SG Heritage Dictionary

Manna [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. A substance miraculously furnished as food for the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness of Arabia. Exodus 16:15 .

2. Josephus, Ant.B.3.1. considers the Hebrew word man, to signify what. In conformity with this idea, the seventy translate the passage, Exodus 16:15 :15. what is this? which rendering seems to accord with the following words, for they knew not what it was. And in the Encyclopedia, the translators are charged with making Moses fall into a plain contradiction. Art. manna But Christ and his apostles confirm the common version:'Not as your fathers ate manna and are dead.' John 6:58 . Hebrews 9:4 . And we have other evidence, that the present version is correct; for in the same chapter, Moses directed Aaron to 'take a pot and put a homer full of manna therein.' Now it would be strange language to say, put an homer full of what, or what is it. So also verse 35. 'The children of Israel ate manna forty years, etc.' In both verses, the Hebrew word is the same as in verse 15.

3. In the materia medica, the juice of a certain tree of the ash-kind, the Fraxinus ornus, or flowering ash a native of Sicily, Calabria, and other parts of the south of Europe. It is either naturally concreted, or exsiccated and purified by art. The best manna is in oblong pieces or flakes of a whitish or pale yellow color, light, friable, and somewhat transparent. It is a mild laxative.

Manna [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The food supplied to the Israelites in their journey through the wilderness of Arabia; hence, divinely supplied food.

2. A name given to lichens of the genus Lecanora, sometimes blown into heaps in the deserts of Arabia and Africa, and gathered and used as food.

3. A sweetish exudation in the form of pale yellow friable flakes, coming from several trees and shrubs and used in medicine as a gentle laxative, as the secretion of Fraxinus Ornus, and F. rotundifolia, the manna ashes of Southern Europe.

Manna Encyclopedia Britannica

MANNA, a concrete saccharine exudation obtained by making incisions in the trunk of the flowering or manna ash tree, Fraxinus Ornus, I.. At the present day the manna of commerce is collected exclusively in Sicily from cultivated trees, chiefly in the districts around Capaci, Carini, Cinisi, and Favarota, small towns 20 to 25 miles west of Palermo, and in the townships of Geraci, Castelbuono, and other places in the district of Cefalù, 50 to 70 miles east of Palermo. In the frassinetti or plantations the trees are placed about 7 feet apart, and after they are eight years old, and the trunk at least 3 inches in diameter, the collection of manna is begun. This operation is performed in July or August during the dry weather, by making transverse incisions 1∣ to 2 inches long, and about 1 inch apart, through the bark, one cut being made each day, the first at the bottom of the tree, another directly above the first, and so on. In succeeding years the process is repeated on the untouched sides of the trunk, until the tree has been cut all round and exhausted. It is then cut down, and a young plant arising from the same root takes its place. The finest or flaky manna appears to have been allowed to harden on the stem. A very superior kind, obtained by allowing the juice to encrust pieces of wood or straws inserted in the cuts, and called manna a cannolo, is not found in commerce in England. The fragments adhering to the stem after the finest flakes have been removed are scraped off, and form the small or Tolfa manna of commerce. That which flows from the lower incisions is often collected on tiles or on a concave piece of the prickly pear {Opuntia}, but is less crystalline and more glutinous, and is less esteemed....

Manna of good quality dissolves at ordinary temperatures in about G parts of water, forming a clear liquid. Its chief constituent is mannite or manna sugar, a hexatomic alcohol, C 6 H 8 (OH) 0 , which likewise occurs, in much smaller quantity, in certain species of Fucus and in plants of several widely separated natural orders. Of this substance the best manna contains 70 to 80 per cent. It crystallizes in shining rhombic prisms from its solution in boiling alcohol. Manna possesses mildly laxative properties, and on account of its sweet taste is employed as a mild aperient for children. It is less used in England now than formerly, but is still largely consumed in South America. In Italy mannite is prepared for sale in the shape of small cones resembling loaf sugar in shape, and is frequently prescribed in medicine instead of manna.

