Exodus 16:14
New International Version
When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.

New Living Translation
When the dew evaporated, a flaky substance as fine as frost blanketed the ground.

English Standard Version
And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground.

Berean Standard Bible
When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground.

King James Bible
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.

New King James Version
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.

New American Standard Bible
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.

NASB 1995
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.

NASB 1977
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.

Legacy Standard Bible
Then the layer of dew evaporated, and behold, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground.

Amplified Bible
When the layer of dew evaporated, on the surface of the wilderness there was a fine, flake-like thing, as fine as frost on the ground.

Christian Standard Bible
When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground.

American Standard Version
And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar-frost on the ground.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
And the mist of dew went up, and behold, on the face of the wilderness, fine and skinned off and a layer like frost on the ground.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
in the morning it came to pass as the dew ceased round about the camp, that, behold, on the face of the wilderness was a small thing like white coriander seed, as frost upon the earth.

Contemporary English Version
After the dew had gone, the desert was covered with thin flakes that looked like frost.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And when it had covered the face of the earth, it appeared in the wilderness small, and as it were beaten with a pestle, like unto the hoar frost on the ground.

English Revised Version
And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness a small round thing, small as the hoar frost on the ground.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
When the dew was gone, the ground was covered with a thin layer of flakes like frost on the ground.

Good News Translation
When the dew evaporated, there was something thin and flaky on the surface of the desert. It was as delicate as frost.

International Standard Version
When the layer of dew evaporated, on the surface of the desert a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost, appeared on the ground.

JPS Tanakh 1917
And when the layer of dew was gone up, behold upon the face of the wilderness a fine, scale-like thing, fine as the hoar-frost on the ground.

Literal Standard Version
and the lying of the dew goes up, and behold, on the face of the wilderness [is] a thin, bare thing, thin as hoarfrost on the earth.

Majority Standard Bible
When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground.

New American Bible
and when the layer of dew evaporated, fine flakes were on the surface of the wilderness, fine flakes like hoarfrost on the ground.

NET Bible
When the layer of dew had evaporated, there on the surface of the desert was a thin flaky substance, thin like frost on the earth.

New Revised Standard Version
When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.

New Heart English Bible
When the dew that lay had gone, look, on the surface of the wilderness was a small round thing, small as the frost on the ground.

Webster's Bible Translation
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:

World English Bible
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.

Young's Literal Translation
and the lying of the dew goeth up, and lo, on the face of the wilderness a thin, bare thing, thin as hoar-frost on the earth.

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Manna and Quail from Heaven
13That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the layer of dew had evaporated, there were thin flakes on the desert floor, as fine as frost on the ground. 15When 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.…

Cross References
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.

Numbers 11:7
Now the manna resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of gum resin.

Numbers 11:9
When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.

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 which You had sworn to give them.

Psalm 78:24
He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

Psalm 105:40
They asked, and He brought quail and satisfied them with the bread of heaven.


Treasury of Scripture

And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, on the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground.

the dew

Numbers 11:7-9
And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium…

Deuteronomy 8:3
And 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.

Nehemiah 9:15
And 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.

the hoar frost

Psalm 147:16
He giveth snow like wool: he scattereth the hoarfrost like ashes.

Jump to Previous
Appeared Bare Desert Dew Drops Earth Face Fine Flakes Frost Ground Hoar Hoarfrost Hoar-Frost Ice Lay Round Small Something Surface Thin Wilderness
Jump to Next
Appeared Bare Desert Dew Drops Earth Face Fine Flakes Frost Ground Hoar Hoarfrost Hoar-Frost Ice Lay Round Small Something Surface Thin Wilderness
Exodus 16
1. The Israelites come to Sin, and murmur for want of bread
4. God promises them bread and meat from heaven, and they are rebuked
13. Quail and manna are sent
16. The ordering of manna
25. It was not to be found on the Sabbath
32. An omer of it is preserved














(14) Was gone up--i.e., was drawn up by the heat of the sun.

A small round thing, as small as the hoar frost.--What the manna was has been much disputed. There are two natural substances, quite distinct, with which it has been compared, and by some persons identified. One is a deposit from the air, which falls indifferently on trees, stones, grass, &c, and is generally thick and sticky, like honey, but under certain circumstances is "concreted into small granular masses." This bas been described by Aristotle (Hist. An., v. 22), Pliny (H. N., xi. 12), Avicenna(p. 212), ?lian (Hist. An., xv. 7), Shaw, Forskal, and others. It has been called ???????? or "air-honey" (Athen. Deipn, xi., p. 500). It is collected by the Arabs, and eaten with their unleavened cakes as a condiment. It so far resembles the manna that it comes with the dew, is spread upon the ground generally, and melts when the sun's rays attain a certain power (?dmann: Misc. Collect., vol. iv., p. 7). But it is never found in large quantities; it does not fall for more than two months in the year; and it is wholly unfit to serve as man's principal food, being more like honey than anything else. The other substance is a gum which exudes from certain trees at certain seasons of the year, in consequence of the punctures made in their leaves by a small insect, the Coccus manniparus. It has been described at length by C. Niebuhr in his Description de l' Arabie (pp. 128, 129); by Rauwolf (Travels, vol. I., p. 94); Gmelin (Travels through Russia to Persia, Part III., p. 28), and others. It is comparatively a dry substance, is readily shaken from the leaves, and consists of small yellowish ? white grains, which are hard, and have been compared to coriander seed by moderns (Rauwolf, 50s.100). The name "manna" attaches in the East to this latter substance, which is employed both as a condiment, like the "air-honey," and also as a laxative. The special points in which it differs from the manna of Scripture are its confinement to certain trees or bushes, its comparative permanency, for it "accumulates on the leaves" (Niebuhr, p. 129), and its unfitness for food. It has also, like the "air-honey," only a short season--the months of July and August.

