Exo 16-17, Neh 9:12-23, Psa 78:14-28, 105:39-41 | ESV | STEP | They set out from Elim , and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin , which is between Elim and Sinai , on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt .

1 They ^aset out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel ^bgrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, ^c“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ^dwhen we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain ^ebread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may ^ftest them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, ^git will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ^h“At evening ⁱyou shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the ^jglory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For ^kwhat are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him— ^lwhat are we? Your grumbling is not ^magainst us but against the Lord.”

9 Then Moses ⁿsaid to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ^o‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the ^pglory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I ^qhave heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At ^rtwilight you shall eat meat, and ^sin the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 In the evening ^tquail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^udew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ^v“What is it?” ^{▼▼Or “It is manna.” Hebrew man hu} For they ^xdid not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ^y“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an ^zomer, ^{▼▼An omer was about 2 quarts or 2 liters} according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, ^abwhoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and ^acit bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

22 On ^adthe sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of ^aesolemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and ^afit did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for ^agtoday is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 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, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, ^ah“How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people ^airested on the seventh day.

31 Now the house of Israel called its name ^ajmanna. It was ^aklike coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a ^aljar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before ^amthe testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ^anate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till ^aothey came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is ^apthe tenth part of an ephah.) ^{▼▼An ephah was about 3/5 bushel or 22 liters}

Exodus 17

Water from the Rock

1 ^arAll the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 ^asTherefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ^attest the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and ^authe people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready ^avto stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with ^awwhich you struck the Nile, and go. 6 ^axBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place ^ayMassah ^{▼▼ Massah means testing} and ^baMeribah, ^{▼▼ Meribah means quarreling} because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Israel Defeats Amalek

8 ^bcThen Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to ^bdJoshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with ^bethe staff of God in my hand.” 10 So ^bfJoshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and ^bgHur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses ^bhheld up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and ^biHur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And ^bjJoshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of ^bkJoshua, that ^blI will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses ^bmbuilt an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne ^{▼▼A slight change would yield upon the banner} of the Lord! ^boThe Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Nehemiah 9:12-23

12 By ^bpa pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go. 13 ^bqYou came down on Mount Sinai ^brand spoke with them from heaven and gave them ^bsright rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments, 14 ^btand you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant. 15 ^buYou gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and ^bvbrought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you ^bwtold them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

16 “But they and our fathers ^bxacted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17 They refused to obey ^byand were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, ^bzgracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even ^cawhen they had made for themselves a golden ^{▼▼Hebrew metal} calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ^ccand had committed great blasphemies, 19 you ^cdin your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^ceThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ^cfnor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 ^cgYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them ^chand did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 ^ciForty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

22 “And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. ^cjSo they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon ^ckand the land of Og king of Bashan. 23 You multiplied their children ^clas the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess.

Psalms 78:14-28

14 ^cmIn the daytime he led them with a cloud,
and all the night with a fiery light.
15 He ^cnsplit rocks in the wilderness
and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep.
16 He made streams come out of ^cothe rock
and caused waters to flow down like rivers.
17 Yet they sinned still more against him,
^cprebelling against the Most High in the desert.
18 They ^cqtested God in their heart
by demanding the food they craved.
19 They spoke against God, saying,
^cr“Can God ^csspread a table in the wilderness?
20 ^ctHe struck the rock so that water gushed out
and streams overflowed.
Can he also give bread
or provide meat for his people?”
21 Therefore, when the Lord heard, he was full of wrath;
^cua fire was kindled against Jacob;
his anger rose against Israel,
22 because they ^cvdid not believe in God
and did not trust his saving power.
23 Yet he commanded the skies above
and ^cwopened the doors of heaven,
24 and he ^cxrained down on them manna to eat
and gave them ^cythe grain of heaven.
25 Man ate of the bread of ^czthe angels;
he sent them food ^dain abundance.
26 He ^dbcaused the east wind to blow in the heavens,
and by his power he led out the south wind;
27 he rained meat on them like ^dcdust,
winged birds like ^ddthe sand of the seas;
28 he ^delet them fall in the midst of their camp,
all around their dwellings.

Psalms 105:39-41

39 He ^dfspread a cloud for a covering,
and fire to give light by night.
40 ^dgThey asked, and he ^dhbrought quail,
and gave them ^dibread from heaven in abundance.
41 He opened the rock, and ^djwater gushed out;
it flowed through ^dkthe desert like a river.