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Exodus 16:14

in Exodus 16

When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar-frost on the ground.

KJV

And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

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This verse in Exodus 16

Commentary

6 notes on this verse
But if there are some who have come out of Egypt and, following the pillar of fire and cloud, are entering the wilderness, then he comes down from heaven to them and offers them a small, thin food, like to the food of angels; so that "man eats the bread of angels."

This site's exposition

there lay a small round thing

on Exodus 16:14-15

The description comes before the name, a small round thing as small as the hoar frost on the ground. What the people say to one another is a question, and the text says outright that they wist not what it was, so the food is called after the puzzle it caused. The word manna occurs here for the first time in Scripture, and Moses answers with a source rather than a substance, this is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat, which is the answer John 6:32 takes up.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

And when the dew that lay was gone up,.... Exhaled by the sun upon the rising of it: behold, upon the face of the wilderness; upon the surface of it, all around the camp of Israel: there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground; which is what is in the next verse called "manna".

A commentator

Matthew Henry

1662–1714

Commentary on the Whole Bible (1710)

proposed

It was pleasant food; the Jews say that it was palatable to all, however varied their tastes. It was wholesome food, light of digestion, and very necessary (Dr. Grew says) to cleanse them from disorders with which he thinks it probable that they were, in the time of their bondage, more or less infected, which disorders a luxurious diet would have made contagious.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

Behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing - It appears that this small round thing fell with the dew, or rather the dew fell first, and this substance fell on it. The dew might have been intended to cool the ground, that the manna on its fall might not be dissolved; for we find from Exo 16:21, that the heat of the sun melted it. The ground therefore being sufficiently cooled by the dew, the manna lay unmelted long enough for the Israelites to collect a sufficient quantity for their dally use.

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Though it may be exhaled by the heat and afterwards fall with the dew, it is a medicine, not food--it is well known to the natives of the desert, while the Israelites were strangers to theirs; and in taste as well as in the appearance of double quantity on Friday, none on Sabbath, and in not breeding worms, it is essentially different from the manna furnished to the Israelites.

The words behind it

13 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַתַּ֖עַלand it went up

    vataalH5927 →890 times

  • שִׁכְבַ֣ת[the] layer of

    shikhvatH7902 →

  • הַטָּ֑ל<the> dew

    hatalH2919 →

  • וְהִנֵּ֞הand there!

    vehinehH2009 →843 times

  • עַל־[was] on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • פְּנֵ֤י[the] surface of

    peneiH6440 →2123 times

  • הַמִּדְבָּר֙the wilderness

    hamidbarH4057 →270 times

  • דַּ֣קthin [stuff]

    dakH1851 →

  • מְחֻסְפָּ֔סflake-like

    mechuspasH2636 →

  • דַּ֥קthin [stuff]

    dakH1851 →

  • כַּכְּפֹ֖רlike <the> frost

    kakeforH3713 →

  • עַל־on

    ʾal-H5921 →5755 times

  • הָאָֽרֶץ׃the ground

    haaretzH776 →2504 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

8 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Psalms 105:40They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.4 worksNehemiah 9:15In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land which You had sworn to give them.4 worksPsalms 78:24He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.4 worksDeuteronomy 8:3He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.4 worksNumbers 11:7–9Now the manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of gum resin.4 worksPsalms 147:16He spreads the snow like wool; He scatters the frost like ashes;2 works
The other 2 cross-references, with their words ▾
Exodus 16:31Now the house of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.2 worksLeviticus 8:11He sprinkled some of the oil on the altar seven times, anointing the altar and all its utensils, and the basin with its stand, to consecrate them.2 works

The walk

8 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Deuteronomy 8:3

    He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone,…

    it leads to

    • Matthew 4:4

      But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

    • Luke 4:4

      But Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’”

    • Hebrews 13:5–6

      Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you.”

    • 1 Corinthians 10:3

      They all ate the same spiritual food

    • Psalms 78:23–25

      Yet He commanded the clouds above and opened the doors of the heavens.

  • Through

    Psalms 78:24

    He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

    it leads to

    • Exodus 16:4

      Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain down bread from heaven for you. Each day the people are to go out and gather enough for that day. In this way I…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

    • Deuteronomy 8:3

      He humbled you, and in your hunger He gave you manna to eat, which neither you nor your fathers had known, so that you might understand that man does not live on bread alone,…

      Reached by 2 separate paths from here.

  • Through

    Nehemiah 9:15

    In their hunger You gave them bread from heaven; in their thirst You brought them water from the rock. You told them to go in and possess the land which You had sworn to…

    it leads to

Where this verse is studied

About Exodus

The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
The Giving of the Law on Mount Sinai, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Exodus: the study guide →Read Exodus 16 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS 1:4.

Read on in Exodus 16 →