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.
Parallel translations
- WEB When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground.
- BSB When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground.
- NKJV And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground.
- NASB When the layer of dew evaporated, behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.
- NLT When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
When the dew lifted, a small, round, frost-like substance lay on the ground. This mysterious gift was the manna God would provide daily.
Overview
The manna appears unexpectedly, fine and unfamiliar, signaling that this is no ordinary food but a miraculous provision from heaven. Its strange form prompts Israel's wonder and questions, drawing attention to its divine origin. As bread that descends from the sky, manna becomes a lasting symbol of God's sustaining grace and a type of Christ, the living bread.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Deut 8:3And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.
- Neh 9:15And gavest them bread from heaven for their hunger, and broughtest forth water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and promisedst them that they should go in to possess the land which thou hadst sworn to give them.
- Ps 105:40The people asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.
- Num 11:7–9And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.
- Ps 78:24And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.
- Ps 147:16He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.
- Exod 16:31And 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 16:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.