Exodus 15:22-18:27
New Catholic Bible
The Journey through the Wilderness[a]
22 The Waters of Marah and Elim. Moses led the children of Israel away from the Red Sea, and they traveled toward the Desert of Shur. They walked three days into the desert and they did not find water. 23 They arrived at Marah, but they could not drink the waters of Marah for they were bitter. That is why the place was called Marah.[b] 24 So the people murmured against Moses, saying, “What will we drink?” 25 He called upon the Lord, who showed him a tree. When he cast it into the water, it became sweet.
The Lord made a statute and an ordinance for them there and put them to the test. 26 He said, “If you listen to the voice of the Lord, your God, and you do what is right in his sight, if you listen to his ordinances and observe all of his laws, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
27 Then they arrived at Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. Here they camped near the waters.
Chapter 16[c]
Manna and Quail. 1 The entire community of the children of Israel set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is found between Elim and the Sinai on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left the land of Egypt. 2 In the desert the entire community of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron. 3 The children of Israel said to them, “Would that the hand of the Lord had killed us in the land of Egypt where we were seated by our pots filled with meat and where we had more than enough bread to eat. Instead you brought us out into this desert to slay the whole assembly with hunger.”
4 The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain bread down from the heavens for you. The people should go out each day to collect the amount they need for that day so that I might test them to see whether they follow my law or not. 5 But on the sixth day, when they are gathering what they will bring home, they are to collect double what they collect on the other days.”
6 Moses and Aaron said this to the children of Israel: “This evening you will know that the Lord brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and tomorrow morning you will see the glory of the Lord, for he has heard your murmuring against him. For what are we, that you murmur against us?” 8 Moses also said, “When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and bread to fill you in the morning, it will be because the Lord has heard the murmuring that you utter against him. What are we, after all? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.”
9 Moses said to Aaron, “Give this command to the whole community of Israel: ‘Draw near to the presence of the Lord, for he has heard your murmurings.’ ” 10 While Aaron spoke to the entire community of the children of Israel, they turned toward the desert and, behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the clouds.
11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Say this to them: ‘At dusk you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread. You will know that I am the Lord, your God.’ ”
13 In the evening quail rose up and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew on the ground around the camp. 14 The layer of dew evaporated, and on the surface of the desert there was something small and flaky, as small as hoarfrost on the ground. 15 The children of Israel saw it and said to one another, “What is it?”[d] because they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given us as food.
16 “This is what the Lord commands: ‘Collect as much as each person can eat, an omer[e] per person. Let every person take as much as needed for the people living with him, for as many as there are in his tent.’ ”
17 This is what the children of Israel did. Some collected quite a bit and others much less. 18 They measured it with the omer. Those who had collected more did not have too much, while those who collected less did not have too little. They had collected just as much as each person could eat.
19 Then Moses said to them, “Nothing should be left till the morning.” 20 However, some did not obey Moses and saved a bit of it until the morning, but it grew rancid and had worms. Moses was angry with them.
21 They therefore collected it each morning, as much as each one would eat. When the sun warmed up, it melted away.
22 On the sixth day, they collected double the amount of bread, two omers for each person. All the leaders of the community came to tell Moses, 23 [f]and he said to them, “This is what the Lord ordered: ‘Tomorrow is the Sabbath, a day of rest consecrated to the Lord. Bake what you have to bake, and boil what you have to boil. All that is left over should be stored until the morning.’ ” 24 They preserved it until the morning, as Moses had ordered, and it did not go rancid, nor did they find worms in it.
25 Moses said, “Eat it today, because it is the Sabbath in honor of the Lord. Today you will not find it in the fields. 26 Six days you will collect it, but the seventh day is the Sabbath. There will be none on that day.”
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to collect it, but they did not find any. 28 Therefore, the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to obey my commands and my laws? 29 See that the Lord had given you the Sabbath. This is why he has given you two days worth of bread on the sixth day. Let every person stay where he is. No one is to go out on the seventh day to the place where they find it.”
