22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers apiece. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses,
he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.’”
So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it.
Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field.
Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none.”
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none.
The LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions?
See! The LORD has given you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day.”
So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The house of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.
Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”
And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations.”
As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the covenant,[34 (#ulink_2129ee06-4ff3-5ef5-ae33-29b84a331519)] for safekeeping.
The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
An omer is a tenth of an ephah.
17 From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?”
But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”
So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
The LORD said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel.
He called the place Massah[35 (#ulink_2bfa2c6e-5ebd-5d11-8014-f30fa4bbf8dd)] and Meribah,[36 (#ulink_9734b9b6-dc9c-546b-9b4b-30f173ab3462)] because the Israelites quarreled and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But Moses’ hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the sun set.
And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.
14 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this as a reminder in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.”
And Moses built an altar and called it, The LORD is my banner.
He said, “A hand upon the banner of the LORD![37 (#ulink_885f0537-a07f-5b1f-b73c-b3df4b3fbb6d)] The LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
18 Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for his people Israel, how the LORD had brought Israel out of Egypt.
After Moses had sent away his wife Zipporah, his father-in-law Jethro took her back,
along with her two sons. The name of the one was Gershom (for he said, “I have been an alien[38 (#ulink_238881ea-ab7c-5dc9-9875-49abaf75b8cf)] in a foreign land”),
and the name of the other, Eliezer[39 (#ulink_12e80d62-3802-5556-b942-61112e1495fd)] (for he said, “The God of my father was my help, and delivered me from the sword of Pharaoh”).
Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came into the wilderness where Moses was encamped at the mountain of God, bringing Moses’ sons and wife to him.
He sent word to Moses, “I, your father-in-law Jethro, am coming to you, with your wife and her two sons.”
Moses went out to meet his father-in-law; he bowed down and kissed him; each asked after the other’s welfare, and they went into the tent.
Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel’s sake, all the hardship that had beset them on the way, and how the LORD had delivered them.
Jethro rejoiced for all the good that the LORD had done to Israel, in delivering them from the Egyptians.
10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh.
Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from the Egyptians,[40 (#ulink_8ac6bdd0-707e-58c1-9448-48af29fea1ba)] when they dealt arrogantly with them.”
And Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, brought a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law in the presence of God.
13 The next day Moses sat as judge for the people, while the people stood around him from morning until evening.
When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What is this that you are doing for the people? Why do you sit alone, while all the people stand around you from morning until evening?”
Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire of God.
When they have a dispute, they come to me and I decide between one person and another, and I make known to them the statutes and instructions of God.”
Moses’ father-in-law said to him, “What you are doing is not good.
You will surely wear yourself out, both you and these people with you. For the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.
Now listen to me. I will give you counsel, and God be with you! You should represent the people before God, and you should bring their cases before God;
