Bible Strands
Exodus 16:15
When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. So Moses told them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The Israelites encounter an unknown substance after the morning dew evaporates, prompting Moses to identify it to them as provision from the LORD.
The words — מָן (man) literally means “what?” and captures the Israelites’ initial confusion at the unrecognizable flakes.
The thread — The phrase “bread from heaven” connects this event to the LORD’s promise in Exodus 16:4 and is later cited in John 6:31 and John 6:58 as a typological reference to Christ.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that daily sustenance originates from divine provision rather than human foresight, requiring obedient collection according to the stated measure.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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 is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat.
Cross-references
- 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 will test whether or not they will follow My instructions.
- John 6:31 Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
- John 6:58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your fathers, who ate the manna and died, the one who eats this bread will live forever.”
- Exodus 16:31 Now the house of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.
- 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, but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.
- 1 Corinthians 10:3 They all ate the same spiritual food
- Joshua 5:12 And the day after they had eaten from the produce of the land, the manna ceased. There was no more manna for the Israelites, so that year they began to eat the crops of the land of Canaan.
- 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 that You had sworn to give them.
- Nehemiah 9:20 You gave Your good Spirit to instruct them. You did not withhold Your manna from their mouths, and You gave them water for their thirst.
- John 6:49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.