Exodus 16:31

Summary

The verse states that "the house of Israel" gave the name man ("manna", H4478A) to the substance described earlier in the chapter. It then describes the substance's appearance (like white coriander seed) and its taste (like a wafer made with honey).

Key words

• va-yikre'u ("and they called", H7121H) — qal narrative verb with the vav-consecutive construction, marking this as the next event in the sequence: after the substance appeared, the people acted by naming it.
• beit-Yisra'el ("household of Israel", H1004M + H3478) — construct chain functioning as the subject; "house of Israel" designates the collective people rather than a single individual.
• she-mo ("its name", H8034 + H9023) — construct noun with 3rd person suffix, meaning "his/its name," referring back to the substance introduced with the direct object marker 'et (H0853).
• zera' gad ("seed of coriander", H2233G + H1407) — construct chain used as a comparison term (introduced by ke-, H9004, "like"), describing physical resemblance rather than botanical identity.
• tzapichit ("wafer", H6838) — a rare noun (occurring elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible in a related passage) describing a baked or flat food item, compared here via ke- to the taste of the manna.

What the text says

The verse divides into two parts joined by ve- ("and", H9002). The first clause, va-yikre'u beit-Yisra'el 'et-shemo man, follows verb–subject–object order typical of narrative Hebrew with the vav-consecutive: the verb va-yikre'u ("and they called") comes first, then the subject beit-Yisra'el ("house of Israel"), then the object marked by 'et plus shemo ("its name") and the name itself, man. This construction presents the naming as the next link in the narrative chain rather than as a general or repeated action.

The second part, introduced by ve-hu ("and it/he", H1931 + H9002), shifts to a descriptive, non-narrative structure using two parallel comparative clauses: ke-zera' gad lavan ("like the seed of coriander, white") and ve-ta'mo ke-tzapichit bi-dvash ("and its taste like a wafer with honey"). Both comparisons use the preposition ke- ("like", H9004), signaling that the statements describe resemblance, not identity. The construct chains zera' gad ("seed of coriander") and ta'mo ("its taste") each attach descriptive qualities (color, comparison item) to the referent hu' ("it"), which points back to the manna.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders beit-Yisra'el ("house of Israel") as οἱ υἱοὶ Ἰσραήλ ("the sons of Israel"), shifting the Hebrew's "household" construct to "sons." The Vulgate keeps domus Israël ("house of Israel"), closer to the Hebrew construct. For tzapichit ("wafer", H6838), the LXX uses ἐνκρίς (a type of cake), while the Vulgate uses similae ("fine flour"), showing differing renderings of this rare term across the versions.