Supplications

children of Israel saw it and said one to another, “What is this?” not knowing what it could be. And Moses said, “This is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. This is what the LORD has commanded: gather it, each person as much as he eats, an omer a head, as many as you are; let each man bring enough for the people in his tent.” And so the people of Israel did; they each gathered; some much and some but little. And they measured what they had taken by the omer, and the ones who took much had no more, and the ones who took little had no less; each man had gathered as much as he would eat. Moses told them, “Let no man leave any of this behind until the morning.” But they did not heed Moses, and some left some until the morning, and it became infested with worms and rotted, and Moses was furious with them. They gathered it early in the morning, each man as much as he would eat; and as the sun grew hot, it melted away. On the sixth day they gathered double bread, two omarim for each person, and all the princes of the congregation came and told Moses of it. And he said, “This is what the LORD has said: Tomorrow is a holy Sabbath of utter rest to the LORD – whatever you will bake, bake now, and whatever you will cook, cook; and all that is left over, save until the morning.” So they left it for the morning as Moses had charged them; and it did not rot, and no worm was found in it. And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is the Sabbath of the LORD; today you shall not find it outside. Six days shall you gather it, and on the seventh, the Sabbath, it will not be there.” There were those of the people who went out on the seventh day to gather; but no manna did they find. And the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep My commands and My Law? Look – the LORD has given you the Sabbath; and so He gave you two days’ bread on the sixth day; each of you, sit in your places, and let no man leave his home on the seventh day.” And so the people rested on the seventh day. The people of Israel named that substance, “Manna.” And it looked like coriander seeds, but white, and its taste was that of flatbread made with honey. And Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: An omer measure of this shall be kept down your generations, that you may see the bread that I fed you with in the desert when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.” And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with an omer of manna, and place it in the LORD’s presence to be kept through the generations.” So, as the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the Testimony to be kept there. And the children of Israel ate the manna for forty years, until they arrived in settled land; they ate manna until they came to the borders of the Land of Canaan. An omer is the tenth of an ephah measure.