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Exodus 16:16-36

Listen to Exodus 16:16-36
16 This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take two quarts[a] per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.' "
17 So the Israelites did this. Some gathered a lot, some a little.
18 When they measured it by quarts,[b] the person who gathered a lot had no surplus, and the person who gathered a little had no shortage. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat.
19 Moses said to them, "No one is to let any of it remain until morning."
20 But they didn't listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and smelled. Therefore Moses was angry with them.
21 They gathered it every morning. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted.
22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts[c] apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported [this] to Moses.
23 He told them, "This is what the Lord has said: 'Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and everything left over set aside to be kept until morning.' "
24 So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it didn't smell or have any maggots in it.
25 "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you won't find any in the field.
26 For six days you may gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none."
27 Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find any.
28 Then the Lord said to Moses, "How long will you[d] refuse to keep My commands and instructions?
29 Understand that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day He will give you two days' worth of bread. Each of you stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day."
30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The house of Israel named the substance manna.[e] It resembled coriander seed, was white, and tasted like wafers [made] with honey.
32 Moses said, "This is what the Lord has commanded: 'Two quarts[f] of it are to be preserved throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.' "
33 Moses told Aaron, "Take a container and put two quarts[g] of manna in it. Then place it before the Lord to be preserved throughout your generations."
34 As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the testimony to be preserved.
35 The Israelites ate manna for 40 years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan.[h]
36 (Two quarts are[i] a tenth of an ephah.)

Exodus 16:16-36 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 16

This chapter begins with an account of the journeying of the children of Israel from Elim to the wilderness of Sin, where they murmured for want of bread, Ex 16:1-3, when the Lord told Moses that he would rain bread from heaven for them, which Moses informed them of; and withal, that the Lord took notice of their murmurings, Ex 16:4-12 which promise the Lord fulfilled; and a description of the bread, and the name of it, are given, Ex 16:13-15, and some instructions are delivered out concerning the quantity of it to be gathered, Ex 16:16-18, the time of gathering and keeping it, Ex 16:19-21, the gathering a double quantity on the sixth day for that and the seventh day, with the reason of it, Ex 16:22-30 and a further description of it, Ex 16:31, and an order to preserve an omer of it in a pot, to be kept for generations to come, that it might be seen by them, Ex 16:32-34, and the chapter is concluded with observing, that this bread was ate by the Israelites forty years, even till they came to the borders of the land of Canaan, and the quantity they ate every day is observed what it was, Ex 16:35,36.

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Footnotes 9

  • [a] Lit an omer
  • [b] Lit by an omer
  • [c] Lit two omers
  • [d] In Hb you is pl, referring to the whole nation.
  • [e] What?; Ex 16:15
  • [f] Lit A full omer
  • [g] Lit a full omer
  • [h] Jos 5:12
  • [i] Lit The omer is
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.

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