16. The Lord says, ‘Each of you should gather what you need, a basket 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 the food melted and was gone.
22. On Friday the people gathered twice as much food—two baskets 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?