Exodus 16:27 kjv
And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none.
Exodus 16:27 nkjv
Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.
Exodus 16:27 niv
Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.
Exodus 16:27 esv
On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.
Exodus 16:27 nlt
Some of the people went out anyway on the seventh day, but they found no food.
Exodus 16 27 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Ex 16:4 | "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you... that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not." | God's test of obedience |
| Ex 16:5 | "on the sixth day they shall prepare what they bring in... and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." | Command for double portion before Sabbath |
| Ex 16:28 | "And the LORD said to Moses, 'How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?'" | God's rebuke for disobedience |
| Ex 20:8-11 | "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy... For in six days the LORD made the heavens..." | Formal Sabbath commandment, Ten Commandments |
| Ex 31:13-17 | "You shall keep My Sabbaths, for this is a sign between Me and you..." | Sabbath as a perpetual sign/covenant |
| Num 15:32-36 | "While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering wood on the Sabbath day... brought him to Moses and Aaron... Lord said, 'The man shall surely be put to death.'" | Severe consequence of Sabbath violation |
| Lev 23:3 | "Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation." | God's appointed Sabbath observances |
| Deut 5:12-15 | "Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you..." | Deuteronomic reiteration of Sabbath law |
| Neh 13:15-22 | "In those days I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath... I confronted them... stopped selling food..." | Post-exilic efforts to enforce Sabbath |
| Jer 17:21-27 | "Take heed for the sake of your lives, and do not bear a burden on the Sabbath day... if you will not listen to Me to hallow the Sabbath..." | Warning about Sabbath profanation |
| Isa 58:13-14 | "If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath... call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the LORD..." | Blessings for honoring the Sabbath |
| Ps 78:18-20 | "They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved... said, 'Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?'" | Israel's repeated testing of God |
| Prov 13:4 | "The soul of the sluggard craves and gets nothing, while the soul of the diligent is richly supplied." | Principle of diligence vs. laziness (applied to disobedience) |
| Hag 1:6 | "You have sown much, and harvested little; you eat, but are not satisfied..." | Consequences of disobedience leading to futility |
| Jn 6:31-35 | "Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness... 'I am the bread of life.'" | Jesus as the true manna, provision of life |
| Heb 3:7-19 | "Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, 'Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion...'" | Warning against hardening hearts and unbelief, linking to wilderness generation's disobedience |
| Heb 4:1-11 | "Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it." | Entering God's spiritual rest |
| Matt 12:1-8 | "At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain..." | Jesus teaching the purpose of the Sabbath |
| Mk 2:27-28 | "And he said to them, 'The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.'" | Purpose of Sabbath; Jesus' authority |
| Lk 6:6-11 | "On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and a man was there whose right hand was withered..." | Jesus healing on Sabbath, emphasizing compassion |
| Lk 13:10-17 | "Now he was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath... there was a woman who had had a disabling spirit..." | Jesus freeing from bondage on Sabbath, God's love |
| Jn 5:1-18 | "After this there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate a pool called Bethesda... And the man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath." | Jesus healing on Sabbath, controversy |
| 1 Cor 10:5-6 | "Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things happened as examples for us..." | Old Testament events as examples for believers |
Exodus 16 verses
Exodus 16 27 Meaning
Exodus 16:27 states that, despite the explicit command from the Lord not to gather manna on the seventh day, some of the Israelite people disobeyed and went out to do so, only to find no manna at all. This verse highlights an act of direct rebellion and mistrust against God's clear instruction concerning the Sabbath rest and His miraculous provision.
Exodus 16 27 Context
Exodus chapter 16 describes God's miraculous provision of manna and quail to the Israelites in the wilderness of Sin. This provision was given with specific instructions designed to test their obedience and teach them dependence on God. The critical instruction involved collecting a daily portion for five days, a double portion on the sixth day, and no gathering on the seventh, which was to be a Sabbath rest. This setup served as an immediate, practical application of a Sabbath principle even before the formal giving of the Ten Commandments. The Israelites' direct experience with God's provision and their initial test of faith immediately preceded this particular act of disobedience. Historically, the Sabbath command would become a cornerstone of the Mosaic Law and a distinct identifier of the covenant people, differentiating them from surrounding nations who often worked ceaselessly or based their religious observances on astrological cycles rather than divine command.
Exodus 16 27 Word analysis
- וַיְהִי (way•hî): "Yet" / "And it came to pass" / "It happened that". This serves as a common Hebrew narrative connective, signaling a progression in the story. Here, it functions adversatively, introducing a contrary action despite prior clear instructions. It highlights a pivot from God's instruction to human transgression.
