16:16 “This is what 3 the Lord has commanded: 4 ‘Each person is to gather 5 from it what he can eat, an omer 6 per person 7 according to the number 8 of your people; 9 each one will pick it up 10 for whoever lives 11 in his tent.’”
1 tn Or “abort”; Heb “cast.”
2 sn No one will die prematurely; this applies to the individual or the nation. The plan of God to bless was extensive, if only the people would obey.
3 tn Heb “the thing that.”
4 tn The perfect tense could be taken as a definite past with Moses now reporting it. In this case a very recent past. But in declaring the word from Yahweh it could be instantaneous, and receive a present tense translation – “here and now he commands you.”
5 tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”
6 sn The omer is an amount mentioned only in this chapter, and its size is unknown, except by comparison with the ephah (v. 36). A number of recent English versions approximate the omer as “two quarts” (cf. NCV, CEV, NLT); TEV “two litres.”
7 tn Heb “for a head.”
8 tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).
9 tn Traditionally “souls.”
10 tn Heb “will take.”
11 tn “lives” has been supplied.