8. Then Moses continued, “You will know it is the Lord when he gives you meat each evening and more than enough bread each morning. He is really the one you are complaining about, not us—we are nobodies—but the Lord has heard your complaints.”
9. Moses turned to Aaron and said, “Bring the people together, because the Lord has heard their complaints.”
10. Aaron was speaking to them, when everyone looked out towards the desert and saw the bright glory of the Lord in a cloud.
11. The Lord said to Moses,
12. “I have heard my people complain. Now tell them that each evening they will have meat and each morning they will have more than enough bread. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”
13. That evening a lot of quails came and landed everywhere in the camp, and the next morning dew covered the ground.
14. After the dew had gone, the desert was covered with thin flakes that looked like frost.
15. The people had never seen anything like this, and they started asking each other, “What is it?”Moses answered, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
16. And he orders you to gather about two litres for each person in your family—that should be more than enough.”
17. They did as they were told. Some gathered more and some gathered less,
18. according to their needs, and none was left over.
19. Moses told them not to keep any overnight.
20. Some of them disobeyed, but the next morning what they kept was stinking and full of worms, and Moses was angry.
21. Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and in the heat of the day the rest melted.
22. However, on the sixth day of the week, everyone gathered enough to have four litres, instead of two. When the leaders reported this to Moses,
23. he told them that the Lord had said, “Tomorrow is the Sabbath, a sacred day of rest in honour of me. So gather all you want to bake or boil, and make sure you save enough for tomorrow.”