1On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt, the whole congregation of Israel set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai.[ † ]Numbers 33:10-11Ezekiel 30:15Exodus 12:6-51Exodus 19:1 2And there in the desert the whole congregation of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron.[ † ]Exodus 14:11Exodus 15:24Psalms 106:251 Corinthians 10:10 3“If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt!” they said. “There we sat by pots of meat and ate our fill of bread, but you have brought us into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death!”[ † ]Exodus 17:3Numbers 14:2-3Numbers 20:3Lamentations 4:9Numbers 11:4-5
4Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.[ † ]Nehemiah 9:15Psalms 78:23-25Psalms 105:40John 6:31-351 Corinthians 10:3Exodus 15:25Deuteronomy 8:2-16Judges 2:22 5Then on the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”[ † ]Exodus 16:22-29Leviticus 25:21
6So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “This evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt,[ † ]Exodus 6:7 7and in the morning you will see the Lord’s glory, because He has heard your grumbling against Him. For who are we, that you should grumble against us?”[ † ]Exodus 16:10-12Isaiah 35:2Isaiah 40:5John 11:4-40Numbers 14:27Numbers 17:5Numbers 16:11
8And Moses added, “The Lord will give you meat to eat this evening and bread to fill you in the morning, for He has heard your grumbling against Him. Who are we? Your grumblings are not against us but against the Lord.”[ † ]1 Samuel 8:7Luke 10:16Romans 13:21 Thessalonians 4:8
9Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of Israel, ‘Come before the Lord, for He has heard your grumbling.’”[ † ]Numbers 16:16
10And as Aaron was speaking to the whole congregation of Israel, they looked toward the desert, and there in a cloud the glory of the Lord appeared.[ † ]Exodus 13:21Exodus 16:7Numbers 16:191 Kings 8:10
11Then the Lord 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 be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”[ † ]Exodus 16:8Numbers 14:27Exodus 16:6Exodus 16:71 Kings 20:28Joel 3:17
13That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.[ † ]Numbers 11:31Psalms 78:27-29Psalms 105:40Numbers 11:9 14When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground.[ † ]Exodus 16:31Numbers 11:7-8Deuteronomy 8:3Nehemiah 9:15Psalms 78:24Psalms 105:40Psalms 147:16
15When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.[ † ]Exodus 16:4Nehemiah 9:15Psalms 78:24John 6:31-49, 581 Corinthians 10:3 16This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. You may take an omer for each person in your tent.’”[ † ]Exodus 12:4Exodus 16:32-36
17So the Israelites did this. Some gathered more, and some less. 18When they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much had no excess, and he who gathered little had no shortfall. Each one gathered as much as he needed to eat.[ † ]2 Corinthians 8:15
19Then Moses said to them, “No one may keep any of it until morning.”[ † ]Exodus 12:10Exodus 16:23Exodus 23:18 20But they did not listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it became infested with maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
21Every morning each one gathered as much as was needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.
22On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much food—two omers per person—and all the leaders of the congregation came and reported this to Moses. 23He told them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil. Then set aside whatever remains and keep it until morning.’”[ † ]Genesis 2:3Exodus 20:8-11Exodus 23:12Exodus 31:15Exodus 35:2Leviticus 23:3Nehemiah 9:13-14
24So they set it aside until morning as Moses had commanded, and it did not smell or contain any maggots.[ † ]Exodus 16:20 25“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find anything in the field. 26For six days you may gather, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, it will not be there.”[ † ]Exodus 20:9-10
27Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find anything. 28Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and instructions?[ † ]2 Kings 17:14Psalms 78:10Psalms 106:13 29Understand that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day He will give you bread for two days. On the seventh day, everyone must stay where he is; no one may leave his place.”
30So the people rested on the seventh day.
31Now the house of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.[ † ]Numbers 11:7-9Deuteronomy 8:3-16 32Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Keep an omer of manna for the 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.’”
33So Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with an omer of manna. Then place it before the Lord to be preserved for the generations to come.”[ † ]Hebrews 9:4Revelation 2:17 34And Aaron placed it in front of the Testimony, to be preserved just as the Lord had commanded Moses.[ † ]Exodus 25:16-21Exodus 27:21Exodus 40:20Numbers 17:10
35The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where they could settle; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.[ † ]Deuteronomy 8:3-16Numbers 33:38John 6:31-49Joshua 5:12Nehemiah 9:20-21 36(Now an omer is a tenth of an ephah.)