30 The people, therefore, rested on the seventh day.
31 The children of Israel called it manna. It was like coriander seed and was white. It tasted like wafers made from honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has ordered: ‘Fill an omer and conserve it for your descendants so that they can see the bread that I gave you to eat in the desert, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’ ”
33 Moses, therefore, said to Aaron, “Take a jar and put a full omer of manna in it. Place it before the Lord and preserve it for your descendants.” 34 Aaron did what the Lord had commanded Moses to do, he placed it in front of the Testimony,[g] to preserve it. 35 The children of Israel ate manna for forty years, until they arrived in an inhabited land. They ate the manna, therefore, until they arrived at the borders of Canaan. 36 [The omer is one-tenth of an ephah.]
Chapter 17
Water from the Rock.[h] 1 The entire community of Israel pulled up their camp in the Desert of Sin and, as the Lord commanded, they moved by stages to their camp in Rephidim. But there was no water for the people to drink. 2 The people protested against Moses, saying, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why are you protesting against me? Why are you putting the Lord to the test?”
3 The people suffered from thirst because there was no water, so they murmured against Moses and said, “Why did you make us leave Egypt to die of thirst along with our children and our animals?” 4 Moses called upon the help of the Lord saying, “What will I do for this people? Only a little more and they will stone me.”
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Walk in front of the people and bring some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff with which you struck the Nile in your hand and go! 6 Behold, I will stand before you on the rock at Horeb. You will strike the rock, and water will come out for the people to drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 They called this place Massah[i] and Meribah, because the children of Israel had protested and had put the Lord to the test, saying, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”
While Moses Prays, the Amalekites[j] Are Defeated.[k] 8 Amalek came and fought against Israel in Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out to fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 Joshua did all that Moses had commanded him to do and he fought against Amalek while Moses, Aaron, and Hur stood on the top of the hill. 11 When Moses lifted his hands, Israel was stronger, but when he lowered them, Amalek was stronger. 12 Moses’ hands grew heavy as he tired, so they took a stone and placed it under him as a stool. Aaron and Hur stood on either side and held up his hands. Thus, his hands were held steady until the sun set. 13 Joshua defeated Amalek and its people, putting them to the sword.
14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it to Joshua: I will totally cancel the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.”
15 Moses built an altar, and he named it, “The Lord is my banner,” 16 and he said, “A hand is raised upon the throne of the Lord that there will be war against Amalek from one generation to the next.”
Chapter 18
Moses Visited by His Father-in-Law.[l] 1 Jethro, the priest of Midian and the father-in-law of Moses, came to know what God had done for Moses and for Israel, his people, and how the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt.
2 Jethro brought Zipporah, the wife of Moses, with him, for he had sent her back to him, 3 and also her two sons. One son was named Gershom, for he had said, “I am a stranger in a strange land,” 4 and the other named Eliezer, for he had said, “The God of my father has come to my assistance and has freed me from the sword of Pharaoh.”
5 Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, and the sons and wife of Moses came to him in the desert where he was camped, near the mountain of God. 6 He had it announced to Moses, “It is I, Jethro, your father-in-law. I have come with your wife and your two sons.”
7 Moses went out to meet his father-in-law. He bowed before him and kissed him. They inquired about each other’s health, and then went into their tent. 8 Moses told his father-in-law what the Lord had done to Pharaoh and the Egyptians for the children of Israel, and also about all the difficulties that they had encountered during their journey, and from which the Lord had delivered them.
9 Jethro rejoiced over all the blessings that the Lord had shown to Israel when he liberated it from the hands of the Egyptians. 10 Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who freed you from the hands of the Egyptians and from the hands of Pharaoh. He delivered this people from the hands of the Egyptians. 11 Now I know that the Lord is the greatest of all gods because of what he has done to the Egyptians. He delivered them from their hands when they acted arrogantly.”
12 Jethro, the father-in-law of Moses, offered a burnt offering and sacrificed to God. Aaron and all the elders of Israel came and ate a banquet with the father-in-law of Moses before God.
13 Moses Institutes the Judges.[m] The next day Moses sat in judgment over the people of Israel. All the people stood before Moses from morning until the evening. 14 Jethro, seeing what he was doing for the people, said to him, “What is this that you do for the people? Why do you sit in judgment alone, while the people stand before you from morning until evening?”
15 Moses answered his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to inquire the will of God. 16 When they have some question, they come to me and I judge the matter between them and let them know the statutes of God and his laws.”
