Bread from the Sky

In the Wilderness of Sin, the whole congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron: We wish that we had died by Yahweh's hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots, when we ate our fill of bread. Yahweh said, Behold, I will rain bread from the sky for you. The people were to gather a day's portion every day, so God could test whether they would walk in his law. On the sixth day they would gather twice as much.

Moses said, Your murmurings are not against us, but against Yahweh. The glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud. In the evening quail covered the camp. In the morning, when the dew lifted, there was a small round thing, as small as frost on the ground. They said, What is it? Moses said, It is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat. Each gathered as much as he needed; he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack.

Moses said, Let no one leave of it until the morning. Some did, and it bred worms and stank. On the sixth day they gathered twice as much, and what was kept for the Sabbath did not spoil. Some went out on the seventh day and found none. So the people rested on the seventh day. They called it Manna; it was like coriander seed, white, tasting like wafers with honey. An omer of it was kept for future generations. Israel ate manna forty years.