Exodus 16-18

Easy-to-Read Version

Israel Complains, So God Sends Food

16 Then all the Israelites left Elim. They reached the western Sinai desert,^[a] between Elim and Mount Sinai, on the 15th day of the second month^[b] after leaving Egypt. ² Then the whole community of Israelites began complaining again. They complained to Moses and Aaron in the desert. ³ They said, “It would have been better if the Lord had just killed us in the land of Egypt. At least there we had plenty to eat. We had all the food we needed. But now you have brought us out here into this desert to make us all die from hunger.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will cause food to fall from the sky. This food will be for you to eat. Every day the people should go out and gather the food they need that day. I will do this to see if they will do what I tell them. ⁵ Every day the people will gather only enough food for one day. But on Friday, when the people prepare their food, they will see that they have enough food for two days.”^[c]

⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to the Israelites, “Tonight you will see the power of the Lord. You will know that he is the one who brought you out of Egypt. ⁷ You have been complaining about the Lord, and he heard you. So tomorrow morning you will see the Glory of the Lord. You have been complaining and complaining about us. Maybe now we can have a little rest.”^[d]

⁸ Then Moses said, “In the evening the Lord will give you meat to eat, and in the morning you will have all the bread you want. The Lord will do this because he has heard your complaining, which was against him, not us. What can we do? We do only what he tells us to do, so your complaints are really against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the whole community of Israelites to come together before the Lord, because he has heard their complaints.”

¹⁰ So Aaron spoke to all the Israelites. While he was talking, the people turned and looked into the desert. And they saw the Glory of the Lord appear in a cloud.

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. So tell them, ‘Tonight you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have all the bread you want. Then you will know you can trust the Lord, your God.’”

¹³ That evening, flocks of quail came and filled the camp, and in the morning dew lay on the ground all around it. ¹⁴ After the dew was gone, something like thin flakes of frost was on the ground. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, “What is that?” because they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “This is the food the Lord is giving you to eat. ¹⁶ The Lord says, ‘Each of you should gather what you need, a basket^[e] of manna for everyone in your family.’”

¹⁷ So that is what the Israelites did. Some people gathered a large amount, some people gathered a little. ¹⁸ But when they measured what they had gathered, there was no shortage and there was none left over. Everyone gathered just what they needed.

¹⁹ Moses told them, “Don’t save that food to eat the next day.” ²⁰ But some of the people did not obey Moses. They saved their food for the next day. But worms got into the food and it began to stink. Moses was angry with the people who did this.

²¹ Every morning the people gathered as much food as they could eat, but by noon^[f] the food melted and was gone.

²² On Friday the people gathered twice as much food—two baskets^[g] for every person. So all the leaders of the people came and told this to Moses.

²³ Moses told them, “This is what the Lord said would happen. It happened because tomorrow is the Sabbath, the special day of rest to honor the Lord. You can cook all the food you need to cook for today, but save the rest of this food for tomorrow morning.”

²⁴ So the people saved the rest of the food for the next day, as Moses had commanded, and none of the food spoiled or had worms in it.

²⁵ On Saturday, Moses told the people, “Today is the Sabbath, the special day of rest to honor the Lord. So none of you should be out in the fields. Eat the food you gathered yesterday. ²⁶ You should gather the food for six days. But the seventh day of the week is a day of rest—so there will not be any of the special food on the ground.”

²⁷ On Saturday, some of the people went out to gather some of the food, but they could not find any. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you people refuse to obey my commands and teachings? ²⁹ Look, the Lord has made the Sabbath a day of rest for you. So on Friday he will give you enough food for two days. Then, on the Sabbath, each of you should sit down and relax. Stay where you are.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the Sabbath.

³¹ The people called the special food “manna.^[h]” It was like small white coriander seeds and tasted like thin cakes made with honey. ³² Moses told the people what the Lord said: “Save a basket of this food for your descendants. Then they can see the food that I gave to you in the desert when I took you out of Egypt.”

³³ So Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with a full basket of manna. Save this manna to put before the Lord. Save it for our descendants.” ³⁴ (Aaron did what the Lord had commanded Moses. Aaron put the jar of manna in front of the Box of the Agreement.) ³⁵ The people ate the manna for 40 years, until they came to the land of rest, that is, until they came to the edge of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ (The measure they used for the manna was an omer. An omer was about 8 cups.^[i])

Water From the Rock

17 The Israelites left the western Sinai desert.^[j] They traveled all together from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So they turned against Moses and started arguing with him. They said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses said to them, “Why have you turned against me? Why are you testing the Lord?”

³ But the people were very thirsty, so they continued complaining to Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did you bring us out here so that we, our children, and our cattle will all die without water?”

⁴ So Moses cried to the Lord, “What can I do with these people? They are ready to kill me.”

⁵ The Lord said to Moses, “Go before the Israelites. Take some of the elders of the people with you. Carry your walking stick with you. This is the stick that you used when you hit the Nile River. ⁶ I will stand before you on a rock at Horeb.^[k] Hit that rock with the walking stick and water will come out of it. Then the people can drink.”

