Exodus 16:33

וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹן קַח צִנְצֶנֶת אַחַת וְתֶן־שָׁמָּה מְלֹֽא־הָעֹמֶר מָן וְהַנַּח אֹתוֹ לִפְנֵי יְהוָה לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶֽם׃

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The same verse in five languages

Hebrew

וַיֹּ֨אמֶר מֹשֶׁ֜ה אֶֽל־אַהֲרֹ֗ן קַ֚ח צִנְצֶ֣נֶת אַחַ֔ת וְתֶן־שָׁ֥מָּה מְלֹֽא־הָעֹ֖מֶר מָ֑ן וְהַנַּ֤ח אֹתוֹ֙ לִפְנֵ֣י יְהוָ֔ה לְמִשְׁמֶ֖רֶת לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶֽם׃

Greek (Septuagint)

καὶ εἰπεν Μωσῆς πρὸς Λάβε Λάβε στάμνον χρυσοῦν ἕνα καὶ ἐμβάλετε εἰς αὐτὸν πλῆρες τὸ γόμορ μάν, καὶ ἀποθήσεις αὐτὸ ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ εἰς διατήρησιν εἰς τὰς γενεὰς ὑμῶν,

Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0

Latin (Vulgate)

Dixitque Moyses ad Aaron: Sume vas unum, et mitte ibi man, quantum potest capere gomor, et repone coram Domino ad servandum in generationes vestras,

Spanish

Y Moisés le dijo a Aarón: “Consigue un frasco, pon adentro unos dos kilos de maná y ponlo en la presencia de Yehová, para que se conserve para las futuras generaciones.”

Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)

Y dijo Moisés á Aarón: Toma un vaso, y pon en él un gomer lleno de maná, y ponlo delante de Jehová, para que sea guardado para vuestros descendientes.

English

So Moses told Aaron, “ Take a jar and fill it with an omer of manna. Then place it before the LORD to be preserved for the generations to come.”

What the text says

Summary

Moses instructs Aaron to take a container, fill it with an omer measure of manna, and place it before Yehovah so that it may be preserved as a witness for future generations.

Key words

  • tzintzenet ("a jar", H6803) — feminine singular construct noun; the construct form links it to "one" ('achat), meaning "a jar of one [kind]," i.e., a single jar.
  • me.lo' ("fullness of", H4393) — masculine singular construct noun, grammatically bound to "the omer," expressing the container's exact capacity: "the fullness of the omer."
  • hanach ("deposit", H5117) — hiphil imperative, a causative command form: not merely "leave" but "cause to be set down / deposited," implying deliberate, formal placement.
  • lifnei ("before", H6440) — masculine plural construct noun ("face of"), forming the idiom "before the face of," used spatially before the divine name.
  • mishmeret ("keeping", H4931) — feminine singular noun denoting a preserved or guarded object, functioning here as the purpose of the deposit ("for a keeping").

What the text says

The verse is built as a chain of four imperatives directed from Moses to Aaron: qach ("take", H3947), ten ("put", H5414), hanach ("deposit", H5117), each in the qal or hiphil stem, second person masculine singular. This creates a sequence of discrete actions — taking a container, filling it, and setting it down — culminating in a stated purpose introduced by two parallel le- ("for/to") prefixes: le-mishmeret ("for a keeping") and le-dorotekhem ("to your generations"). The construct chain me.lo'-ha'omer ("the fullness of the omer") specifies the exact quantity of manna without needing a separate verb of measuring — the noun chain itself encodes "as much as the omer holds."

The phrase lifnei YHWH ("before Yehovah", H6440 + H3068) uses the construct noun panim ("face") to express spatial position — literally "to the face of Yehovah" — a common Biblical Hebrew idiom for placement in a location associated with the divine presence, without further elaboration on what that location is in this verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the container as στάμνον χρυσοῦν ("a golden jar"), adding the qualifier "golden," where the Hebrew tzintzenet ("jar", H6803) carries no material specification. The LXX also reads ἐναντίον τοῦ θεοῦ ("before God") where the Hebrew has lifnei YHWH ("before Yehovah", H3068), substituting the generic term "God" for the divine name. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew more closely, using "coram Domino" ("before the Lord") and omitting any material description of the vessel, matching the unspecified tzintzenet.

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.