Exodus 16:4-21

English Standard Version

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain ^(A)bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may ^(B)test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. ⁵ On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, ^(C)it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ^(D)“At evening ^(E)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 ^(F)glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For ^(G)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—^(H)what are we? Your grumbling is not ^(I)against us but against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses ^(J)said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ^(K)‘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 ^(L)glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. ¹¹ And the Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I ^(M)have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At ^(N)twilight you shall eat meat, and ^(O)in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

¹³ In the evening ^(P)quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^(Q)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, ^(R)“What is it?”^[a] For they ^(S)did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ^(T)“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an ^(U)omer,^[b] according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷ And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. ¹⁸ But when they measured it with an omer, ^(V)whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. ¹⁹ And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” ²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and ^(W)it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. ²¹ Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.