What Does Exodus 16:8 Mean?

And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD gives you flesh to eat in the evening, and bread until you are filled in the morning, for the LORD hears your murmurings which you murmur against him. And what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

Exodus 16:8 · SDV

Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.

Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.

This verse in the King James

King James wording

King James Version

And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.

THE KEY

The complaints aimed at Moses reach the LORD, and the LORD answers them with food.

THE MEANING

When your complaint lands on the person in front of you, this verse names the LORD as its deeper addressee. The same LORD gives flesh in the evening and bread in the morning until you are full. Here, being heard and being fed belong to one movement.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The belief that a complaint stops with the person you address dissolves: this verse traces it through to the LORD.

THE ROOT

תְּלֻנֹּתֵיכֶם

telunnōtêkhem

GROWS FROM

לון

l-w-n

To lodge or remain overnight; in this form, to complain or murmur.

The Hebrew word for “murmurings” belongs to a root that also means to lodge or remain overnight. The verse repeats this root as both a noun and a verb, giving the complaint a staying power that the English wording does not show.

ALSO GROWS

lin: To lodge or spend the night.

לִין

This ordinary sense of the root adds an echo of something that stays, alongside the verse’s repeated complaint.

telunah: Complaint or murmuring.

תְּלוּנָה

This noun shares the root with the verb translated “murmur,” so the complaint and the act of voicing it grow from the same Hebrew seed.

THE PATTERN

Provision is named as something given from above, meeting bodily need day by day.

And he rained down manna upon them to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven.

Psalm 78:24 · SDVManna is described as food given from heaven, echoing the bread provided here.

Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses did not give you that bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven.

John 6:32 · SDVThe bread from heaven is again presented as something the Father gives.

Give us today our bread for the coming day.

Matthew 6:11 · SDVThe daily request names nourishment as provision received one day at a time.

THE THREAD

I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel. Speak to them, saying, At evening you shall eat flesh, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, and you shall perceive that I am the LORD your God.

Exodus 16:12 · SDV

This verse repeats the same Hebrew root for “murmurings” in the LORD’s own words: “I have heard.” It then joins that hearing to the same evening flesh and morning bread, showing the complaint inside the provision story.

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