Exodus 16:13-18

13 So it came about at evening that ¹the quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ²there was a layer of dew around the camp.

14 ³When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness ⁴there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.

15 When the sons of Israel saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, "⁵It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat.

16 "This is what * the LORD has commanded, 'Gather of it every man as much as he should eat; you shall take ⁶an omer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.' "

17 The sons of Israel did so, and some gathered much and some little.

18 When they measured it with an omer, ⁷he who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered as much as he should eat.

Exodus 16:13-18 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

• 1. Numbers 11:31; Psalms 78:27-29; Psalms 105:40
• 2. Numbers 11:9
• 3. Numbers 11:7-9
• 4. Exodus 16:31; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78:24; Psalms 105:40
• 5. Exodus 16:4; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalms 78:24; John 6:31; 1 Corinthians 10:3
• 6. Exodus 16:32, 36
• 7. 2 Corinthians 8:15

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "had gone up"
• [b]. Lit "face of"
• [c]. Heb "Man hu," cf v 31
• [d]. Lit "the thing which"
• [e]. Lit "according to his eating"
• [f]. Lit "an omer for a head"
• [g]. Lit "according to his eating"