The manna of Scripture in certain respects resembles the one, and in certain other respects the other of these substances, but in its most important characteristics resembles neither, and is altogether sui generis. For (1) it was adapted to be men's principal nourishment, and served the Israelites as such for forty years; (2) it was supplied in quantities far exceeding anything that is recorded of the natural substances compared with it; (3) it continued through the whole of the year; (4) for forty years it fell regularly for six nights following, and ceased upon the seventh night; (5) it "bred worms" if kept to a second day, when gathered on five days out of the six, but when gathered on the sixth day continued good throughout the seventh, and bred no worms. The manna of Scripture must therefore be regarded as a miraculous substance, created ad hoc, and not as a natural product. It pleased the Creator, however, to proceed on the lines of Nature, so to speak, and to assimilate His new to certain of His old creations.

Verse 14. - When the dew that lay was gone up. The moisture which lay upon the herbage soon evaporated, drawn up by the sun; and then the miracle revealed itself. There remained upon each leaf and each blade of grass a delicate small substance, compared here to hoar frost, and elsewhere (Numbers 11:7) to "coriander seed," which was easily detached and collected in bags or baskets. The thing was altogether a novelty to the Israelites, though analogous in some degree to natural processes still occurring in the country. These processes are of two kinds. At certain times of the year there is a deposit of a glutinous substance from the air upon leaves and even upon stones, which may be scraped off, and which resembles thick honey. There is also an exudation from various trees and shrubs, especially the tamarisk, which is moderately hard, and is found both on the growing plant and on the fallen leaves beneath it, in the shape of small, round, white or greyish grains. It is this last which is the manna of commerce. The Biblical manna cannot be identified with either of these two substances. In some points it resembled the one, in other points the other; in some, it differed from both. It came out of the air like the "air-honey," and did not exude from shrubs; but it was hard, like the manna of commerce, and could be "ground in mills" and "beaten in mortars," which the "air-honey" cannot. It was not a medicament, like the one, nor a condiment, like the other, but a substance suited to be a substitute for bread, and to become the main sustenance of the Israelitish people. It was produced in quantities far exceeding anything that is recorded of either manna proper, or air honey. It accompanied the Israelites wherever they went during the space of forty years, whereas the natural substances, which in certain points resemble it, are confined to certain districts, and to certain seasons of the year. During the whole space of forty years it fell regularly during six consecutive days, and then ceased on the seventh. It "bred worms" if kept till the morrow on all days of the week except one; on that one - the Sabbath - it bred no worms, but was sweet and good. Thus, it must be regarded as a peculiar substance, miraculously created for a special purpose, but similar in certain respects to certain known substances which are still produced in the Sinaitic region.

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
When the layer
שִׁכְבַ֣ת (šiḵ·ḇaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 7902: (act of) lying, a layer

of dew
הַטָּ֑ל (haṭ·ṭāl)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 2919: Night mist, dew

had evaporated,
וַתַּ֖עַל (wat·ta·‘al)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person feminine singular
Strong's 5927: To ascend, in, actively

there
וְהִנֵּ֞ה (wə·hin·nêh)
Conjunctive waw | Interjection
Strong's 2009: Lo! behold!

were thin
דַּ֣ק (daq)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 1851: Crushed, small, thin

flakes
מְחֻסְפָּ֔ס (mə·ḥus·pās)
Verb - Pual - Participle - masculine singular
Strong's 2636: A shred, scale

on
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the desert
הַמִּדְבָּר֙ (ham·miḏ·bār)
Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 4057: A pasture, a desert, speech

floor,
פְּנֵ֤י (pə·nê)
Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 6440: The face

as fine
דַּ֥ק (daq)
Adjective - masculine singular
Strong's 1851: Crushed, small, thin

as frost
כַּכְּפֹ֖ר (kak·kə·p̄ōr)
Preposition-k, Article | Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 3713: A cover, a tankard, white frost

on
עַל־ (‘al-)
Preposition
Strong's 5921: Above, over, upon, against

the ground.
הָאָֽרֶץ׃ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land


Links
Exodus 16:14 NIV
Exodus 16:14 NLT
Exodus 16:14 ESV
Exodus 16:14 NASB
Exodus 16:14 KJV

Exodus 16:14 BibleApps.com
Exodus 16:14 Biblia Paralela
Exodus 16:14 Chinese Bible
Exodus 16:14 French Bible
Exodus 16:14 Catholic Bible

OT Law: Exodus 16:14 When the dew that lay had gone (Exo. Ex)
Exodus 16:13
Top of Page
Top of Page