Exodus 16:12-22

12 "I have heard the murmurings of the children of Yisra'el. Speak to them, saying, 'At evening you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread: and you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'"

13 It happened at evening that quail came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay around the camp.

14 When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the hoar-frost on the ground.

15 When the children of Yisra'el saw it, they said one to another, "What is it?" For they didn't know what it was. Moshe said to them, "It is the bread which the LORD has given you to eat."

16 This is the thing which the LORD has commanded: "Gather of it everyone according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall you take it, every man for those who are in his tent."

17 The children of Yisra'el did so, and gathered some more, some less.

18 When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack. They gathered every man according to his eating.

19 Moshe said to them, "Let no one leave of it until the morning."

20 Notwithstanding they didn't listen to Moshe, but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became foul: and Moshe was angry with them.

21 They gathered it morning by morning, everyone according to his eating. When the sun grew hot, it melted.

22 It happened that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moshe.

Exodus 16:12-22 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.