Daily Bread

¹³ That evening quail^(A) came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew^(B) around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost^(C) on the ground appeared on the desert floor. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know^(D) what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread^(E) the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer^[a](F) for each person you have in your tent.’”

¹⁷ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. ¹⁸ And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.^(G) Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

¹⁹ Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”^(H)

²⁰ However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell.^(I) So Moses was angry^(J) with them.

²¹ Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. ²² On the sixth day, they gathered twice^(K) as much—two omers^[b] for each person—and the leaders of the community^(L) came and reported this to Moses. ²³ He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath^(M) to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

²⁴ So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. ²⁵ “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. ²⁶ Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath,^(N) there will not be any.”

²⁷ Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you^[c] refuse to keep my commands^(O) and my instructions? ²⁹ Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The people of Israel called the bread manna.^[d](P) It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey. ³² Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the wilderness when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

³³ So Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put an omer of manna^(Q) in it. Then place it before the Lord to be kept for the generations to come.”

³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna with the tablets of the covenant law,^(R) so that it might be preserved. ³⁵ The Israelites ate manna^(S) forty years,^(T) until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.^(U)

³⁶ (An omer^(V) is one-tenth of an ephah.)^(W)