law, or not; ⁵and it hath been on the sixth day, that they have prepared that which they bring in, and it hath been double above that which they gather day by day.’ ⁶And Moses saith—Aaron also—unto all the sons of Israel, ‘Evening—and ye have known that Jehovah hath brought you out from the land of Egypt; ⁷and morning—and ye have seen the honour of Jehovah, in His hearing your murmurings against Jehovah, and what are we, that ye murmur against us?’ ⁸And Moses saith, ‘In Jehovah’s giving to you in the evening flesh to eat, and bread in the morning to satiety—in Jehovah’s hearing your murmurings, which ye are murmuring against Him, and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against Jehovah.’ ⁹And Moses saith unto Aaron, ‘Say unto all the company of the sons of Israel, Come ye near before Jehovah, for He hath heard your murmurings;’ ¹⁰and it cometh to pass, when Aaron is speaking unto all the company of the sons of Israel, that they turn towards the wilderness, and lo, the honour of Jehovah is seen in the cloud. ¹¹And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying, ¹²‘I have heard the murmurings of the sons of Israel; speak unto them, saying, Between the evenings ye eat flesh, and in the morning ye are satisfied with bread, and ye have known that I am Jehovah your God.’

¹³And it cometh to pass in the evening, that the quail cometh up, and covereth the camp, and in the morning there hath been the lying of dew round about the camp, ¹⁴and the lying of the dew goeth up, and lo, on the face of the wilderness a thin, bare thing, thin as hoar-frost on the earth. ¹⁵And the sons of Israel see, and say one unto another, ‘What is it?’ for they have not known what it is; and Moses saith unto them, ‘It is the bread which Jehovah hath given to you for food.

¹⁶‘This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded: Gather of it each according to his eating, an omer for a poll; and the number of your persons, take ye each for those in his tent.’ ¹⁷And the sons of Israel do so, and they gather, he who is gathering much, and he who is gathering little; ¹⁸and they measure with an omer, and he who is gathering much hath nothing over, and he who is gathering little hath no lack, each according to his eating they have gathered. ¹⁹And Moses saith unto them, ‘Let no man leave of it till morning;’ ²⁰and they have not hearkened unto Moses, and some of them do leave of it till morning, and it bringeth up worms and stinketh; and Moses is wroth with them. ²¹And they gather it morning by morning, each according to his eating; when the sun hath been warm, then it hath melted.

²²And it cometh to pass on the sixth day, they have gathered a second bread, two omers for one, and all the princes of the company come in, and declare to Moses. ²³And he saith unto them, ‘It is that which Jehovah hath spoken of; a rest—a holy sabbath to Jehovah—is to-morrow; that which ye bake, bake; and that which ye boil, boil; and all that is over, let rest for yourselves in charge till the morning.’ ²⁴And they let it rest until the morning, as Moses hath commanded, and it hath not stank, and a worm hath not been in it. ²⁵And Moses saith, ‘Eat it to-day, for to-day is a sabbath to Jehovah; to-day ye find it not in the field: ²⁶six days ye do gather it, and in the seventh day—the sabbath—in it there is none.’ ²⁷And it cometh to pass on the seventh day, some of the people have gone out to gather, and have not found. ²⁸And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘How long have ye refused to keep My commands, and My laws? ²⁹see, because Jehovah hath given to you the sabbath, therefore He is giving to you on the sixth day bread of two days; abide ye each in his place, no one doth go out from his place on the seventh day.’ ³⁰And the people rest on the seventh day, ³¹and the house of Israel call its name Manna, and it is as coriander seed, white; and its taste is as a cake with honey.

³²And Moses saith, ‘This is the thing which Jehovah hath commanded: Fill the omer with it, for a charge for your generations, so that they see the bread which I have caused you to eat in the wilderness, in My bringing you out from the land of Egypt.’ ³³And Moses saith unto Aaron, ‘Take one pot, and put there the fulness of the omer of manna, and let it rest before Jehovah, for a charge for your generations;’ ³⁴as Jehovah hath given commandment unto Moses, so doth Aaron let it rest before the Testimony, for a charge. ³⁵And the sons of Israel have eaten the manna forty years, until their coming in unto the land to be inhabited; the manna they have eaten till their coming in unto the extremity of the land of Canaan. ³⁶and the omer is a tenth of the ephah.

Chapter 17

¹And all the company of the sons of Israel journey from the wilderness of Sin, on their journeyings, by the command of Jehovah, and encamp in Rephidim, and there is no water for the people to drink; ²and the people strive with Moses, and say, ‘Give us water, and we drink.’ And Moses saith to them, ‘What?—ye strive with me, what?—ye try Jehovah?’ ³and the people thirst there for water, and the people murmur against Moses, and say, ‘Why is this?—thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to put us to death, also our sons and our cattle, with thirst.’ ⁴And Moses crieth to Jehovah, saying, ‘What do I to this people? yet a little, and they have stoned me.’ ⁵And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Pass over before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod with which thou hast smitten the River take in thy hand, and thou hast gone: ⁶Lo, I am standing before thee there on the rock in Horeb, and thou hast smitten on the rock, and waters have come out from it, and the people have drunk.’ And Moses doth so before the eyes of the elders of Israel, ⁷and he calleth the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the ‘strife’ of the sons of Israel, and because of their ‘trying’ Jehovah, saying, ‘Is Jehovah in our midst or not?’

⁸And Amalek cometh, and fighteth with Israel in Rephidim, ⁹and Moses saith unto Joshua, ‘Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to-morrow I am standing on the top of the hill, and the rod of God in my hand.’ ¹⁰And Joshua doth as Moses hath said to him, to fight with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur, have gone up to the top of the height; ¹¹and it hath come to pass, when Moses lifteth up his hand, that Israel hath been mighty, and when he letteth his hands rest, that Amalek hath been mighty. ¹²And the hands of Moses are heavy, and they take a stone, and set it under him, and he sitteth on it: and Aaron and Hur have taken hold on his hands, on this side one, and on that one, and his hands are stedfast till the going in of the sun; ¹³and Joshua weakeneth Amalek and his people by the mouth of the sword. ¹⁴And Jehovah saith unto Moses, ‘Write this, a memorial in a Book, and set it in the ears of Joshua, that I do utterly wipe away the remembrance of Amalek from under the heavens;’ ¹⁵and Moses buildeth an altar, and calleth its name Jehovah-Nissi, ¹⁶and saith, ‘Because a hand is on the throne of Jah, war is to Jehovah with Amalek from generation—generation.’

Chapter 18