Exodus 16:14-24

14 And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness [there lay] a small round thing, [as] small as the hoar frost on the ground:

15 And when the children of Israel saw [it], they said one to another, It [is] manna: for they knew not what it [was]. And Moses said to them, This [is] the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.

16 This [is] the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating: an omer for every man [according to] the number of your persons, take ye every man for [them] who [are] in his tents.

17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less.

18 And when they measured [it] with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack: they gathered every man according to his eating.

19 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning.

20 Notwithstanding, they hearkened not to Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and became offensive; and Moses was wroth with them.

21 And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun became hot, it melted.

22 And it came to pass, [that] on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one [man]: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses.

23 And he said to them, This [is that] which the LORD hath said, To-morrow [is] the rest of the holy sabbath to the LORD: bake [that] which ye will bake [to-day], and boil that ye will boil; and that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning.

24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses ordered: and it did not putrefy, neither was there any worm therein.

Exodus 16:14-24 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.