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.
They said one to another, It is manna (margin, 'It is a portion'): for they wist not what it was, х wayo'mªruw (H559) 'iysh (H376) 'el (H413) 'aachiyw (H251) Maan (H4478) huw' (H1931)], they said each man to his brother (neighbour), "man-hu" - i:e., what is this? Because they did not know what it was. [The Septuagint has: idontes de auto hoi huoi Israeel eipan heteros too heteroo. Ti esti touto; ou gar eedeisan ti een-`And the children of Israel seeing it, said one to another, what is this? for they knew not what it was.'] Josephus very distinctly traces the origin of the name ('Antiq.,' b. 3:, ch. 1:, sec. 6), 'The Hebrews call this food manna; because the particle "man", in our language is the interrogative "what", and huw' (H1931) is the pronoun "this" - "what is this?"' In the margin of our Bibles it is rendered "a portion" [from the root-verb maanaah (H4487), to divide, to measure out. This interpretation was probably suggested by the celebrated Hebraist, Hugh Broughton, who was the author of these marginal readings. But it does not seem equally good with that in the text.]