Exodus 16

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

The whole Israelite community left Elim and went to the Desert of Sin, between Elim and Sinai. This was on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt.

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

There in the desert they complained to Moses and Aaron.

3 And the children of Israel said to them, O that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, [and] when we did eat bread to the full: for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

“The Lord should've killed us back in Egypt!” the Israelites told them. “At least there we could sit down beside stewpots of meat and eat bread until we were full. But you had to bring all of us out here in the desert to starve us all to death!”

4 Then said the LORD to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or not.

The Lord told Moses, “Just watch! I'm going to rain down bread from heaven for you! Each day the people are to go out and collect enough for that day. I'm going to test them by this to find out whether they'll follow my instructions or not.

5 And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare [that] which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.

On the sixth day they are to collect twice as much as usual and prepare it.”

6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, At evening, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt:

So Moses and Aaron explained to all the Israelites, “This evening you will have the proof that it was the Lord who led you out of Egypt,

7 And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that he heareth your murmurings against the LORD: And what [are] we, that ye murmur against us?

and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord displayed as he responds to the complaints he's heard you making against him. For why should you be complaining to us? We're nobodies!”

8 And Moses said, [This shall be] when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: And what [are] we? your murmurings [are] not against us, but against the LORD.

Then Moses continued, “The Lord is going to give you meat to eat this evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, for he has heard your complaints against him. Why are you complaining to us nobodies? Your complaints aren't directed against us, but against the Lord.”

9 And Moses spoke to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of the children of Israel, Come near before the LORD: for he hath heard your murmurings.

Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole Israelite community, ‘Present yourselves before the Lord, because he has heard your complaints.’”

10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked towards the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.

While Aaron was still speaking to all the Israelites, they looked toward the desert and saw the glory of the Lord appear in a cloud.

11 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

The Lord told Moses,

12 I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel; Speak to them, saying, At evening ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread: and ye shall know that I [am] the LORD your God.

“I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘In the evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have as much bread as you want. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 And it came to pass, that at evening the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay around the host.

That evening quail flew in and landed, filling the camp. In the morning dew covered the ground all around the camp.

14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness [there lay] a small round thing, [as] small as the hoar frost on the ground:

Once the dew had gone, there was something thin and flaky on the desert, looking like frost crystals on the ground.

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 to them, This [is] the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.

When the Israelites saw it, they asked each another, “What is it?” because they had no idea what it was. So Moses explained to them, “It's the bread the Lord has provided for you to eat.

16 This [is] the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating: an omer for every man [according to] the number of your persons, take ye every man for [them] who [are] in his tents.

This is what the Lord has ordered you to do: ‘All of you shall collect as much as is needed. Take an omer for each person in your tent.’”

17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.

So the Israelites did as they were told. Some collected more, while others collected less.

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

But when they measured it out in omers, those who had collected a lot didn't have any left over, while those who had only collected a little still had enough. Each person collected gathered as much as they needed to eat.

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

Then Moses said to them, “No one is to leave any of it until the morning.”

20 Notwithstanding, they hearkened not to Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became offensive; and Moses was wroth with them.

But some didn't listen to Moses. They did leave some of it until the morning, and it was full of maggots and smelled bad. Moses became angry with them.

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

So each morning everyone collected as much as they needed, and when the sun became hot, it melted away to nothing.

22 And it came to pass, [that] on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one [man]: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

However, on the sixth day, they collected twice as much of this food, two omers for each person. All the Israelite leaders came and told Moses what they had done.

23 And he said to them, This [is that] which the LORD hath said, To-morrow [is] the rest of the holy sabbath to the LORD: bake [that] which ye will bake [to-day], and boil that ye will boil; and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

Moses replied, “These are the Lord's instructions: ‘Tomorrow is a special day of rest, a holy Sabbath to honor the Lord. So bake what you want, and boil what you want. Then put to one side what's left and keep it until morning.’”

24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses ordered: and it did not putrefy, neither was there any worm therein.

So they kept it until morning as Moses had ordered, and it didn't smell bad or have any maggots.

25 And Moses said, Eat that to-day; for to-day [is] a sabbath to the LORD; to-day ye will not find it in the field.

Moses told them, “Eat it today, because today is a Sabbath to honor the Lord. Today you won't find anything out there.

26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, [which is] the sabbath, in it there will be none.

You can go out collecting for six days, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, it won't be there.”

27 And it came to pass, [that some] of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, and they found none.

However, on the seventh day some people still went out collecting, but they did not find anything.

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

The Lord told Moses, “How long are you going to refuse to obey my commands and instructions?

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

You need to understand that the Lord has given you the Sabbath, so on the sixth day he will provide you with food for two days. On the seventh day, everyone has to stay where they are—no one needs to go out.”

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

So the people did no work on the seventh day.

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

The Israelites called the food manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers with honey.

32 And Moses said, This [is] the thing which the LORD commanded, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

Moses said, “This is what the Lord has ordered: ‘Keep an omer of manna as a reminder for future generations, so that they can see the food I used to feed you in the desert when I led you out of Egypt.’”

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

So Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept as a reminder for future generations.”

34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.

Aaron did so and placed the jar in front of the Testimony, to be preserved just as the Lord had ordered Moses.

35 And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited: they ate manna, until they came to the borders of the land of Canaan.

The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to the land where they would settle down—they ate manna until they arrived at the border of Canaan.

36 Now an omer [is] the tenth [part] of an ephah.

(An omer is a tenth of an ephah.)