Exodus 16

1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt.

They/We left Elim, and all the Israeli people came to the desert [named] Sin. That is between Elim and Sinai [Mountain]. That was on the fifteenth day of the second month after they/we left Egypt.

2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness:

There in the desert, the Israeli [HYP] people complained to Aaron and Moses/me.

3 And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pot, when we ate bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

They said to them/us, “We wish that Yahweh had killed us in Egypt! There we had meat to eat, and all the bread that we wanted. But you have brought us into this desert in order that we will all starve to death!”

4 Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will let rain for you bread from heaven; and the people shall go out and gather a certain portion every day, in order that I may prove it, whether it will walk in my law, or not.

Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Listen to what I am going [to do]. I am going to send something from the sky that will [take the place of] bread for all of you. When I do that, the people must go out of their tents every day and gather just enough to eat on that day. [When I do that], I will find out whether they will obey my instructions or not.

5 And it shall come to pass, on the sixth day, when they prepare what they shall have brought in, that it shall be twice as much as they shall gather daily.

On the sixth day [after I start doing that], they will be able to gather twice as much as on the other days, [and not have to gather any on the seventh day]. Then they can prepare it [to eat it on the 6th and 7th days].”

6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel, At evening, then shall ye know that it is the Lord who hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:

So Aaron and Moses/I said to all the Israeli people, “This evening you will know that it was Yahweh, [not we], who brought you out of Egypt.

7 And in the morning, then shall ye see the glory of the Lord; since he heareth your murmurings against the Lord; and what are we, that ye should murmur against us?

And tomorrow morning you will see how great Yahweh is, because he has heard what you have complained about. He is the one whom you have really complained to, because we are just his servants.” [RHQ]

8 And Moses said, When the Lord giveth you in the evening flesh to eat, and bread in the morning to the full; since the Lord heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: —what are we then? not against us are your murmurings, but against the Lord.

Then Moses/I also said, “[From now on, each] evening Yahweh will give you meat to eat, and [each] morning he will give you [something that will take the place of] bread, because he has heard what you have complained about. Yahweh is the one to whom you have really complained, not us. We are just his servants.” [RHQ]

9 And Moses said unto Aaron, Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the Lord; for he hath heard your murmurings.

Then Moses/I said to Aaron, “Tell all the Israeli people, ‘Come and stand here in the presence of Yahweh, because he has heard what you have been complaining about.’”

10 And it came to pass, as Aaron was speaking unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they turned round toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

So Aaron told them that. And as Aaron was talking to all the Israeli people, they looked toward the desert, and were surprised to see the (dazzling light/incredible brightness) of Yahweh in the cloud [that had been leading them].

11 And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying,

Then Yahweh said to Moses/me,

12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, Toward evening ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the Eternal your God.

“I have heard what the Israeli people have been complaining about. So say to them, ‘From now on, each evening, you will have meat to eat. And each morning you will have something that will take the place of bread. You will have all you want of it to eat.’ Then you will know that I, Yahweh, [have the power to do what I say that I will do].”

13 And it came to pass, that at evening the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew round about the camp.

That evening, (quails/small plump birds) appeared, and [there were so many that] they covered the campsite. The next morning there was [something like] dew all around the campsite.

14 And when the layer of dew was gone up, behold, there was upon the face of the wilderness something fine in grains, small as the hoar-frost, on the ground.

When the dew evaporated, on the surface of the desert there was a thick layer of something that looked like white flakes. It looked like frost.

15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna, for they knew not what it was; and Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.

When the Israeli people saw it, since they [had never seen it before and] did not know what it was, they said to each other, “What is it?” Moses/I replied to them, “It is something Yahweh has given you to eat, to take the place of bread.

16 This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating: an omer for every head, according to the number of your persons that every man hath in his tent, shall ye take.

This is what Yahweh has commanded: ‘Each of you should gather as much as you need to eat. Gather two quarts/liters for each person who lives in your tents.’”

17 And the children of Israel did so; and they gathered, some much, some little.

So that is what the Israeli people did. Some gathered more and some gathered less.

