The Lord gives his people manna and quails
1After the Israelites went away from Elim, they came to the Sin Desert, between Elim and Sinai. It was on the 15th day of the 2nd month after they had gone out of Egypt. 2Then the Israelites started to accuse Moses and Aaron in the desert. 3The Israelites said to them: ‘We wish that the Lord had caused us to die in Egypt. We had lots of meat and enough food to eat. Now you have brought us into this desert and here we will all die from hunger.’
4The Lord said to Moses: ‘I will send you bread from heaven. It will fall like rain. The people must go and pick up just enough to eat for each day. This is how I will see if they do what I tell them to do. 5On the 6th day, when they prepare the food that they have picked up, they will see that they have enough food for 2 days.’
6Moses and Aaron told all the Israelites: ‘Tonight you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt. 7And tomorrow you will see the glory of the Lord when He appears. He heard what you said about Him. Why do you accuse us? We are not important.’ 8Moses said: ‘Tonight the Lord will give you meat and tomorrow morning He will give you bread, more than enough food. He will do it because He heard what you said against Him. You have not accused us, but you have accused the Lord.’
9Moses said to Aaron: ‘Tell all the Israelites to come together and stand before the Lord because He has heard what they said about Him.’ 10After Aaron talked to all the Israelites, they turned_around and looked at the desert and then they saw the glory of the Lord in a cloud in which He appeared to them. 11The Lord said to Moses: 12‘I heard what the Israelites said. Tell them: Tonight you will eat meat and tomorrow morning you will have lots of food, more than enough. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’
13That night lots of quails came and sat all over the camp. There was a lot of meat to eat. The next morning there was dew around the camp.
14When the dew was gone, there was something that looked like frost on the sand of the desert. 15When the Israelites saw it, they asked themselves: ‘What is this?’ In the Hebrew language they said: ‘Manna?’
They did not know what it was. 16Moses said to them: ‘This is the bread that the Lord gives you to eat. The Lord said you must pick it up. Everyone must pick up just enough to eat. Don't pick up more than you can eat. Pick up one omer of manna for each person in your family.’
17The Israelites did what Moses told them. Some of them picked up a lot and some picked up a little. 18But when they put it into a bucket, they saw that they all had enough. Everyone who had picked up a lot did not have too much for his family, and everyone who had picked up a little did not have too little for his family. Everyone had enough. 19Moses said to them: ‘No one must keep food for the next morning.’
20But some of the Israelites did not listen to Moses. They left some of the food until the next morning. Worms came into the food and it became bad. Moses became very angry with them. 21The Israelites picked up manna every morning. Everyone picked up enough to eat, but they did not pick up more. When it became hot later each day, the manna that they had not picked up melted. 22On the 6th day they picked up twice as much manna, 2 omers for each person, and the leaders told Moses this. 23Moses said to them: ‘The Lord said: Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath day of the Lord. Today you can bake anything that you want to bake and cook everything you want to cook. Keep all the food that is left over for tomorrow morning.’
24The Israelites did what Moses said. They kept the food until the next morning and it did not become bad. No worms came into the food.
25Then Moses said: ‘You must eat this food today because today is the Sabbath day of the Lord. You will not find food on the ground today. 26You must pick up manna every day for 6 days, but the 7th day is the Sabbath day, and then there will be no manna.’
27On the 7th day some of the people went out to look for manna, but they found nothing. 28The Lord asked Moses: ‘How long will your people keep on disobeying Me and not doing what I say? 29Remember, I gave you the Sabbath day, and that is why I give you enough food for 2 days on the 6th day. Everyone must stay where he is on the 7th day. No one may go away from his home.’ 30Then the Israelites rested on the 7th day.
The Israelites must keep some of the manna
31The Israelites named the food manna. It was white and it looked like coriander seeds. The manna tasted like honey. 32Moses also told them what the Lord said. He said: ‘You must keep an omer of manna for your descendants so that they can see the food that I gave you in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’ 33Moses said to Aaron: ‘Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Put it down before the Lord and keep it for your descendants.’ 34Aaron did what the Lord said. He put it down in front of the covenant box.
35The Israelites ate manna for 40 years until they came to the land where they could live. They ate manna until they came to the border of Canaan. 36One omer is one 10th of an ephah.
