Exodus 15 - 17
Moses and the Israelites then went to the wilderness. They travelled through the desert for three days, but they could not find a place where there was water. From there they went to a place called Mara. There was water, but they could not drink it. The water tasted bitter.
Then the people came to Moses to complain; What shall we drink? Moses asked for help from the Lord. The Lord then showed him a piece of wood that he had to throw in the water. After he did, the water became drinkable.
It was also there where the Lord gave them ordinances. He wanted to test them to find out if they were willing to listen to Him. On the fifteenth day of the second month, they began to complain to Moses and Aaron about the food; The Lord could only have killed us in Egypt. When we stayed there, there was at least plenty of food to eat. You brought us here to die of hunger.
The Lord then told Moses; I'm going to give you food from above. That night quails came and they sat everywhere in the camp. Then there was meat to eat. The following morning there was dew around the camp. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other: Manna, what is it? They did not know what it was. Moses said to them; This is the bread that the Lord gives you to eat.
Moses said to them; No one should leave the food until the next morning. But the Israelites did not listen to Moses. They left the food until the next morning. Then worms came into the food, and the food became bad. Moses was very angry with them.
Moses told them to pick up manna for six days, but the seventh day is the Sabbath day. Then there will not be manna. On the seventh day some of the people went to pick up manna, but they did not find anything. The Lord said to Moses, How long will you be disobedient and do not what I say? Remember, I gave you the Sabbath day. Therefore, on the sixth day, I give you enough food for two days. The Israelites called the food manna. The manna was white and it looked like coriander seed. It tasted like honey cake. The Israelites ate manna for 40 years, until they came to the land of Canaan.
After leaving the desert they came to a place where there was no water.
They accused Moses and Aaron and said to them; Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die? Moses prayed to the Lord. The Lord said to Moses; Walk in front of the people and take your rod with which you struck the Nile River and hit the rock, and then water will come out for the people to drink. Moses did as the Lord commanded him, and water came out of the rock for the Israelites to drink.
The Amalekites came to fight against the Israelites. Moses said to Joshua to choose men to fight against the Amalekites.
I will stand on the hill, and I will hold the rod of God in my hand.
When Moses held his hand in the air, the Israelites won, and when he lowered his hand, the Amalekites won.
When Moses' hands became tired, Aaron and Hur took a stone and put it under him. Moses sat down and Aaron and Hur held his hands up and in this way they conquered the Amalekites.
The Lord told Moses to write these words in a book so that everyone remembered it.
5 And Moses built an altar and called its name, [f]The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; 16 for he said, “Because [g]the Lord has sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
This is where Moses start to write the Bible where we can read these stories today. Remember the Bible is not just a made-up story. It is the word of God and it is a true story. Everything happened exactly as the Bible tells us.
Thank you for reading.
Sources: ERV Easy to read Bible, ICB International Children's Bible, The Message Bible, The New King James Bible.
Images: freebibleimages.org