The Provision of Manna

1When they journeyed from Elim, the entire company of Israelites came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their exodus from the land of Egypt. 2The entire company of Israelites murmured against Moses and Aaron in the desert. 3The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this desert to kill this whole assembly with hunger!”

4Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. Will they will walk in my law or not? 5On the sixth day they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather every other day.”

6Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your murmurings against the Lord. As for us, what are we, that you should murmur against us?”

8Moses said, “You will know this when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satisfy you, because the Lord has heard your murmurings that you are murmuring against him. As for us, what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.”

9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole community of the Israelites, ‘Come before the Lord, because he has heard your murmurings.’”

10As Aaron spoke to the whole community of the Israelites and they looked toward the desert, there the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud, 11and the Lord spoke to Moses: 12“I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘During the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be satisfied with bread, so that you may know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13In the evening the quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew was all around the camp. 14When the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a thin flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” because they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you for food.

16“This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Each person is to gather from it what he can eat, an omer per person according to the number of your people; each one will pick it up for whoever lives in his tent.’” 17The Israelites did so, and they gathered – some more, some less. 18When they measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing; each one had gathered what he could eat.

19Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.” 20But they did not listen to Moses; some kept part of it until morning, and it was full of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them. 21So they gathered it each morning, each person according to what he could eat, and when the sun got hot, it would melt. 22And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers per person; and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses. 23He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Whatever you want to bake, bake today; whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

24So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the area. 26Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

27On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing. 28So the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to obey my commandments and my instructions? 29See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, that is why he is giving you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30So the people rested on the seventh day.

31The house of Israel called its name “manna.” It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted like wafers with honey.

32Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Fill an omer with it to be kept for generations to come, so that they may see the food I fed you in the desert when I brought you out from the land of Egypt.’” 33Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put in it an omer full of manna, and place it before the Lord to be kept for generations to come.” 34Just as the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the Testimony for safekeeping.

35Now the Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was inhabited; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36(Now an omer is one tenth of an ephah.)