Exodus 16:1-6

Yahweh Provides Food in the Desert

1 And they set out from Elim, and all the community of the {Israelites} came to the desert of Sin, which [is] between Elim {and Sinai}, in the fifteenth day of the second month of their going out from the land of Egypt.

2 And all the community of the {Israelites} grumbled against Moses and against Aaron in the desert.

3 And the {Israelites} said to them, "{If only we had died} by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread {until we were full}, because you have brought us out to this desert to kill all of this assembly with hunger."

4 And Yahweh said to Moses, "Look, I am going to rain down for you bread from the heavens, and the people will go out and gather enough for the day on its day; in that way I will test them: Will they go according to my law or not?

5 And then on the sixth day, they will prepare what they bring, and it will be twice over what they will gather every [other] day."

6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the {Israelites}, "[In the] evening, you will know that Yahweh has brought you out from the land of Egypt,

Exodus 16:1-6 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [b]. Literally "and between Sinai"
• [c]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [d]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
• [e]. Literally "who will give our dying"
• [f]. Hebrew "pot"
• [g]. Literally "to contentment" or "to satisfaction"
• [h]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"