Exodus 16:31

And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
house	בֵֽית veit-	H1004	a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
Israel	יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל Yis.ra.'El	H3478	Jisrael · proper noun, a place name
called	וַיִּקְרְא֧וּ vai.yik.re.'U	H7121	to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
name	שְׁמ֖וֹ she.Mo	H8034	an appellation · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
Manna	מָ֑ן Man	H4478	literally a whatness (so to speak) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
coriander	גַּד֙ gad	H1407	coriander seed (from its furrows) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
seed	כְּזֶ֤רַע ke.Ze.ra'	H2233	seed · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
white	לָבָ֔ן la.Van	H3836	white · adjective, masculine singular absolute
taste	וְטַעְמ֖וֹ ve.ta'.Mo	H2940	properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
wafers	כְּצַפִּיחִ֥ת ke.tza.pi.Chit	H6838	a flat thin cake · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
honey	בִּדְבָֽשׁ bid.Vash	H1706	honey (from its stickiness) · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute

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 11:6-9 But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
Exodus 16:15 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This…
Song of Solomon 2:3 As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my beloved among the sons. I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his frui…

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

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 16:22-31

We have here, 1. A plain intimation of the observing of a seventh day sabbath, not only before the giving of the law upon Mount Sinai, but before the bringing of Israel out of Egypt, and therefore, from the beginning, Gen 2:3. If the sabbath had now been first instituted, how could Moses have understood what God said to him (Exo 16:5), concerning a double portion to be gathered on the sixth day, without making any express mention of the sabbath? And how could the people so readily take the hint (Exo 16:22), even to the surprise of the rulers, before Moses had declared that it was done with a regard to the sabbath, if they had not had some knowledge of the sabbath before? The setting apart of…

Read the whole note in the console

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…

Read the whole note in the console

Adam Clarke on Exodus 16:31

Called the name thereof Manna - See Clarke's note on Exo 16:15.

John Gill on Exodus 16:31

And the house of Israel called the name thereof manna,.... For till now they had given it no name; which shows that the words are not to be read as we render them in Exodus 16:15 it is manna, unless this is to be considered as a confirmation of that name; but rather as an interrogation, "what is it?" though, from thence, "man" being the first word they made use of on sight of it, might so call it; or as others, from its being now an appointed, prepared, portion and gift, which they every day enjoyed; see Gill on Exodus 16:15, and it was like coriander seed, white that the colour of the manna was white is not only here asserted, but is plain from other passages, it being like the hoar frost,…

The Church Fathers

For the Word of God becomes all these things to each one, according as the measure or the desire of the partaker demands: even as the manna also, though it was a single food, yet rendered to each one the flavor of his own desire. He offers himself, then, not only as bread to the hungry and wine to the thirsty, but also, to those who wish to take delight, he presents himself as fragrant fruits.
— Origen of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON THE SONG OF SONGS, BOOK 3

And moreover when they ate it formerly, its taste was changed into that of all kinds of meats in their mouth, and it is well known that it also took the place of flesh unto them, for it is written, "It was like honey comb, and its taste was as if it had been kneaded in oil." And although it was changed into all these varieties of food the eaters thereof were not condemned thereby, for it was a gift of Grace, and not that which their lust had demanded.
— Philoxenus of Mabbug, 13 Ascetic Discourses, Discourse 11 -- On Abstinence

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

Cake — Cakes made of wheat or barley were offered in the temple. They were salted, but unleavened (Ex. 29:2; Lev. 2:4). In idolatrous worship thin cakes or wafers were offered “to the queen of heaven” (Jer.…
Colour — The subject of colours holds an important place in the Scriptures. White occurs as the translation of various Hebrew words. It is applied to milk (Gen. 49:12), manna (Ex. 16:31), snow (Isa. 1:18),…
Coriander — Heb. gad, (Ex. 16:31; Num. 11:7), seed to which the manna is likened in its form and colour. It is the Coriandrum sativum of botanists, an umbelliferous annual plant with a round stalk, about two…
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…
Israel — The name conferred on Jacob after the great prayer-struggle at Peniel (Gen. 32:28), because “as a prince he had power with God and prevailed.” (See JACOB.) This is the common name given to Jacob’s…
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…
Wafers — Thin cakes (Ex. 16:31; 29:2, 23; Lev. 2:4; 7:12; 8:26; Num. 6:15, 19) used in various offerings.
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…
Bread · .Honey — .Honey
Coriander · A spice — A spice
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Manna sent

Exodus 16:31

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 16:22-31

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 16:13

Adam Clarke on Exodus 16:31

John Gill on Exodus 16:31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 16:31

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 16:22-31

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 16:13

Adam Clarke on Exodus 16:31

John Gill on Exodus 16:31

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Exodus 16:31–end

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 16:31

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 16:21-30

Rashi on Exodus 16:31