Exodus 16:20

Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
hearkened	שָׁמְע֣וּ sha.me.'U	H8085	to hear intelligently (often with implication of attent… · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
Moses	מֹשֶׁ֗ה mo.Sheh	H4872	Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
some	אֲנָשִׁ֤ים 'a.na.Shim	H582	a man in general (singly or collectively) · noun, common masculine plural absolute
left	וַיּוֹתִ֨רוּ vai.yo.Ti.ru	H3498	to jut over or exceed · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
morning	בֹּ֔קֶר Bo.ker	H1242	properly · noun, common masculine singular absolute
bred	וַיָּ֥רֻם vai.Ya.rum	H7311	to be high actively · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
worms	תּוֹלָעִ֖ים to.la.'Im	H8438	the crimson-grub · noun, common masculine plural absolute
stank	וַיִּבְאַ֑שׁ vai.yiv.'Ash	H887	to smell bad · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Moses	מֹשֶֽׁה mo.Sheh	H4872	Mosheh · proper noun, a man's name
wroth	וַיִּקְצֹ֥ף vai.yik.Tzof	H7107	to crack off · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Numbers 16:15 And Moses was very wroth, and said unto the LORD, Respect not thou their offering: I have not taken one ass from them, neither have I hurt o…
Matthew 6:19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Mark 3:5 And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth…
Mark 10:14 But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of s…
Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he posses…
Luke 12:33 Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief appr…
Ephesians 4:26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Hebrews 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor fo…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 16:13-21

Now they begin to be provided for by the immediate hand of God. I. He makes them a feast, at night, of delicate fowl, feathered fowl (Psa 78:27), therefore not locusts, as some think; quails, or pheasants, or some wild fowl, came up, and covered the camp, so tame that they might take up as many of them as they pleased. Note, God gives us of the good things of this life, not only for necessity, but for delight, that we may not only serve him, but serve him cheerfully. II. Next morning he rained manna upon them, which was to be continued to them for their daily bread. 1. That which was provided for them was manna, which descended from the clouds, so that, in some sense, they might be said to l…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 16:13

at even the quails came up, and covered the camp--This bird is of the gallinaceous kind [that is, relating to the order of heavy-bodied, largely terrestrial birds], resembling the red partridge, but not larger than the turtledove. They are found in certain seasons in the places through which the Israelites passed, being migratory birds, and they were probably brought to the camp by "a wind from the Lord" as on another occasion (Num 11:31). and in the morning . . . a small round thing . . . manna--There is a gum of the same name distilled in this desert region from the tamarisk, which is much prized by the natives, and preserved carefully by those who gather it. It is collected early in the…

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Adam Clarke on Exodus 16:20

It bred worms - Their sinful curiosity and covetousness led them to make the trial; and they had a mass of the most loathsome putrefaction for their pains. How gracious is God! He is continually rendering disobedience and sin irksome to the transgressor; that finding his evil ways to be unprofitable, he may return to his Maker, and trust in God alone.

John Gill on Exodus 16:20

Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses,.... That is, not all of them, some of them did, and perhaps the far greater part of them: but some of them left it until the morning; out of distrust, for fear they should have none the next day; being men of little faith, that could not trust God for a supply for the morrow; the Targum of Jonathan says, these were Dathan and Abiram; and so Jarchi: and it bred worms, and stank; or by an "hysteron proteron", and transposition of the words, the sense may be, that it stank, corrupted, and putrefied, and so produced worms, in which order the words lie, Exodus 16:24, and this was not from the nature of the manna to breed worms so soon, but God so o…

The Church Fathers

And thou must in another way understand that it is lust which is reprehensible, for every day, morning after morning, the people gathered the manna which came down, and so long as they gathered it according to the command they were not reprehended or condemned; but when they lusted to gather it in too great a quantity, it swarmed with worms and stank, to the shame of the lust which gathered it.
— Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence

But if any endure not what I have said, but still cleave to the poverty of worldly things, snatching at the things which endure diminution: even in respect of those again, let him call to mind the food of manna and tremble at the example of that punishment. For what happened in that instance, this same result may one now also see in the case of covetous men. But what then happened? Worms were bred from their covetousness. This also now happens in their case. For the measure of the food is the same for all; we having but one stomach to fill; only thou who feedest luxuriously hast more to get rid of. And as in that case they who in their houses gathered more than the lawful quantity, gathered not manna, but more worms and rottenness; just so both in luxury and in covetousness, the gluttonous and drunken gather not more dainties but more corruption.
— John Chrysostom, HOMILIES ON 1 CORINTHIANS 40.5

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Exodus — The great deliverance wrought for the children of Isreal when they were brought out of the land of Egypt with “a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm” (Ex 12:51; Deut. 26:8; Ps 114; 136), about…
Manna — Heb. man-hu, “What is that?” the name given by the Israelites to the food miraculously supplied to them during their wanderings in the wilderness (Ex. 16:15-35). The name is commonly taken as derived…
Weights And Measures — A. WEIGHTS.—The general principle of the present inquiry is to give the evidence of the monuments the preference on all doubtful points. All ancient Greek systems of weight were derived, either…
Worm — (1.) Heb. sas (Isa. 51:8), denotes the caterpillar of the clothes-moth. (2.) The manna bred worms (tola’im), but on the Sabbath there was not any worm (rimmah) therein (Ex. 16:20, 24). Here these…
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Manna sent — Manna sent
Disobedience To God · manna — manna
Gluttony · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Insects · Mentioned in scripture: Maggot — Mentioned in scripture: Maggot
Manna · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Miracles · .Manna — .Manna
Worm · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Exodus 16:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 16:13-21

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 16:13

Adam Clarke on Exodus 16:20

John Gill on Exodus 16:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 16:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 16:13-21

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 16:13

Adam Clarke on Exodus 16:20

John Gill on Exodus 16:20

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Exodus 16:19-30

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 16:19-21

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 16:19-20

Rashi on Exodus 16:20