17 The father-in-law of Moses told him, “What you are doing is no good. 18 You will surely wear yourself out, you and the people with you, because this job is too difficult for you. You cannot do it alone. 19 Now, listen to me. I wish to give you some advice, and God be with you. You must act as the people’s representative before God and bring their cases before him. 20 You will explain the decrees and the laws to them. You will direct them along the way that they should go and teach the things that they must do. 21 You will also choose virtuous men who fear God from among the people, honest men who are not filled with greed, and you will make them leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 22 They must judge the people at all times. When there is an important matter, they will refer it to you, but they will judge all the minor issues. Thus, they will lighten the burden upon you, for they will carry it with you. 23 If you do this thing and if God commands this of you, then you will be able to continue and this people will arrive in peace at its destination.”
24 Moses listened to his father-in-law’s suggestion, and he did what he had suggested that he do. 25 Moses chose capable men from among all the men of Israel, and he appointed them as leaders of the people, as leaders of groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. 26 They judged the people at all times. When there was a difficult matter, they referred it to Moses, but they themselves judged all the minor issues. 27 Then Moses let his father-in-law depart, and Jethro returned to his own country.
Footnotes
- Exodus 15:22 The Hebrews journey through a desolate and hostile land that puts them in a sullen mood. God does not cease to multiply benefits in their favor. They thus represent the Church, the New People of God, who pursues her terrestrial march sustained by the Lord despite the failings of his children. It is in this long passage that the unity of Israel is forged and that it acquires its fundamental religious conceptions.
- Exodus 15:23 The Hebrew word mar means “bitter,” “bitterness” (see Ru 1:20).
- Exodus 16:1 Despite all that God has already done for them, the Hebrews would rather grumble than hope. When one is lost in the desert, slavery seems less harsh than adventure, and the remembrance of the food of Egypt, even though little, makes one forget the Promised Land flowing with milk and honey. God meets the needs of his people, but in requiring them to be satisfied with daily “bread,” he seeks to test the degree of their trust in him and bring them to the realization that everything in their lives depends on him (Deut 8:2-3). Jesus, too, will deliberately experience hunger in the wilderness (Mt 4:2) and will say that his body is the true bread come down from heaven (Jn 6:31-33).
- Exodus 16:15 The Hebrew word man hu, What is it? is a popular etymology of the word “manna” (see v. 31). On the Sinai peninsula the tamarisk exudes a substance resembling the biblical manna as described here. This does not make the Divine intervention any less extraordinary or eliminate the symbolic link with the Eucharist.
- Exodus 16:16 Omer: a measure equal to about four and a half liters. The sacred writer himself feels the need of explaining it (v. 36).
- Exodus 16:23 Keeping the Sabbath as a day consecrated to the Lord (see Gen 2:3) was already being practiced before the Lord’s command in Ex 20:8-11 to keep it holy. The children of Israel were to avoid unnecessary work (i.e., collecting manna) and rest on the seventh day. Then, as now, people disregarded his words and did as they pleased.
- Exodus 16:34 Testimony: the tablets containing the Ten Words, to be described later on. See Ex 25:16; 31:18.
- Exodus 17:1 Even though they are frequently helped by the Lord, the Hebrews are distrustful of him. The Psalmist has placed the blame for this on bad faith (Ps 95:8-9). God meets their challenge by slaking their thirst with a miracle that left its mark on Israelite piety (Deut 8:15; Ps 114:8). Some rabbis later imagined that the rock accompanied the people through the wilderness; Paul echoes this tradition (1 Cor 10:4), and John alludes to it (Jn 7:37-38).
- Exodus 17:7 Massah means “test,” and Meribah “quarrel.”
- Exodus 17:8 This account will allow the future generations to find assurance in the face of hostile peoples.
- Exodus 17:8 Amalekites: an ancient Arab people, located between Palestine and Egypt (see Gen 36:12).
- Exodus 18:1 This passage is probably not in its correct place, since it says that the meeting took place near Mount Sinai. It is part of traditions according to which all links were not broken between the pagan peoples and the God of Israel.
- Exodus 18:13 Set free, Israel becomes an autonomous people that requires them to be organized. Through the counsel of Jethro and his wise advice to Moses, the Midianite people serve as a model for them.
