What Does Exodus 16:20 Mean in the King James?
Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew for “left over” also means “to exceed”: the surplus kept against its given measure turns into decay.
THE MEANING
This verse meets the reader where more feels like safety: a surplus kept against the word that sets its measure can become decay instead. The worms and stench are visible, and Moses’ anger is not softened. The verse names refusal to heed as more than an inward choice; it has a material consequence.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that whatever is saved for later must make you safer: preservation against the given limit can become rot. Exodus 16:24 shows that keeping the manna at its appointed time remains sound.
THE ROOT
וַיּוֹתִרוּ
wayyotiru
GROWS FROM
יתר
y-t-r
To remain, be left over, or exceed.
“left over” in this verse is wayyotiru. The verb says more than that food remained: יתר (y-t-r, “remain or exceed”) frames it as what is over. The decay exposes surplus without regard to its measure as no advantage at all.
ALSO GROWS
yeter: Remainder, surplus.
יֶתֶר
This branch names what remains beyond the whole; here, the leftover is excess, not neutral reserve.
yitron: Advantage, profit.
יִתְרוֹן
The same root can name a gain, sharpening the irony: what seems advantageous to keep for tomorrow turns foul.
שָׁמְעוּ
shame'u
GROWS FROM
שמע
sh-m-ʿ
To hear, listen, or heed.
“hearkened” in this verse is shame'u. The clause is not about information alone: שמע (sh-m-ʿ, “hear or heed”) can carry hearing into response. The verse sets refusal to heed beside the concrete act of leaving the manna.
ALSO GROWS
shema: Hear, listen.
שְׁמַע
The familiar call to hear makes listening an active response, the very response absent here.
shemu'ah: Report, tidings; something heard.
שְׁמוּעָה
This branch names what reaches the ear; the verse distinguishes hearing an instruction from heeding it.
מֹשֶׁה
Mosheh
GROWS FROM
משה
m-sh-h
To draw out; in the naming scene, to draw out of water.
Moses’ name is linked to being drawn out of water. Here, the one marked by that name voices a limit the people disregard, setting their failure to heed beside his anger.
ALSO GROWS
mashah: To draw out.
מָשָׁה
This verb is the root behind the name and its image of being drawn from water.
Mosheh: Moses; drawn out.
מֹשֶׁה
The name carries the act of being drawn out into the verse as Moses speaks to the people.
THE PATTERN
Provision received within its measure meets need, while excess grasped as security cannot guarantee life.
And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating.Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me:So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.THE THREAD
And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.Manna kept until morning at Moses’ instruction does not stink and has no worm. The contrast shows that keeping itself is not the problem; the decay comes when it is kept against the instruction that sets its time.
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