Bible Strands
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.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The narrator records the Israelites naming the miraculous bread immediately after the seventh-day rest concludes and before Moses issues the preservation command. This moment closes the wilderness provision cycle while establishing a tangible memorial for future generations.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיִּקְרְאוּ (va/yik.re.'u) translates literally as "and they called," denoting the community's formal act of assigning a name. The phrase כְּזֶרַע (ke./ze.ra') means "like the seed of," providing the concrete visual comparison used in the description.
The thread — The naming event connects to Exodus 16:15, where the same substance is first introduced as an unknown food, and to Numbers 11:6, where the Israelites later complain about the exclusive presence of manna. These references trace the bread’s role from initial revelation to sustained wilderness provision.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to recognize that divine provision is identified through observable characteristics rather than abstract claims. The verse demands attention to how sustained physical reality functions as a lasting record of covenant maintenance.
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 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.
Cross-references
- Numbers 11:6 But now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to see but this manna!”
- 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.
- Song of Solomon 2:3 Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.