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OET-RV by cross-referenced section EXO 16:1

EXO 16:1–16:36 ©

This is still a very early look into the unfinished text of the Open English Translation of the Bible. Please double-check the text in advance before using in public.

The manna and the quail

Exo 16:1–36

16:1 The manna and the quail

16Then they left Elim, and all the Israelis entered into the wilderness at Siyn (between Elim and Sinai) around six weeks after leaving Egypt, 2and all the Israelis murmured against Mosheh and Aharon there in the wilderness, 3saying, “If only Yahweh had killed us in Egypt, where we’d be sitting by a pot of meat eating bread until we’re full, because you’ve brought us out into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

4Then Yahweh told Mosheh, “Just watch me make food rain down from the sky for you all. Then the people will be able to go out every day and gather enough for that day so that I can test them: Will they obey my law or not?[ref] 5But every Friday they can gather and prepare twice as much as what they gather on the other days.”

6So Mosheh and Aharon told all the Israelis, “This evening you’ll all know that Yahweh was the one who brought you out from Egypt. 7In the morning you’ll all see Yahweh’s greatness as he’s heard your murmurings against him. I mean, who are we that you’d murmur against us?” 8Then Mosheh continued, “So Yahweh will give you all meat to eat in the evening and enough bread in the morning to make you all full. Yes, Yahweh has heard your murmurings against him. As for us, we’re insignificant. Your murmuring isn’t against us, but against Yahweh.”

9Then Mosheh told Aharon, “Summon everyone to come and face Yahweh, because he’s heard their murmurings.” 10And so while Aharon spoke to all the Israelis, they turned toward the wilderness, and wow, Yahweh’s dazzling brightness appeared in the cloud! 11Then Yahweh told Mosheh, 12“I’ve heard the murmurings of the Israelis. Speak to them saying, ‘In the evenings, you’ll all eat meat, and in the mornings you’ll all be satisfied with bread. Then you’ll all know that I’m your God, Yahweh.’ ”

13And so that evening, quail appeared and covered the camp. And in the morning, something like dew was lying all around the camp, 14and when it evaporated, wow, it left behind thin flakes—thin like frost on the ground there in the wilderness. 15When the Israelis saw it, they asked each other, ‘What is it?’ because they didn’t know what it was.

And Mosheh told them, “It’s the food that Yahweh has given you all to eat.[ref] 16These are Yahweh’s instructions: Gather enough of it according to how many people you’re feeding—about two litres per person who lives in your tents.”

17So the Israelis went ahead and gathered it—some collecting a lot, and others, less, 18but when they measured it out, those who’d collected a lot didn’t have any extra, and those who hadn’t gathered so much still had enough to eat—each person had gathered just enough.[ref] 19Then Mosheh told them, “Don’t save any of it for tomorrow,” 20but some of them didn’t take any notice of him and kept it until the next morning. However, by then it was full of maggots and smelt rotten, and Mosheh was very angry at them.

21So from that day onwards, they gathered it every morning, depending on how many they were feeding, and then when the sun got hot, the rest melted away. 22On the Friday, they gathered twice as much—around four litres for each person—and all the leaders of the community came and informed Mosheh 23and he told them, “This is what Yahweh said: Tomorrow is a rest day to be set aside for Yahweh. So bake or cook your food, and keep the left-overs overnight to use in the morning.”[ref] 24So they did what Mosheh had told them and kept the left-overs until the morning, and it didn’t stink or have any bugs in it. 25On that Saturday morning, Mosheh told them, “Go ahead and eat the previously cooked food because today is set aside for Yahweh and so you all won’t find any more on the ground 26you’ll gather it for six days each week, but on the Saturday, there won’t be any.”

27However, some people did go out to collect it, but they couldn’t find any, 28and Yahweh said to Mosheh, “For how long will you all keep refusing to obey my commandments and my laws? 29Listen, Yahweh has given you the Rest Day, so on the Friday he gives you food for two days. On the Saturday, everyone should stay where they are—there’s no need for anyone to go outside searching.” 30So the people didn’t work on the Saturday.

31The Israelis named it ‘manna(which sounds like Hebrew ‘What is it?’). It was white like coriander seed, and it tasted like wafers with honey.[ref] 32Then Mosheh said, “This is the procedure that Yahweh has commanded: Keep a full measure of it for preservation for your descendants so that they can see the food which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out from Egypt.” 33So Mosheh said to Aharon, “Take a jar and fill it with the full two litres of manna. Place it in front of Yahweh for preservation for your descendants.”[ref] 34So Aharon prepared the jar and kept it (and would eventually place it in the box with the stone tablets.) 35The Israelis ate manna for forty years, until they eventually left the wilderness and came to the borders of the region of Canaan.[ref] 36(Two litres is called an ‘omer’ which is a tenth of a ‘efah’.)


Collected OET-RV cross-references

Yhn 6:31:

31[ref]Our ancestors ate the manna[fn] out in the wilderness, just like Mosheh wrote, ‘He gave them bread from the sky to eat.’ ”


6:31 Manna was a word that meant ‘stuff’ and referred to some kind of flakes that regularly came down from the sky in the time of Mosheh and could be eaten as food.


6:31: Exo 16:4,15; Psa 78:24.

1Cor 10:3:

3They all ate the same supernatural food[ref]


10:3: Exo 16:35.

2Cor 8:15:

15As the scriptures say:[ref]

‘The person who gathered much didn’t have too much,

and the person who gathered little didn’t have any lack.’


8:15: Exo 16:18.

Exo 20:8-11:

8Keep Saturday different from all the other days[ref] 9there’s six days every week for working.[ref] 10The seventh day is a rest day for Yahweh your God: you mustn’t do any work—not you, or your children, or your male or female servants, or your cattle, or the foreigners live among you 11because Yahweh made the heavens and earth, the sea, and everything that’s in them in six days. Then he rested on the seventh day, so that’s why he blessed the rest day and made it sacred.[ref]


20:8: Exo 16:23-30; 31:12-14.

20:9-10: Exo 23:12; 31:15; 34:21; 35:2; Lev 23:3.

20:11: Gen 2:1-3; Exo 31:17.

Num 11:7-8:

7[ref] 8


11:7-8: Exo 16:31.

Heb 9:4:

4having the golden incense altar and the box of the agreement which was completely gold-plated and which contained a golden jar of manna and Aaron’s staff which had sprouted and the stone tablets inscribed with the commandments.[ref]


9:4: a Exo 30:1-6; b Exo 25:10-16; c Exo 16:33; d Num 17:8-10; e Exo 25:16; Deu 10:3-5.

Josh 5:12:

12The day after they’d eaten some of the produce from that area, there was no manna on the ground to be collected and so it stopped—instead they’d eat the produce from the Canaan region beginning that year.[ref]


5:12: Exo 16:35.