Exodus 16:16

16:16 “This is what ¹  the Lord has commanded: ²  ‘Each person is to gather ³  from it what he can eat, an omer ⁴  per person ⁵  according to the number ⁶  of your people; ⁷  each one will pick it up ⁸  for whoever lives ⁹  in his tent.’”

[16:16]  ¹ tn Heb “the thing that.”

[16:16]  ² 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.”

[16:16]  ³ tn The form is the plural imperative: “Gather [you] each man according to his eating.”

[16:16]  ⁴ 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.”

[16:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “for a head.”

[16:16]  ⁶ tn The word “number” is an accusative that defines more precisely how much was to be gathered (see GKC 374 §118.h).

[16:16]  ⁷ tn Traditionally “souls.”

[16:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “will take.”

[16:16]  ⁹ tn “lives” has been supplied.