The manna of the present day appears to have been unknown before the 15th century, although a mountain in Sicily with the Arabic name Gibelman, i.e., “manna mountain,” appears to point to its collection there during the period that the island was held by the Saracens, 827-1070. In the 16th century it was collected in Calabria in Italy, and until recently was produced in the Tuscan Maremma, but neither from that locality nor from the States of the Church is any now brought into commerce, although the name of Tolfa, a town near Civita Vecchia, is still applied to an inferior variety of the drug.

Various other kinds of manna are known, but none of these have been found to contain mannite. Alhagi manna (Persian and Arabic tar-angubin) is the produce of Alhagi camelorum, Fisch., a small, spiny, leguminous plant, growing in Persia, Afghanistan, and Baluchistan. This manna occurs in the form of small, roundish, hard, dry tears, varying from the size of a mustard seed to that of a coriander, of a light-brown colour, sweet taste, and senna-like odour. The spines and pods of the plant are often mixed with it. It is collected near, Kandahar and Herat, and imported into India from Cabul and Kandahar to the extent of about 2000 lb. annually, and is valued, at about thirty shillings per lb. Tamarisk manna (Persian gaz-angubin, tamarisk honey) exudes in June and July from the sleuder branches of Tamarix gallica, var. nιannifera, Ehrenb., in the form of honey-like drops, which, in the cool temperature of the early morning, are found in the solid state. This secretion is caused by the puncture of an insect, Coccus manniparus, Ehrenb. In the valleys of the peninsula of Sinai, especially in the Wady el-Sheikh, this manna (Arabic man) is collected by the Arabs and sold to the monks of St Catherine, who supply it to the pilgrims visiting the convent. It is found also in Persia and the Punjab, but does not appear to be collected in any quantity. This kind of manna seems to be alluded to by Herodotus (vii. 31). Under the same name of gaz-angubin there are sold commonly in the Persian bazaars round cakes, of which a chief ingredient is a manna obtained to the south-west of Ispahan, in the month of August, by shaking the branches or scraping the stems of Astragalus florulentus and A. adscendens, Boiss. and Hausskn. Shirkhist, a kind of manna known to writers on materia medica in the 16th century, is still found in the bazaars of north-west India, being imported from Afghanistan and Turkestan to a limited extent. Haussknecht states that it is the produce of Cotoneaster nummularia, Fisch, and Mey. (Rosaceae), and Atraphaxis spinosa, I.. (Polygonaceae), and that it is brought chiefly from Herat.

Oak manna, according to Haussknecht, is collected from the twigs of Quercus Vallonea, Kotschy, and Q. persica, Jaub. and Spach, on which it is produced by the puncture of an insect during the month of August. This manna occurs in the state of agglutinated tears, and forms an object of some industry among the wandering tribes of Kurdistan at the present day. It is collected before sunrise, by shaking the grains of manna on to linen cloths spread out beneath the trees, or by dipping the small branches in hot water and evaporating the solution thus obtained. A substance collected by the inhabitants of Laristan from Pyrus glabra, Boiss., strongly resembles oak manna in appearance.

Australian manna is found on the leaves of Eucalyptus viminalis, Lab.; the Lerp manna of Australia is of animal origin.

Briançon manna is met with on the leaves of the common Larch {q.v. ), and a kind of manna was at one time obtained from the cedar, but none of these are now collected for commercial purposes.

The manna of Scripture, notwithstanding the miraculous circumstances which distinguish it in the Biblical narrative from anything now known, answers in its description very closely to the tamarisk manna.

See Pharmacographia, p. 409; Hanbury, Science Papers, p. 355- 368; Stewart, Punjab Plants, Lahore, 1869, pp. 57-92; Geoffroy, Mat. Med., ii. (1741) p. 584; Dobson, Proc. Roy. Soc. Van Diemen's Land, i. (1851) p. 234.

