What Does Exodus 16:24 Mean in the King James?

And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein.
Exodus 16:24 · KJV
The analysis reads the King James wording.

King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.

This verse in the Selah Decoded Version

What spoiled when kept overnight now lies set aside for rest and remains whole until morning.

The portion set aside for the morning remains intact through the night: it neither stinks nor has worms in it. Its preservation belongs to the rest-day rhythm, where provision is still present when gathering stops.

WHAT THIS UNDOES

The verse undoes the fear that provision becomes unsafe whenever it is left overnight: here, the portion remains whole.

וַיַּנִּיחוּ

wayyannīḥû

GROWS FROM

נוח

To settle, come to rest, or remain in place; here, to set something down for keeping.

The verb behind “laid it up” carries the sense of settling something into place. The manna is set down for the rest day, and the verse immediately shows it remaining whole.

ALSO GROWS

wayyānaḥ: Rested or came to rest.

וַיָּנַח

The same root describes the LORD resting on the seventh day in Exodus 20:11, linking the stored portion with the rhythm of Sabbath rest.

menûḥāh: Rest or a place of rest.

מְנוּחָה

This noun appears in Psalm 23:2 in “the still waters”; rest in the root’s word-family can name a place where one is settled.

הִבְאִישׁ

hibʾîš

GROWS FROM

באש

To stink or become foul.

“stink” in this verse is hibʾîš. The verse negates the very sign of spoilage that marks the previous overnight keeping of manna. The same root names the expected foulness, while this portion stays free of it.

ALSO GROWS

wayyāvʾaš: It became foul-smelling.

וַיָּבְאַשׁ

Exodus 16:20 uses this form for manna kept overnight against the instruction, setting up the direct contrast in this verse.

bāʾaš: To smell foul or become putrid.

בָּאַשׁ

This is the same root in a basic verb form; here the root’s usual sign of decay is explicitly absent.

מֹשֶׁה

Mosheh

GROWS FROM

משה

To draw out.

“Moses” in this verse is Mosheh. The text links Moshe (⁨מֹשֶׁה⁩, Mosheh, “drawn out”) to the verb “draw out” in Exodus 2:10. Here the one named as drawn out gives the instruction for setting the portion aside through the night of rest.

ALSO GROWS

māšāh: To pull or draw out.

מָשָׁה

Exodus 2:10 uses this verb when Moses is named, giving the name its expressed connection to being drawn from the water.

məšîtihû: The speaker’s act of drawing someone out.

מְשִׁיתִהוּ

This form in Exodus 2:10 makes the name’s wordplay concrete; the verse here again places Moses at the point where instruction is given.

Provision can remain sufficient without continual gathering, especially within a rhythm of rest.

And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning.
Exodus 16:23 · KJVThe instruction makes room for the Sabbath rest while the remaining portion is kept for the next morning.
Then I will command my blessing upon you in the sixth year, and it shall bring forth fruit for three years.
Leviticus 25:21 · KJVThe land can rest while its earlier yield provides for the years ahead.
Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
Matthew 6:26 · KJVProvision is pictured as continuing even without sowing, reaping, or storing into barns.
For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:11 · KJV

The verb translated “laid it up” comes from ⁨נוח⁩ (nûaḥ, “settle, rest”), the same root used for the LORD’s resting here. The manna’s being set down for the Sabbath echoes the creation rhythm of rest.

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Exodus 16:24 KJV Meaning