1 They ^kset 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 ^lgrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, ^m“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ⁿwhen 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 ^obread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may ^ptest them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, ^qit will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ^r“At evening ^syou 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 ^tglory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For ^uwhat 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—^vwhat are we? Your grumbling is not ^wagainst us but against the Lord.”

9 Then Moses ^xsaid to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ^y‘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 ^tglory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I ^zhave heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At ^atwilight you shall eat meat, and ^bin the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 In the evening ^cquail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^ddew 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, ^e“What is it?”¹ For they ^fdid not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ^g“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 ^homer,² 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, ⁱwhoever 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 ^jit 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 ^kthe 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 ^lsolemn 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 ^mit did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for ^ltoday 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, ⁿ“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 ^orested on the seventh day.

31 Now the house of Israel called its name ^pmanna. It was ^qlike 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 ^rjar, 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 ^sthe testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ^tate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till ^uthey came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is ^vthe tenth part of an ephah.)³

1 When the people saw that Moses ^vdelayed to come down from the mountain, the people gathered themselves together to Aaron and said to him, ^w“Up, make us gods who shall ^xgo before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.” 2 So Aaron said to them, “Take off the ^yrings of gold that are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 ^zAnd he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden¹ calf. And they said, ^a“These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron ^bmade a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” 6 And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And ^cthe people sat down to eat and drink and rose up ^dto play.

7 And the Lord said to Moses, ^e“Go down, for your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have ^fcorrupted themselves. 8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way that ^gI commanded them. They have made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’” 9 And the Lord said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, ^hit is a stiff-necked people. 10 Now therefore ⁱlet me alone, that ^jmy wrath may burn hot against them and ^kI may consume them, in order that ^lI may make a great nation of you.”

11 But ^mMoses implored the Lord his God and said, “O Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12 ⁿWhy should the Egyptians say, ‘With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your burning anger and ^orelent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you ^pswore by your own self, and said to them, ^q‘I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.’” 14 And the Lord ^rrelented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

15 Then ^sMoses turned and went down from the mountain with the ^ttwo tablets of the testimony in his hand, tablets that were written on both sides; on the front and on the back they were written. 16 ^uThe tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. 17 When ^vJoshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, “There is a noise of war in the camp.” 18 But he said, “It is not the sound of ^wshouting for victory, or the sound of the cry of defeat, but the sound of singing that I hear.” 19 And as soon as he came near the camp and ^xsaw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot, and he threw the tablets out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

21 And Moses said to Aaron, ^y“What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” 22 And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. ^zYou know the people, that they are set on evil. 23 For ^athey said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ 24 So ^bI said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”

25 And when Moses saw that the people had broken loose (for Aaron had let them break loose, ^cto the derision of their enemies), 26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp and said, “Who is on the Lord’s side? Come to me.” And all the sons of Levi gathered around him. 27 And he said to them, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you ^dkill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.’” 28 And the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And that day about three thousand men of the people fell. 29 And Moses said, “Today you have been ^eordained for the service of the Lord, each one at the cost of his son and of his brother, so that he might bestow a blessing upon you this day.”

30 The next day Moses said to the people, ^f“You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; ^gperhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” 31 So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, ^fthis people has sinned a great sin. They have ^hmade for themselves gods of gold. 32 But now, if ⁱyou will forgive their sin—but if not, please ^jblot me out of ^kyour book that you have written.” 33 But the Lord said to Moses, ^l“Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book. 34 ^mBut now go, lead the people to the place about which I have spoken to you; ⁿbehold, my angel shall go before you. Nevertheless, in the day when I visit, I will visit their sin upon them.”

35 Then the Lord sent a plague on the people, because they made the calf, the one that Aaron made.