9th ed. Encyclopædia Britannica, vol. 15, p. 493
[1,169 words — estimated reading time: 7 minutes]

Manna Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary

מן, Exod. xvi, 15, 33, 35; Num. xi, 6, 7, 9; Josh. v, 12; Neh. ix, 20; Psa. lxxviii, 24; μάννα, John vi, 31, 49, 58; Heb. ix, 4; Rev. ii, 17; the food which God gave the children of Israel during their continuance in the deserts of Arabia, from the eighth encampment in the wilderness of Sin. Moses describes it as white like hoar frost, round, and of the bigness of coriander seed. It fell every morning upon the dew; and when the dew was exhaled by the heat of the sun, the manna appeared alone, lying upon the rocks or the sand. It fell every day except on the Sabbath, and this only around the camp of the Israelites. Every sixth day there fell a double quantity; and though it putrefied and bred maggots when it was kept any other day, yet on the Sabbath there was no such alteration. The same substance which was melted by the heat of the sun when it was left abroad, was of so hard a consistence when brought into the tent, that it was beaten in mortars, and would even endure the fire, being made into cakes and baked in pans. It fell in so great quantities during the whole forty years of their journey, that it was sufficient to feed the whole multitude of above a million of souls. Every man, that is, every male or head of a family, was to gather each day the quantity of an omer, about three quarts English measure; and it is observed that he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack,” because his gathering was in proportion to the number of persons for whom he had to provide. Or every man gathered as much as he could; and then, when brought home and measured by an omer, if he had a surplus, it went to supply the wants of some other family that had not been able to collect a sufficiency, the family being large, and the time in which ...

Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary
[898 words — estimated reading time: 6 minutes]

Manna croup Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. The portions of hard wheat kernels not ground into flour by the millstones: a kind of semolina prepared in Russia and used for puddings, soups, etc. -- called also manna groats.

2. The husked grains of manna grass.

King James Bible KJV Bible

Berean Standard Bible BSB Bible

19 KJV and 17 BSB verses contain “Manna”

Exodus 16:15

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.

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.

Exodus 16:31

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.

Now the house of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.

Exodus 16:32

And Moses said, This is the thing which the LORD commandeth, Fill an omer of it to be kept for your generations; that they may see the bread wherewith I have fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you forth from the land of Egypt.

Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Keep an omer of manna for the generations to come, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

Exodus 16:33

And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations.

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.”

Exodus 16:35

And the children of Israel did eat manna forty years, until they came to a land inhabited; they did eat manna, until they came unto the borders of the land of Canaan.

The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land where they could settle; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.

Numbers 11:6

But now our soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.

But now our appetite is gone; there is nothing to see but this manna!”

Numbers 11:7

And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.

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

Numbers 11:9

And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.

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.

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.

Deuteronomy 8:16

Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;

He fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers had not known, in order to humble you and test you, so that in the end He might cause you to prosper.

Joshua 5:12

And the manna ceased on the morrow after they had eaten of the old corn of the land; neither had the children of Israel manna any more; but they did eat of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.

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 9:20

Thou gavest also thy good spirit to instruct them, and withheldest not thy manna from their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.

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.

Psalms 78:24

And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.

He rained down manna for them to eat; He gave them grain from heaven.

John 6:31

Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.

Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

John 6:49

Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.

Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.

John 6:58

This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.

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.”

Hebrews 9:4

Which had the golden censer, and the ark of the covenant overlaid round about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant;

containing the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. Inside the ark were the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

Revelation 2:17

He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth saving he that receiveth it.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who overcomes, I will give the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone inscribed with a new name, known only to the one who receives it.

2 Esdras 1:19

Then had I pity upon your mournings, and gave you manna to eat; so ye did eat angels’ bread.

Baruch 1:10

And they said, Behold, we have sent you money to buy you burnt offerings, and sin offerings, and incense, and prepare ye manna, and offer upon the altar of the Lord our God;