Bread from Heaven

16 They ^(A)set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. ² And the whole congregation of the people of Israel ^(B)grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, ³ and the people of Israel said to them, ^(C)“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ^(D)when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain ^(E)bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may ^(F)test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, ^(G)it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ^(H)“At evening ^(I)you shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, ⁷ and in the morning you shall see the ^(J)glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For ^(K)what are we, that you grumble against us?” ⁸ And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—^(L)what are we? Your grumbling is not ^(M)against us but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses ^(N)said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ^(O)‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” ¹⁰ And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the ^(P)glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. ¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I ^(Q)have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At ^(R)twilight you shall eat meat, and ^(S)in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ In the evening ^(T)quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^(U)dew lay around the camp. ¹⁴ And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. ¹⁵ When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ^(V)“What is it?”^[a] For they ^(W)did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ^(X)“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

⁸ And ^(A)God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency^[a] in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work. ⁹ As it is written,

¹⁰ He who supplies ^(C)seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and ^(D)increase the harvest of your righteousness. ^11 (E)You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way, which ^(F)through us will produce thanksgiving to God.

³⁵ And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, “This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. ^36 (A)Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.” ³⁷ But he answered them, ^(B)“You give them something to eat.” And ^(C)they said to him, ^(D)“Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii^[a] worth of bread and give it to them to eat?” ³⁸ And he said to them, “How many loaves do you have? Go and see.” And when they had found out, they said, ^(E)“Five, and two fish.” ³⁹ Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. ⁴⁰ So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. ⁴¹ And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he ^(F)looked up to heaven and ^(G)said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. ⁴² And they all ate and were satisfied. ⁴³ And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. ⁴⁴ And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men.