18 And when they measured it with an omer, he that had gathered much had nothing over, and he that had gathered little had no lack: every man according to his eating, had they gathered.

But when they measured [what they had gathered], those that had gathered a lot did not have anything left over. And those that gathered less still had enough to eat. Each person gathered just what they needed.

19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.

Moses/I said to them, “Do not leave any of it to eat tomorrow morning!”

20 But they hearkened not unto Moses; but some men left of it until morning, and it bred worms, and stank; and Moses was wroth with them.

But some of them did not pay any attention to what Moses/I said. They kept some of it until the next morning. But it was full of maggots and smelled rotten. And that made Moses/me angry.

21 And so they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating; and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.

Each morning they gathered as much as they needed. But [later], when the sun got hot, [what was left on the ground] melted.

22 And it came to pass on the sixth day, that they gathered twofold bread, two omers for every one; all the rulers of the congregation came and told it to Moses.

On the sixth day after they started gathering it, each person was able to gather four quarts/liters, which was twice [as much as they gathered on the other days]. When the leaders of the people came to Moses/me and told him/me [about that],

23 And he said unto them. This is what the Lord hath spoken, A rest, a holy rest is unto the Lord tomorrow: that which ye will bake bake today, and what ye will seethe seethe today; and all the remaining lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

Moses/I said to them, “This is what Yahweh has commanded: ‘Tomorrow will be a day for you to rest completely. It will be a day dedicated to Yahweh. So today, bake or boil what you will [need for today and for tomorrow]. Whatever is left [this evening], you should put aside and keep it [to eat] tomorrow.’”

24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses had bidden; and it did not stink, nor was there any worm therein.

So they did what Moses/I commanded. What was left over, they kept until the next day. It did not spoil and did not get maggots in it!

25 And Moses said, Eat it today; for a sabbath is this day unto the Lord: today ye will not find it in the field.

[On that day], Moses/I said, “Eat today [what you have saved from yesterday], because today is a day dedicated to Yahweh. Today you will not find any of that food outside.

26 Six days shall ye gather it; but on the seventh day, the sabbath, on it there shall be none.

[Every week], you must gather it for six days; but on the seventh day, which will be a day of rest, you will not find any.”

27 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out some of the people to gather; but they found nothing.

On the seventh day, some of the people went outside their tents to gather some of that food, but there was none.

28 And the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws?

Then Yahweh [told Moses/me to say this to] the people: “How long will you people refuse to do all the things that I tell you?

29 See, that the Lord hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day bread for two days; remain ye, every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

Listen! Yahweh has given you a day of rest. So on the sixth day [of each week], he will be giving you enough of this food for two days. Each of you should stay in his tent [and do no work] on the seventh day!”

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

So the people rested on the seventh day.

31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna, [[Man]]; and it was like coriander-seed, white, and its taste was like wafers made with honey.

The Israeli people called this food manna, [which sounds like the words in their language that mean ‘what is it]?’ It looked like small seeds [called] coriander, but it was white, and it tasted like thin wafers/biscuits made with honey.

32 And Moses said, This is the thing which the Lord hath commanded, One omer-full of it is to be kept for your generations; in order that they may see the bread which I gave you to eat in the wilderness, when I brought you forth out of the land of Egypt.

Moses/I said, “This is what Yahweh has commanded: ‘You must keep two quarts/liters of it for all future generations, so that they can see the [food that took the place of] bread that I gave to your [ancestors] when I brought them out of Egypt.’”

33 And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a flask, and put therein an omer-full of manna, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept for your generations.

And he/I said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put two quarts of manna in it. Then put it [in a place] where Yahweh can see it. It is to be kept like that for all future generations.”

34 As the Lord had commanded Moses, so did Aaron lay it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

[Many years later], as Yahweh had commanded Moses/me, Aaron put the jar in front of the box [that contained the stone slabs on which] the Ten Commandments [were written].

35 And the children of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; the manna they did eat, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

The Israeli people were able to eat manna [every day] for 40 years, until they came to the border of Canaan land.

36 But the omer is a tenth part of an ephah.

(The standard measure [that they used at that time] held 20 quarts/liters.)