StrongerBible

manah

מָנָה

HebrewH4490“portion, share”

Appears 13 times · tap a cell to see the verses

Exo 29:26Lev 7:33Lev 8:291Sa 1:41Sa 1:51Sa 9:232Ch 31:19Neh 8:10Neh 8:12Est 2:9Est 9:19Est 9:22Psa 16:5
Root family
Word studyResearch-grademaw-NAWnoun

What manah means

a portion: a share of food or goods measured out and handed to one particular person

TranslatabilityApproximateCertaintySettled

This word names a share that someone measures out and hands over. It belongs to a family of words built on the idea of counting something out (מָנָה), and that is exactly what a portion is: a part told off from a larger whole and given to a named person. Almost every time it appears, the thing being divided is food, and the setting is a meal that matters.

Israel's worship ran on portions. The law fixed which piece of an offering belonged to the priest who served at the altar, so the word can name a due, something owed rather than something given out of kindness. At a family sacrifice the head of the household then handed shares around the table, and when the shares were unequal everyone noticed. A guest of honor could have his piece set aside for him in advance.

The word also travels outward from the table. At the festivals described in Nehemiah and Esther, people send portions to households that have nothing prepared, so one family's feast becomes another family's supper and the celebration widens to include the poor. In the Persian court the same word covers a standing allowance of provisions.

Once, in the Psalms, it leaves food behind altogether. The poet says the LORD himself is his portion, borrowing the language of a share dealt out to name what he has been handed in life. That is the same reach the older word for an inherited share (חֵלֶק) makes, and the two words stand side by side in that verse.

Nuances

1athe share of an offering that belongs by right to the priests who serve at the altar
Exo 29:26Lev 7:33Lev 8:292Ch 31:19
1ba helping of meat handed out at a sacrificial meal, marking each person's place at the table
1Sa 1:41Sa 1:51Sa 9:23
1Sa 1:5

How to construe מָנָה אַחַת אַפָּיִם at 1 Samuel 1:5, and so whether Elkanah gave Hannah an enlarged share or only a single one.

  • contestedRetain the Masoretic wording and render it as a double or otherwise enlarged portion, a token of Elkanah's love for Hannah despite her childlessness.; D. T. Tsumura, The First Book of Samuel (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), on 1 Samuel 1:5
  • contestedRead אֶפֶס behind the consonants with the Septuagint and 4QSam-a, giving "only one portion", since Hannah had no children to receive shares of their own.; P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB 8; Garden City: Doubleday, 1980), on 1 Samuel 1:5; R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC 10; Waco: Word, 1983), on 1 Samuel 1:5
1cfood sent to other households so they can share in a festival
TranslatabilityPartial
Neh 8:10Neh 8:12Est 9:19Est 9:22
1da standing allowance of provisions assigned to someone living in another's household
Est 2:9
1ethe share of life a person has been given, spoken of as something dealt out to them
TranslatabilityPartial
Psa 16:5

What scholars say about manah

BDB, HALOT, DCH V and Gesenius18 treat מָנָה as a feminine noun from the root מנה "count, apportion", glossed "part, portion, share", with the concrete sense of a counted-out ration dominating its thirteen occurrences. The lexica divide the material along the same lines: the priestly prebend of an offering (Ex 29:26; Lev 7:33; 8:29; 2 Chr 31:19), the share distributed at a sacrificial meal (1 Sam 1:4, 5; 9:23), the מָנוֹת sent between households at a festival (Neh 8:10, 12; Est 9:19, 22), the court allowance of Est 2:9, and the metaphorical use at Ps 16:5. TDOT VIII and TLOT organize the whole root along a concrete-to-abstract axis, from telling out a quantity to apportioning a destiny, and read the nominal family (מָנָה "portion", מָנֶה "mina", מֹנֶה "time", מְנָת "portion") as derivatives of that single idea. Milgrom treats the Exodus and Leviticus uses as the technical vocabulary of priestly prebends, the officiant's legally defined entitlement from the ordination and peace offerings. Two boundary questions recur. First, the relation of מָנָה to the Aramaizing byform מְנָת (H4521): the pointing at Ps 16:5 is assigned by some lexica to the separate lexeme, and STEPBible's own tagging splits the same consonantal spelling between the two numbers, so the two are best read as one semantic field carried under two headwords. Second, the crux at 1 Sam 1:5 (מָנָה אַחַת אַפָּיִם), where the Greek and Qumran evidence has driven a long text-critical debate that bears on the phrase rather than on the noun. Est 9:19, 22 supply the מִשְׁלוֹחַ מָנוֹת formula that later names the Purim custom; Williamson and Levenson both stress the charitable rather than merely festive force of the practice, since the stated beneficiaries are those with nothing prepared and the poor.

In-depth research

This is a research paper, so it may be hard to read without scholarly background. It is useful if you want to dig even deeper into this word.

Sources

  • HALOT, s.v. מָנָה IIlexicon
  • BDB, s.v. מָנָה, p. 584lexicon
  • DCH vol. V, ed. D. J. A. Clines (Sheffield: Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2001), s.v. מָנָהlexicon
  • W. Gesenius, Hebräisches und Aramäisches Handwörterbuch über das Alte Testament, 18. Auflage, ed. R. Meyer, H. Donner, U. Rüterswörden (Berlin: Springer, 2013), s.v. מָנָהlexicon
  • Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, vol. VIII (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), s.v. mānâdictionary
  • Theological Lexicon of the Old Testament, trans. M. E. Biddle (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1997), s.v. mnhdictionary
  • J. Milgrom, Leviticus 1–16 (AB 3; New York: Doubleday, 1991)commentary
  • P. K. McCarter, I Samuel (AB 8; Garden City: Doubleday, 1980), on 1 Samuel 1:5commentary
  • R. W. Klein, 1 Samuel (WBC 10; Waco: Word, 1983), on 1 Samuel 1:5commentary
  • D. T. Tsumura, The First Book of Samuel (NICOT; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2007), on 1 Samuel 1:5commentary
  • H. G. M. Williamson, Ezra, Nehemiah (WBC 16; Waco: Word, 1985), on Nehemiah 8commentary
  • J. D. Levenson, Esther (OTL; Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1997), on Esther 9commentary
  • H.-J. Kraus, Psalms 1–59 (Continental Commentary; Minneapolis: Fortress, ET 1988), on Psalm 16commentary

AI-generated word study · claude-opus-4-8

All attested forms of מָנָה

f p absolute

מָנוֹת

1Sa 1:4, 2Ch 31:19, Neh 8:10, Neh 8:12, Est 9:19, Est 9:22

f s absolute

מָנָה, מָּנָה

Exo 29:26, Lev 7:33, Lev 8:29, 1Sa 1:5, 1Sa 9:23

f p construct

מָנוֹתֶהָ

Est 2:9

f s construct

מְנָת

Psa 16:5