That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning dew lay around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost were on the desert ground. When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, “What is it?” because they did not know what it was.
So Moses told them, “This is the bread the LORD has given you to eat. The LORD has commanded, ‘Each one of you must gather what he needs, about two quarts for every person in your family.’ ”
So the people of Israel did this; some people gathered much, and some gathered little. Then they measured it. The person who gathered more did not have too much, nor did the person who gathered less have too little. Each person gathered just as much as he needed.
Moses said to them, “Don’t keep any of it to eat the next day.” But some of the people did not listen to Moses and kept part of it to eat the next morning. It became full of worms and began to stink, so Moses was angry with those people.
Every morning each person gathered as much food as he needed, but when the sun became hot, it melted away.
On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much food—four quarts for every person. When all the leaders of the community came and told this to Moses, he said to them, “This is what the LORD commanded, because tomorrow is the Sabbath, the LORD’s holy day of rest. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil today. Save the rest of the food until tomorrow morning.”
So the people saved it until the next morning, as Moses had commanded, and none of it began to stink or have worms in it. Moses told the people, “Eat the food you gathered yesterday. Today is a Sabbath, the LORD’s day of rest; you will not find any out in the field today. You should gather the food for six days, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day. On that day there will not be any food on the ground.”
On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather food, but they couldn’t find any. Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you people refuse to obey my commands and teachings? Look, the LORD has made the Sabbath a day of rest for you. So on the sixth day he will give you enough food for two days, but on the seventh day each of you must stay where you are. Do not go anywhere.” So the people rested on the seventh day.
The people of Israel called the food manna. It was like small white seeds and tasted like wafers made with honey.
Then Moses said, “The LORD said, ‘Save two quarts of this food for your descendants. Then they can see the food I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’ ”
Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. Then place it before the LORD, and save it for your descendants.” So Aaron did what the LORD had commanded Moses. He put the jar of manna in front of the Agreement to keep it safe. The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to the land where they settled—the edge of the land of Canaan.
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