Moses did these things and the elders of Israel saw it. ⁷ Moses named that place Meribah^[l] and Massah,^[m] because this was the place that the Israelites turned against him and tested the Lord. The people wanted to know if the Lord was with them or not.

War With the Amalekites

⁸ At Rephidim the Amalekites came and fought against the Israelites. ⁹ So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men and go and fight the Amalekites tomorrow. I will stand on the top of the hill and watch you. I will be holding the walking stick God gave me.”

¹⁰ Joshua obeyed Moses and went to fight the Amalekites the next day. At the same time Moses, Aaron, and Hur went to the top of the hill. ¹¹ Any time Moses held his hands in the air, the men of Israel would start winning the fight. But when Moses put his hands down, the men of Israel began to lose the fight.

¹² After some time, Moses’ arms became tired. So they put a large rock under Moses for him to sit on. Then Aaron and Hur held Moses’ hands in the air. Aaron was on one side of Moses and Hur was on the other side. They held his hands up like this until the sun went down. ¹³ So Joshua and his men defeated the Amalekites in this battle.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write about this battle. Write these things in a book so that people will remember what happened here. And be sure to tell Joshua that I will completely destroy the Amalekites from the earth.”

¹⁵ Then Moses built an altar and named it, “The Lord is My Flag.” ¹⁶ Moses said, “I lifted my hands toward the Lord’s throne. So the Lord fought against the Amalekites, as he always has.”

Advice From Moses’ Father-in-Law

18 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, was a priest in Midian. He heard about the many ways that God helped Moses and the Israelites. He heard about the Lord leading the Israelites out of Egypt. ² So Jethro went to Moses while Moses was camped near the mountain of God.^[n] Jethro brought Moses’ wife, Zipporah, with him. (Zipporah was not with Moses, because Moses had sent her home.) ³ Jethro also brought Moses’ two sons with him. The first son was named Gershom,^[o] because when he was born, Moses said, “I am a stranger in a foreign country.” ⁴ The other son was named Eliezer,^[p] because when he was born, Moses said, “The God of my father helped me and saved me from the king of Egypt.” ⁵ So Jethro went to Moses while Moses was camped in the desert near the mountain of God. Moses’ wife and his two sons were with Jethro.

⁶ Jethro sent a message to Moses that said, “This is your father-in-law Jethro. I am bringing your wife and her two sons to you.”

⁷ So Moses went out to meet his father-in-law. Moses bowed down before him and kissed him. The two men asked about each other’s health. Then they went into Moses’ tent to talk more. ⁸ Moses told Jethro everything the Lord had done for the Israelites. He told what the Lord did to Pharaoh and the people of Egypt. He told about all the problems they had along the way. And he told his father-in-law how the Lord saved the Israelites every time there was trouble.

⁹ Jethro was happy when he heard all the good things the Lord had done for Israel. He was glad that the Lord had freed the Israelites from the Egyptians. ¹⁰ He said, “Praise the Lord! He freed you from the power of Egypt. He saved you from Pharaoh. ¹¹ Now I know the Lord is greater than all the gods. They thought they were in control, but look what God did!”

¹² Jethro got some sacrifices and offerings to honor God. Then Aaron and all the elders of Israel came to eat with Moses’ father-in-law Jethro. They all ate together there with God.

¹³ The next day, Moses had the special job of judging the people. There were so many people that they had to stand before him all day.

¹⁴ Jethro saw Moses judging the people. He asked, “Why are you doing this? Why are you the only judge? And why do people come to you all day?”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to his father-in-law, “The people come to me and ask me to ask for God’s decision for their problem. ¹⁶ If people have an argument, they come to me, and I decide which person is right. In this way I teach the people God’s laws and teachings.”

¹⁷ But Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “This isn’t the right way to do this. ¹⁸ It is too much work for you to do alone. You cannot do this job by yourself. It wears you out. And it makes the people tired too. ¹⁹ Now, listen to me. Let me give you some advice. And I pray God will be with you. You should continue listening to the problems of the people. And you should continue to speak to God about these things. ²⁰ You should explain God’s laws and teachings to the people. Warn them not to break the laws. Tell them the right way to live and what they should do. ²¹ But you should also choose some of the people to be judges and leaders.

“Choose good men you can trust—men who respect God. Choose men who will not change their decisions for money. Make these men rulers over the people. There should be rulers over 1000 people, 100 people, 50 people, and even over ten people. ²² Let these rulers judge the people. If there is a very important case, then they can come to you and let you decide what to do. But they can decide the other cases themselves. In this way these men will share your work with you, and it will be easier for you to lead the people. ²³ If you do this as God directs you, then you will be able to do your job without tiring yourself out. And the people can still have all their problems solved before they return home.”

²⁴ So Moses did what Jethro told him. ²⁵ Moses chose good men from among the Israelites. He made them leaders over the people. There were rulers over 1000 people, 100 people, 50 people, and ten people. ²⁶ These rulers were judges for the people. The people could always bring their arguments to these rulers, and Moses had to decide only the most important cases.

²⁷ After a short time Moses said goodbye to his father-in-law Jethro, and Jethro went back to his own home.