Bible Chapter Summary
Exodus 16 Summary
God Provides Manna and Quail
One month and a half after leaving Egypt, the congregation of Israel journeys into the wilderness of Sin and murmurs against Moses and Aaron, lamenting the food they had in Egypt. The LORD responds by promising to rain bread from heaven each day as a daily test of obedience, and to send quail in the evening; the glory of the LORD appears in the cloud as confirmation. Each morning a small, white, honey-wafer-like substance — which the people call manna — appears on the ground and is to be gathered at a rate of one omer per person, with a double portion gathered on the sixth day so that the seventh-day Sabbath is kept as rest; any manna kept overnight outside of the Sabbath provision breeds worms and stinks. An omer of manna is preserved in a pot and laid up before the LORD for future generations, and the children of Israel eat manna for forty years until they reach the borders of Canaan.
Key themes
Key verses
Exodus 16:4
“Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.”
Exodus 16:15
“And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.”
Exodus 16:23
“And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.”
Exodus 16:35
“And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.”
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