Keluaran 16:4

16:4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain ¹  bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out ²  and gather the amount for each day, so that I may test them. ³  Will they will walk in my law ⁴  or not?

Keluaran 16:8

16:8 Moses said, “You will know this ⁵  when the Lord gives you ⁶  meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satisfy you, because the Lord has heard your murmurings that you are murmuring against him. As for us, what are we? ⁷  Your murmurings are not against us, ⁸  but against the Lord.”

Keluaran 16:16-31

16:16 “This is what ⁹  the Lord has commanded: ¹⁰  ‘Each person is to gather ¹¹  from it what he can eat, an omer ¹²  per person ¹³  according to the number ¹⁴  of your people; ¹⁵  each one will pick it up ¹⁶  for whoever lives ¹⁷  in his tent.’” 16:17 The Israelites did so, and they gathered – some more, some less. 16:18 When ¹⁸  they measured with an omer, the one who gathered much had nothing left over, and the one who gathered little lacked nothing; each one had gathered what he could eat.

16:19 Moses said to them, “No one ¹⁹  is to keep any of it ²⁰  until morning.” 16:20 But they did not listen to Moses; some ²¹  kept part of it until morning, and it was full ²²  of worms and began to stink, and Moses was angry with them. 16:21 So they gathered it each morning, ²³  each person according to what he could eat, and when the sun got hot, it would melt. ²⁴  16:22 And ²⁵  on the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers ²⁶  per person; ²⁷  and all the leaders ²⁸  of the community ²⁹  came and told ³⁰  Moses. 16:23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a time of cessation from work, ³¹  a holy Sabbath ³²  to the Lord. Whatever you want to ³³  bake, bake today; ³⁴  whatever you want to boil, boil today; whatever is left put aside for yourselves to be kept until morning.’”

16:24 So they put it aside until the morning, just as Moses had commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 16:25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the area. ³⁵  16:26 Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

16:27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they found nothing. 16:28 So the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse ³⁶  to obey my commandments and my instructions? 16:29 See, because the Lord has given you the Sabbath, that is why ³⁷  he is giving you food for two days on the sixth day. Each of you stay where you are; ³⁸  let no one ³⁹  go out of his place on the seventh day.” 16:30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

16:31 The house of Israel ⁴⁰  called its name “manna.” ⁴¹  It was like coriander seed and was white, and it tasted ⁴²  like wafers with honey.

[16:4]  ¹ tn The particle הִנְנִי (hinni) before the active participle indicates the imminent future action: “I am about to rain.”

[16:4]  ² tn This verb and the next are the Qal perfect tenses with vav (ו) consecutives; they follow the sequence of the participle, and so are future in orientation. The force here is instruction – “they will go out” or “they are to go out.”

[16:4]  ³ tn The verb in the purpose/result clause is the Piel imperfect of נָסָה (nasah), אֲנַסֶּנוּ (’anassenu) – “in order that I may prove them [him].” The giving of the manna will be a test of their obedience to the detailed instructions of God as well as being a test of their faith in him (if they believe him they will not gather too much). In chap. 17 the people will test God, showing that they do not trust him.

[16:4]  ⁴ sn The word “law” here properly means “direction” at this point (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 146), but their obedience here would indicate also whether or not they would be willing to obey when the Law was given at Sinai.

[16:8]  ⁵ tn “You will know this” has been added to make the line smooth. Because of the abruptness of the lines in the verse, and the repetition with v. 7, B. S. Childs (Exodus [OTL], 273) thinks that v. 8 is merely a repetition by scribal error – even though the versions render it as the MT has it. But B. Jacob (Exodus, 447) suggests that the contrast with vv. 6 and 7 is important for another reason – there Moses and Aaron speak, and it is smooth and effective, but here only Moses speaks, and it is labored and clumsy. “We should realize that Moses had properly claimed to be no public speaker.”

[16:8]  ⁶ tn Here again is an infinitive construct with the preposition forming a temporal clause.

[16:8]  ⁷ tn The words “as for us” attempt to convey the force of the Hebrew word order, which puts emphasis on the pronoun: “and we – what?” The implied answer to the question is that Moses and Aaron are nothing, merely the messengers.