- בַּיּוֹם (ba•yō•wm): "on the day". The prefixed preposition בּ (bā) means "on" or "in." יוֹם (yō•wm) means "day."
- הַשְּׁבִיעִי (ha•šě•vî•‘î): "the seventh". הַ (ha) is the definite article "the." שְׁבִיעִי (šě•vî•‘î) means "seventh," derived from שֶׁבַע (šé·ḇa‘), "seven." This specifically identifies the day God designated for rest, the Sabbath. Its inclusion immediately signals a violation of the Lord's clear instruction.
- יָצְאוּ (yāṣ•’ū): "they went out". From the verb יָצָא (yā·ṣā‘), "to go out," "to leave." It describes the active, intentional departure from their camps. It denotes an effort to find what God said would not be there.
- מִן־הָעָם (min•hā•‘ām): "from the people" / "some of the people". מִן (min) means "from" or "out of." הָעָם (hā·‘ām) means "the people," referring to the Israelites. The phrase implies it was not the entire community but a specific portion, suggesting a distinct group's choice to disobey.
- לִלְקֹט (lil•qoṭ): "to gather" / "to glean". The prefixed preposition ל (li) means "to" or "for the purpose of." לָקַט (lā·qaṭ) means "to gather," "to pick up." This identifies the forbidden activity itself.
- וְלֹא (wə•lō’): "and not" / "but they found none." The connective וְ (wə) "and," combined with לֹא (lō’), the negative particle "not." Introduces the negative outcome directly.
- מָצָאוּ (māṣ•’ū): "they found". From the verb מָצָא (mā·ṣā‘), "to find." This word signifies the result of their search. The immediate consequence of their disobedience was finding nothing.
Words-group analysis:
- וַיְהִי בַּיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי יָצְאוּ מִן־הָעָם לִלְקֹט: "Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather." This phrase vividly paints a picture of direct defiance. Despite the clear divine directive given the previous day about the Sabbath, and witnessing God's specific provisions (no manna spoiling, double portion), a segment of the people actively chose to disregard the command. It reveals an attitude of distrust, curiosity, or rebellion. This action preempts the formal written Law, indicating that a principle of resting on the seventh day was already being established and tested. It also acts as a polemic against the notion that human effort or skepticism can outwit or defy divine decree, or that one can achieve success outside of God's prescribed ways.
- וְלֹא מָצָאוּ: "but they found none." This concise clause delivers the immediate, decisive consequence of their disobedience. God's provision was meticulously controlled, ceasing precisely when and where He commanded. The futility of their labor demonstrates God's sovereignty and His enforcement of the divine boundaries. It serves as a clear lesson: working when God commands rest yields no fruit; human effort against God's will is always in vain. It reinforced the concept that manna was solely a divine gift, not something to be earned or found by human endeavor beyond God's timing.
Exodus 16 27 Bonus section
This incident in Exodus 16 serves as an early foundational lesson in divine pedagogy. God's specific, unusual instructions regarding the manna—daily provision, no storage, double portion on the sixth day, none on the seventh—were designed to actively teach Israel reliance and obedience before the giving of the full Torah. Their disobedience in verse 27 demonstrated a fundamental failure in trust and foreshadowed a recurrent pattern of rebellion during the wilderness wanderings. The manna's cessation on the seventh day was not a failure of God's provision but an intentional, immediate, and visible consequence of their unbelief, demonstrating God's sovereign control over even daily sustenance and His commitment to establishing the Sabbath principle. This particular event underscores the active nature of the wilderness experience as a training ground for a people needing to learn dependence on their God alone, rather than relying on their own efforts or distrustful testing.
Exodus 16 27 Commentary
Exodus 16:27 presents a stark example of human disobedience in the face of divine instruction and miraculous provision. The Lord had explicitly forbidden gathering manna on the seventh day, promising a double portion on the sixth to cover this. This specific instruction was a crucial test, introducing the principle of the Sabbath and demanding a posture of trust and dependence. The act of "some of the people" going out highlights a willful rebellion against God's burgeoning law, demonstrating their lack of faith in His promise and provision for the Sabbath rest. The immediate, conclusive consequence—"they found none"—underscored God's perfect control, His exact timing, and the futility of seeking provision outside His prescribed way. This incident served as an object lesson for the entire community, revealing the serious nature of testing God and foreshadowing the later, more formal establishment of the Sabbath commandment as a cornerstone of the Mosaic covenant. It also illustrates a recurring pattern in the wilderness narrative: Israel's testing of God, and God's faithfulness despite their failures.For practical usage, this illustrates that obedience is crucial even in the smallest details; trusting God's provision and timing means refraining from anxious, independent striving when He calls for rest or cessation of effort.