Bread from heaven
1The whole community of Israel set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which lies between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. 2There the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, sitting by the pots of meat, eating bread until we were full! You have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” 4Then Yahweh said to Moses, “I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day, so that I may test them — will they walk according to my instruction, or not? 5On the sixth day, when they prepare what they have brought in, it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” 6So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was Yahweh who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7and in the morning you will see the glory of Yahweh, because he has heard your grumbling against him. For who are we, that you grumble against us?” 8Moses continued, “This will happen when Yahweh gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because Yahweh has heard the grumbling you raise against him. Who are we? Your grumbling is not against us, but against Yahweh.” 9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘Come near before Yahweh, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10As Aaron spoke to the whole community of Israel, they turned toward the wilderness, and there was the glory of Yahweh, appearing in the cloud. 11Yahweh said to Moses, 12“I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want, and you will know that I am Yahweh your God.’” 13That evening quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” — for they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread Yahweh has given you to eat. 16This is what Yahweh has commanded: gather as much of it as each of you needs to eat, an omer for each person, according to the number of people in your tents; each of you is to gather for those in his own tent.” 17The Israelites did so; some gathered more, some less. 18When they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much had no surplus, and the one who gathered little had no shortage; each had gathered as much as he needed. 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 bred worms and began to smell. Moses was angry with them. 21Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22On the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each person, and all the leaders of the community came and told Moses. 23He said to them, “This is what Yahweh meant: tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to Yahweh. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and set aside whatever is left, to be kept until morning.” 24So they set it aside until morning, as Moses had commanded, and it did not smell, and there were no worms in it. 25Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to Yahweh; today you will not find it in the field. 26Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.” 27On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found none. 28Then Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions? 29See — Yahweh has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.” 30So the people rested on the seventh day. 31The house of Israel called it manna. It was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey. 32Moses said, “This is what Yahweh has commanded: ‘Keep an omer of it for your generations to come, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, put an omer of manna in it, and set it before Yahweh, to be kept for your generations to come.” 34As Yahweh commanded Moses, Aaron set it before the testimony, to be kept. 35The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where people lived; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36An omer is a tenth of an ephah.