[16:8]  ⁸ tn The word order is “not against us [are] your murmurings.”

[16:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “the thing that.”

[16:16]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect tense could be taken as a definite past with Moses now reporting it. In this case a very recent past. But in declaring the word from Yahweh it could be instantaneous, and receive a present tense translation – “here and now he commands you.”

[16:16]  ¹¹ tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”

[16:16]  ¹² sn The omer is an amount mentioned only in this chapter, and its size is unknown, except by comparison with the ephah (v. 36). A number of recent English versions approximate the omer as “two quarts” (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT); TEV “two litres.”

[16:16]  ¹³ tn Heb “for a head.”

[16:16]  ¹⁴ tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[16:16]  ¹⁵ tn Traditionally “souls.”

[16:16]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “will take.”

[16:16]  ¹⁷ tn “lives” has been supplied.

[16:18]  ¹⁸ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is subordinated here as a temporal clause.

[16:19]  ¹⁹ tn The address now is for “man” (אִישׁ, ’ish), “each one”; here the instruction seems to be focused on the individual heads of the households.

[16:19]  ²⁰ tn Or “some of it,” “from it.”

[16:20]  ²¹ tn Heb “men”; this usage is designed to mean “some” (see GKC 447 §138.h, n. 1).

[16:20]  ²² tn The verb וַיָּרֻם (vayyarum) is equivalent to a passive – “it was changed” – to which “worms” is added as an accusative of result (GKC 388-89 §121.d, n. 2).

[16:21]  ²³ tn Heb “morning by morning.” This is an example of the repetition of words to express the distributive sense; here the meaning is “every morning” (see GKC 388 §121.c).

[16:21]  ²⁴ tn The perfect tenses here with vav (ו) consecutives have the frequentative sense; they function in a protasis-apodosis relationship (GKC 494 §159.g).

[16:22]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and it happened/was.”

[16:22]  ²⁶ tn This construction is an exception to the normal rule for the numbers 2 through 10 taking the object numbered in the plural. Here it is “two of the omer” or “the double of the omer” (see GKC 433 §134.e).

[16:22]  ²⁷ tn Heb “for one.”

[16:22]  ²⁸ tn The word suggests “the ones lifted up” above others, and therefore the rulers or the chiefs of the people.

[16:22]  ²⁹ tn Or “congregation” (KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV).

[16:22]  ³⁰ sn The meaning here is probably that these leaders, the natural heads of the families in the clans, saw that people were gathering twice as much and they reported this to Moses, perhaps afraid it would stink again (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 197).

[16:23]  ³¹ tn The noun שַׁבָּתוֹן (shabbaton) has the abstract ending on it: “resting, ceasing.” The root word means “cease” from something, more than “to rest.” The Law would make it clear that they were to cease from their normal occupations and do no common work.

[16:23]  ³² tn The technical expression is now used: שַׁבַּת־קֹדֶשׁ (shabbat-qodesh, “a holy Sabbath”) meaning a “cessation of/for holiness” for Yahweh. The rest was to be characterized by holiness.

[16:23]  ³³ tn The two verbs in these objective noun clauses are desiderative imperfects – “bake whatever you want to bake.”

[16:23]  ³⁴ tn The word “today” is implied from the context.

[16:25]  ³⁵ tn Heb “in the field” (so KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, NRSV); NAB, NIV, NLT “on the ground.”

[16:28]  ³⁶ tn The verb is plural, and so it is addressed to the nation and not to Moses. The perfect tense in this sentence is the characteristic perfect, denoting action characteristic, or typical, of the past and the present.

[16:29]  ³⁷ sn Noting the rabbinic teaching that the giving of the Sabbath was a sign of God’s love – it was accomplished through the double portion on the sixth day – B. Jacob says, “God made no request unless He provided the means for its execution” (Exodus, 461).

[16:29]  ³⁸ tn Heb “remain, a man where he is.”

[16:29]  ³⁹ tn Or “Let not anyone go” (see GKC 445 §138.d).

[16:31]  ⁴⁰ sn The name “house of Israel” is unusual in this context.

[16:31]  ⁴¹ tn Hebrew מָן (man).

[16:31]  ⁴² tn Heb “like seed of coriander, white, its taste was.”