Bread from heaven

1 And the whole congregation of Israel journeyed from Elim, and came to the desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the month of Iyar, the second month after they went out from the land of Egypt. 2 And on that day the bread which they had brought out of Egypt was finished. And all the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the desert.

3 And the sons of Israel said to them, “If only we had died by the Word of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, and ate bread and had enough! Why have you brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole congregation with hunger?”

4 And the Lord said to Moses, “Look, I will bring down from heaven the bread that has been kept for you from the beginning.⁠a And the people must go out and gather the portion for that day, so that I may test whether they will keep the commandments of My law or not. 5 And on the sixth day they must prepare what they set before them to eat on the day of the Sabbath. And they must pool food in their houses and form partnerships in their courtyards so that they may carry things from one to another. And they will have twice what they gather each day.”

6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening you will know that the Lord has brought you out free from the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning the glory of the Shekinah of the Lord will be revealed to you, when your complaints against the Lord have been heard by Him. And how important are we, that you complain against us?”

8 And Moses said, “By this you will know, when the Lord prepares meat for you to eat in the evening and bread to satisfy you in the morning, that your complaints against Him have been heard by the Lord. And how important are we? Your complaints are not against us, but against the Word of the Lord.”

9 Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘Approach the Lord, for your complaints have been heard by Him.’”

10 And while Aaron was speaking with all the congregation of Israel, they turned toward the desert, and, look, the glory of the Shekinah of the Lord was revealed in the cloud of glory.

11 And the Lord said to Moses, saying, 12 “I have heard the complaints the sons of Israel voiced in My presence. Speak to them, saying, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread, and you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

The pheasants and the manna

13 And in the evening the pheasants came up and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a fall of holy dew, prepared as a table, all around the camp, 14 and the clouds rose and brought manna down on the dew,⁠b and on the surface of the desert was a fine substance in lines, as fine as the frost on the ground.

15 And the sons of Israel saw it, were amazed, and said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “It is the bread that has been kept for you from the beginning in the heavens on high, and now the Lord will give it to you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Gather as much of it as each person can eat, an omer per person, according to your number. Each man must take it according to the total number of people in his tent.’”

17 And the sons of Israel did so, and gathered manna, some more and some less, 18 but when they measured by the omer, those who had gathered much had nothing beyond the prescribed measure, and those who had gathered little were not short of it. Each man gathered according to what he could eat.

19 And Moses said to them, “No one may keep any of it until morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Dathan and Abiram, wicked men, kept some until morning, but it became infested with worms and rotted, and Moses was angry with them.

21 And they gathered from dawn until the fourth hour of the day, each man according to what he could eat, but at the fourth hour, when the sun grew hot over it, it melted, and made streams of water, which flowed away into the Great Sea, and wild animals that were clean, and cattle, came to drink it, and the sons of Israel hunted, and ate them.

The Sabbath portion

22 And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers per man, and all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses.

23 And Moses said to them, “You have done what the Lord told you. Tomorrow is a day of rest, a holy Sabbath for the Lord. Bake today what you need to bake for tomorrow, and boil today what you need to boil for tomorrow. And put aside whatever remains of what you eat today, and it will be kept until morning.”

24 And they put it aside until the morning, as Moses had directed them, and it did not rot, and no worm was in it.

25 And Moses said to them, “Eat today, because this is the Sabbath day for the Lord. This day you will not find any in the field. 26 Gather it for six days, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, no manna will come down.”

27 And on the seventh day some of the wicked people went out to gather manna, but they found none.

28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 Look, the Lord has given you the Sabbath, so He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Each person must remain in his place. Do not move anything from one domain to another beyond four cubits, and no one may go out from his place to walk beyond two thousand cubits on the seventh day.”

30 And the people rested on the seventh day.

Manna kept as a memorial

31 And the house of Israel called it manna, and it was white, like coriander seed, and tasted like cakes made with honey.

32 And Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded, ‘Put aside a full omer of it to keep throughout your generations, so that rebellious generations may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take an earthen flask and put a full omer of manna in it, and set it aside in the Lord’s presence to be kept throughout your generations.”

34 As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron set it aside in front of the testimony to be kept.

35 And the children of Israel ate the manna forty years during Moses’ life, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna forty days after his death, until they had crossed the Jordan, and entered the borders of the land of Canaan. 36 And an omer is one tenth of three seahs.