Manna
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Manna names the bread from heaven that God gave Israel in the wilderness and that the New Testament remembers as a gift that could feed a people without finally conquering death. In John 6, the crowd cites the wilderness manna while asking Jesus for a sign, and Jesus answers by directing them beyond the old provision to the living bread He gives.
Reader summary
Full entry for μάννα (G3131) · Open the biblical lexicon
Manna names the bread from heaven that God gave Israel in the wilderness and that the New Testament remembers as a gift that could feed a people without finally conquering death. In John 6, the crowd cites the wilderness manna while asking Jesus for a sign, and Jesus answers by directing them beyond the old provision to the living bread He gives.
The BSB source-word alignment has 4 aligned rows for this entry. Common renderings include manna (4).
The source-word alignment first shows this entry at John 6:31. Its strongest book concentrations include John (2), Hebrews (1), Revelation (1).
Manna names the bread from heaven that God gave Israel in the wilderness and that the New Testament remembers as a gift that could feed a people without finally conquering death. In John 6, the crowd cites the wilderness manna while asking Jesus for a sign, and Jesus answers by directing them beyond the old provision to the living bread He gives. Hebrews remembers the golden jar of manna inside the ark as covenant testimony to God's care.
Revelation promises hidden manna to the conqueror, using the old wilderness gift as language for eschatological fellowship and reward. Manna should therefore be taught as real provision, covenant memory, and promise-shaped hope, not as a vague image for comfort detached from Christ's own teaching.
Manna names God's wilderness bread as it is remembered in John, Hebrews, and Revelation. The word marks provision, covenant memory, and promised reward while pointing beyond old bread to Christ's life-giving gift.
Our fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”
The crowd cites wilderness manna while pressing Jesus for a sign after His feeding miracle.
Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died.
Jesus contrasts the fathers who ate manna and died with the life He gives.
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.
Hebrews places the golden jar of manna inside the ark as a memorial of covenant provision.
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.
Revelation promises hidden manna to the conqueror as future fellowship and reward.
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How English Renders ItA compact distribution from source-word alignment before the full evidence tables.
Greek word. manna
Textus Receptus witness, full corpus Greek token appearances from Scrivener 1894 Textus Receptus in the full New Testament corpus.
5 Greek text appearances shown. Linked morphology labels have verse guides.
manna
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Read verseFull New Testament corpus: 260 chapters, 7,957 verses, 140,628 tokens. Data source: honza/textus-receptus (data only), with authority check against byztxt/greektext-textus-receptus.
How this word appears across different grammatical cases and numbers.
This word appears as a noun across 2 case and number patterns. The form changes show how the word functions in a sentence; they do not change the basic lexical meaning by themselves.
Verse guides are not available for this word yet, so verse references remain plain evidence markers.
Hebrew roots and equivalents that share conceptual or etymological ground with this Greek word.
Compound and idiomatic phrases that include this word. Follow a link to study the phrase and how its parts work together.
Manna teaches readers to honor God's real provision without stopping short of the greater gift to which Scripture directs them. The wilderness bread sustained Israel by grace, but Jesus insists in John 6 that the fathers ate and died. That contrast does not belittle the old gift; it shows its limits and prepares readers to hear Christ's claim as the bread who gives life.
Hebrews preserves manna as covenant memory within Israel's worship history, while Revelation turns the image toward hidden reward for those who overcome. The word helps teachers hold memory, provision, fulfillment, and hope together. God's past care is real, but it is not the endpoint. The Lord who fed His people in the wilderness now calls readers to receive the Son and await the feast only He can give.
John.6.49
Manna is a transliterated term carried into Greek from Israel's wilderness story. In the New Testament it keeps that historical memory rather than becoming a broad word for food in general.
Exodus gives the wilderness setting for manna as God's daily provision. John 6 interprets that memory in relation to Jesus, Hebrews remembers it within covenant furniture, and Revelation uses it for promised reward. The connections are real, but each passage uses the memory for a distinct purpose.
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