Exodus 16:35
ESV
The people of Israel ate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
NIV
The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.
NASB
And the sons of Israel ate the manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
CSB
The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan.
NLT
So the people of Israel ate manna for forty years until they arrived at the land where they would settle. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
KJV
And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.
NKJV
And the children of Israel ate manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.
What does Exodus 16:35 mean?
This remark looks well into Israel's future. They have just been given manna for the first time (Exodus 16:14–16). God has instructed Moses to keep a small portion of this as a relic (Exodus 16:32). It will be another forty years before the Lord stops providing this daily (Exodus 16:21) food source. When the people celebrate the Passover in Canaan, God stops sending manna (Joshua 5:12). By that time, Moses—the writer of the book of Exodus—will have died (Joshua 1:1–2). Many scholars suggest that someone, such as Joshua, included the text at the end of this chapter as a footnote.For those unaware of what will happen soon, four decades seems an extraordinarily long time. Israel has only recently left Egypt (Exodus 12:40–41) and crossed into the Sinai Peninsula (Exodus 14:1–3, 21–29). The Promised Land of Canaan (Genesis 17:8) is on the other side of that Peninsula (Genesis 15:18–21). The nation could walk to Canaan in just days. But the people will resist God's commands to enter (Numbers 14:1–4). The Lord will send Israel back into the deserts to wander until that entire generation has died (Numbers 14:22–23, 28–29, 34).
