Exodus 16:9-19

9 Then Moses 1said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, 2'Come near before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.'"
10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the 3glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.
11 And the LORD said to Moses,
12 "I 4have heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, 'At 5twilight you shall eat meat, and 6in the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'"
13 In the evening 7quail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning 8dew lay around the camp.
14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.
15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, 9"What is it?"[a] For they 10did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, 11"It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
16 This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an 12omer,[b] according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.'"
17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less.
18 But when they measured it with an omer, 13whoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat.
19 And Moses said to them, "Let no one leave any of it over till the morning."

Exodus 16:9-19 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.

Cross References 13

Footnotes 2

  • [a]. Or "It is manna." Hebrew man hu
  • [b]. An omer was about 2 quarts or 2 liters
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.