CHAPTER 16
1 And they went forth from Elim, and all the multitude of the sons of Israel came into the desert of Sin, which is betwixt Elim and Sinai, in the fifteenth day of the second month, after that they went out of the land of Egypt.
2 And all the congregation of the sons of Israel grutched against Moses, and against Aaron, in the wilderness.
3 And the sons of Israel said to them, We would that we had been dead by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat on the flesh pots, and ate loaves in plenty; why led ye us into this desert, that ye should slay all the multitude with hunger?
4 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Lo! I shall rain to you loaves from heaven; the people go out, that it gather those things that suffice by each day; that I assay the people, whether it go in my law, or not.
5 Soothly in the sixth day, make they ready that that they shall bear in, and be it double over that they were wont to gather by each day.
6 And Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, At eventide ye shall know that the Lord [hath] led you out of the land of Egypt;
7 and in the morrowtide ye shall see the glory of the Lord; for I heard your grutching against the Lord; soothly what be we, for ye grutch against us?
8 And Moses said, The Lord shall give to you at eventide flesh to eat, and loaves in the morrowtide in plenty, for he [hath] heard your grutchings, by which ye grutched against him; for why, what be we? your grutching is not against us, but against the Lord.
9 And Moses said to Aaron, Say thou to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, Nigh ye before the Lord, for he [hath] heard your grutching.
10 And when Aaron spake to all the company of the sons of Israel, they beheld to the wilderness, and lo! the glory of the Lord appeared in a cloud.
11 Forsooth the Lord spake to Moses, and said,
12 I heard the grutchings of the sons of Israel; speak thou to them, At eventide ye shall eat flesh, and in the morrowtide ye shall be filled with loaves, and ye shall know that I am the Lord your God.
13 Therefore eventide was made, and curlews went up, and covered the castles [or the tents]; and in the morrowtide dew came before the face of the castles [or the tents].
14 And when it had covered the earth, a little thing, and as pounded with a pestle, in the likeness of an hoarfrost on the earth, appeared in the wilderness.
15 And when the sons of Israel had seen that, they said together, Man na? which signifieth, What is this? for they wist not what it was. To whom Moses said, This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.
16 This is the word which the Lord commanded, Each man gather thereof as much as it sufficeth to be eaten, omer by each head, by the number of your souls that dwell in the tabernacle, so ye shall take.
17 And the sons of Israel did so, and they gathered, one more, and another less;
18 and they meted [or measured it] at the measure of omer; neither he that gathered more had more, neither he that made ready less found less, but all gathered by that that they might eat.
19 And Moses said to them, No man leave thereof into the morrowtide;
20 which heard not him, but some of them left thereof till to the morrow-tide, and it began to boil with worms, and it was rotten; and Moses was wroth against them.
21 Forsooth all they gathered in the morrowtide as much as sufficed to be eaten; and when the sun was hot, it was molten or melted.
22 Soothly in the sixth day they gathered double meats, that is, two omers each man. Forsooth all the princes of the multitude came, and told to Moses,
23 which said to them, This it is that the Lord spake, The rest of the sabbath is hallowed to the Lord; do ye what-ever thing shall be wrought tomorrow, and seethe ye those things that shall be sodden; soothly whatever thing is residue, or left over, keep ye it till into the morrow.
24 And they did so as Moses commanded, and it was not rotten, neither a worm was found therein.
25 And Moses said, Eat ye that in this day, for it is the sabbath of the Lord, it shall not be found today in the field;
26 gather ye it in six days, forsooth the sabbath of the Lord is in the seventh day, therefore in that day it shall not be found.
27 The seventh day came, and some of the people went out to gather, and they found not.
28 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, How long will ye not keep my commandments, and my law?
29 See ye that the Lord gave to you the sabbath, and for that he hath given to you in the sixth day double meats; each man dwell at himself, no man go out of his place in the seventh day.
30 And the people kept sabbath in the seventh day.
31 And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna, which was white, as the seed of coriander, and the taste thereof was as of flour with honey.
32 Forsooth Moses said, This is the word which the Lord commanded, Fill thou an omer thereof, and be it kept into generations to coming [or to come] afterward, that they know the bread with which I fed you in wilder-ness, when ye were led out of the land of Egypt.
33 And Moses said to Aaron, Take thou a vessel, and put therein manna, as much as an omer may take, and put it before the Lord, to be kept into your generations,
34 as the Lord commanded to Moses; and Aaron put that to be kept in the tabernacle.
35 Forsooth the sons of Israel ate manna forty years, till they came into the land habitable, that is, able to be inhabited; they were fed with this meat, till they touched the coasts of the land of Canaan.
36 Forsooth omer is the tenth part of ephah.