The Israelites have successfully left Egypt and, after singing a song of praise, have reached the oasis of Elim. (The Israelites are moving east from the Red Sea across the Sinai Peninsula.)
Exodus 16:1-5, Desert famine
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt.
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the LORD's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death."
Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days."
So quickly the Israelites forget the work and oppression in Egypt! The desert wanderings will include many "murmurings" or "grumblings" of this type. In this case, patiently, God provides a solution.
The Hebrew word luwn (לוּן) in verse 2 is a verb that means "to lodge" or "to dwell" or ... "to grumble." It is often used to describe one staying overnight. It first occurs in Genesis 19:2 to describe Lot's invitation to his angelic guests. It is possible that the "murmuring" meaning of the word comes from speech that is "lodging" or "dwelling" on a particular point, that is "nagging."
Exodus 16:6-9, Stop grumbling
So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?"Moses also said, "You will know that it was the LORD when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the LORD."
Then Moses told Aaron, "Say to the entire Israelite community, `Come before the LORD, for he has heard your grumbling.'"
This passage includes one of many "knowing" passages: YHWH does this so that His people will know Who brought them out of Egypt!
Moses communicates God's plan to give them meat in the evening and bread in the morning. (Note the Jewish order: the day begins at evening.)
Exodus 16:10-12, Glory in a cloud
While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the LORD appearing in the cloud.The LORD said to Moses, "I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, `At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.'"
The Shekinah Glory of YHWH appears in a great cloud, as it did in Exodus 13:20-22.
Exodus 16:13-17, Quail and manna
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.
This is what the LORD has commanded: `Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'"
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.
Quail falls in the evening; a bread-ish substance is on the ground in the morning. In the seventh plague God rained hail on Egypt; this positive version of that rain is a rain of quail in the evening. Fretheim argues in his commentary that both of these events could be explained naturally, but, as we see in a moment, the fact that this rain "rests" on the Sabbath -- as do the Israelites -- does not meet a natural explanation.
Exodus 16:18-20, Eat only what you need
Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."
However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.
The people are to gather just what they need. They are not to be greedy and -- as is common for hungry people! -- hoard their food. In this case, the hoarding does no good.
Exodus 16:21-24, Gather twice for the sabbath
Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much--two omers for each person--and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.
He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: `Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.'"
So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.
This is the first occurrence in the Old Testament of the word shabbath (שַׁבָּת), "Sabbath". The Sabbath was not specified as a special day until this chapter. Its value will be emphasized in the Mosaic Covenant, starting in chapter 20.
To emphasize the Sabbath, the people are to collect twice as much the day before and none on the Sabbath and here this double-time "hoarding" is acceptable.
Exodus 16:25-30, Celebrating the sabbath
Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."
Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out."
So the people rested on the seventh day.
In verse 28 The Hebrew in "how long will you..." is plural. Moses is not the subject of YHWH's question; the people are.
Exodus 16:31-36, Remember this!
Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: `Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.'"
So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come."
As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept.
The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan. (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)
The Hebrew "manna" means "What is it"? (see verse 15). So the bread-ish food is named for the question it raises! It will feed the people until they are ready to enter the Promise Land.
Our narrator inserts an explanatory sentence about the value of an omer an explanation that is no good for those of us in the 21st-Century. An omer, we believe, was about 2 quarts.
Some Hebrew vocabulary
Our Hebrew word for the day is man,
מָן
an interrogative pronoun meaning "what?" When combined with the third person singular pronoun hu (הוּא), it becomes mān hū in verse 15, "what is it?" and thus becomes the name of this strange food.
Some Random Thoughts
There have been numerous attempts to explain the influx of quail in the evening and the growth of manna on the ground in the morning, but none of these explain why this provision might go on, day after day, skipping every seventh day. Such explanations are an attempt to insert a modern scientific viewpoint into the ancient world. The message of this chapter is that the provision of food was a miraculous, supernatural event, beyond explanation.
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First published March 18, 2023; updated March 18, 2026
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