1 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron in the wilderness; 3 and the children of Israel said unto them: 'Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh-pots, when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.' 4 Then said the LORD unto Moses: 'Behold, I will cause to rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law, or not. 5 And it shall come to pass on the sixth day that they shall prepare that which they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily.' 6 And Moses and Aaron said unto all the children of Israel: 'At even, then ye shall know that the LORD hath brought you out from the land of Egypt; 7 and in the morning, then ye shall see the glory of the LORD; for that He hath heard your murmurings against the LORD; and what are we, that ye murmur against us?' 8 And Moses said: 'This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against Him; and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.' 9 And Moses said unto Aaron: 'Say unto all the congregation of the children of Israel: Come near before the LORD; for He hath heard your murmurings.' 10 And it came to pass, as Aaron spoke unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying: 12 'I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak unto them, saying: At dusk ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God.' 13 And it came to pass at even, that the quails came up, and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew round about the camp. 14 And when the layer of dew was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness a fine, scale-like thing, fine as the hoar-frost on the ground. 15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another: 'What is it?' — for they knew not what it was. And Moses said unto them: 'It is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded: Gather ye of it every man according to his eating; an omer a head, according to the number of your persons, shall ye take it, every man for them that are in his tent.' 17 And the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less. 18 And when they did mete 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 unto them: 'Let no man leave of it till the morning.' 20 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and rotted; and Moses was wroth with them. 21 And they gathered it morning by morning, every man according to his eating; and as the sun waxed hot, it melted. 22 And it came to pass 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 Moses. 23 And he said unto them: 'This is that which the LORD hath spoken: To-morrow is a solemn rest, a holy sabbath unto the LORD. Bake that which ye will bake, and seethe that which ye will seethe; and all that remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.' 24 And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade; and it did not rot, neither was there any worm therein. 25 And Moses said: 'Eat that to-day; for to-day is a sabbath unto the LORD; to-day ye shall not find it in the field. 26 Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day is the sabbath, in it there shall be none.' 27 And it came to pass on the seventh day, that there went out some of the people to gather, and they found none. 28 And the LORD said unto Moses: 'How long refuse ye to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See that the LORD hath given you the sabbath; therefore He giveth you on the sixth day the bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.' 30 So the people rested on the seventh day. 31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna; and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 And Moses said: 'This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded: Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.' 33 And Moses said unto Aaron: 'Take a jar, and put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations.' 34 As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept. 35 And the children of Israel did eat the manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat the manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan. 36 Now an omer is the tenth part of an ephah.
Exodus 16 JPS Tanakh (1917)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Notes on this text (1)
- Numbers like (22-2) in the text give the Hebrew verse numbering where it differs.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Aaron
Moses' brother and spokesman, Israel's first high priest.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 4–40; Leviticus 8–10
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Cross references (34)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 33:10–12; Exodus 15:27; Exodus 17:1
- 2 1 Corinthians 10:10; Exodus 15:24; Psalm 106:7; Psalm 106:25; Psalm 106:13
- 3 Numbers 11:4–5; Numbers 20:3–5; Exodus 17:3; Lamentations 4:9; Deuteronomy 28:67
- 4 1 Corinthians 10:3; Psalm 105:40; Deuteronomy 8:2; Psalm 78:24–25; Deuteronomy 8:16
- 5 Exodus 16:22–23; Leviticus 25:21–22; Exodus 35:2–3
- 6 Exodus 6:7; Numbers 16:30; Numbers 16:28; Exodus 16:12–13; Exodus 12:51
- 7 Isaiah 40:5; John 11:40; Numbers 16:11; Isaiah 35:2; John 11:4
- 8 Romans 13:2; 1 Samuel 8:7; Luke 10:16; Numbers 14:27; 1 Thessalonians 4:8
- 9 Numbers 16:16; Exodus 16:8; Exodus 16:2
- 10 Exodus 16:7; Numbers 16:19; Numbers 16:42; Leviticus 9:6; Exodus 13:21–22
- 12 Joel 3:17; Exodus 16:7–8; Exodus 6:7; Ezekiel 39:22; Ezekiel 34:30
- 13 Numbers 11:9; Psalm 78:27–28; Psalm 105:40; Numbers 11:31–33
- 14 Deuteronomy 8:3; Nehemiah 9:15; Psalm 105:40; Psalm 78:24; Numbers 11:7–9
- 15 Exodus 16:4; John 6:58; John 6:31–32; Exodus 16:31; 1 Corinthians 10:3
- 16 Exodus 16:36; Exodus 16:18; Exodus 16:32–33
- 18 2 Corinthians 8:14–15
- 19 Exodus 12:10; Exodus 23:18; Matthew 6:34; Exodus 16:23
- 20 Mark 10:14; James 5:2–3; Hebrews 13:5; Mark 3:5; Luke 12:33
- 21 John 12:35; Ecclesiastes 12:1; Matthew 6:33; 2 Corinthians 6:2; Ecclesiastes 9:10
- 22 Exodus 16:5; Exodus 16:16; Leviticus 25:22; Exodus 34:31; Leviticus 25:12
- 23 Leviticus 23:3; Exodus 20:8–11; Exodus 31:15; Exodus 35:2–3; Genesis 2:2–3
- 24 Exodus 16:20; Exodus 16:33
- 25 Exodus 16:23; Exodus 16:29; Nehemiah 9:14
- 26 Exodus 20:9–11; Ezekiel 46:1; Deuteronomy 5:13; Luke 13:14
- 27 Proverbs 20:4
- 28 Psalm 78:10; 2 Kings 17:14; Psalm 106:13; Ezekiel 20:13; Numbers 14:11
- 29 Exodus 31:13; Isaiah 58:13–14; Ezekiel 20:12; Luke 23:56; Nehemiah 9:14
- 30 Deuteronomy 5:12–14; Hebrews 4:9; Leviticus 23:3
- 31 Numbers 11:6–9; Song of Songs 2:3; Exodus 16:15
- 32 Psalm 105:5; Luke 22:19; Psalm 111:4–5; Hebrews 2:1; Psalm 103:1–2
- 33 Hebrews 9:4
- 34 Exodus 25:16; Exodus 25:21; Exodus 27:21; Numbers 17:10; Exodus 40:20
- 35 Nehemiah 9:20–21; Joshua 5:12; John 6:30–58; Deuteronomy 8:2–3; Deuteronomy 1:8
- 36 Exodus 16:16; Exodus 16:32–33
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Unto Whom saith the heart of the faithful, I will be filled, not with the flesh-pots of the Egyptians, nor with melons and gourds, and garlick and onions, which a generation crooked and embittering did prefer even to bread celestial, nor with visible manna, and those same winged fowls; but, "I will be filled, when Thy glory shall be made …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
… is no profit:" if the heathen forsook their idols, to come to the God of Israel; ought Israel whom their own God led from Egypt through the Red Sea, wherein He overwhelmed their pursuing foes; whom He led out into the wilderness, fed with manna, never took His rod from correcting them, never deprived them of the blessings of His …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)