What Does Exodus 16:4 Mean in the King James?
Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no.
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 daily measure of heaven’s bread makes trust concrete: the test is whether you walk within instruction as you gather what is given.
THE MEANING
Provision comes to you one day at a time, and the way you gather becomes the place where your response to instruction is revealed. The gift and the test arrive together: bread comes from heaven, while your daily steps show whether you walk within the direction given.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the assumption that receiving provision and being tested are opposites: here, the gift itself is where trust is revealed.
THE ROOT
תּוֹרָתִי
torati
GROWS FROM
י־ר־ה
y-r-h
to point, direct, or instruct
The word rendered “law” is תּוֹרָה (torah, “instruction”), from a root of pointing or directing. Paired with “walk,” it presents instruction as direction you move within, not merely a rule set apart from daily life.
ALSO GROWS
yarah: to point, direct, or instruct
יָרָה
This verb gives the root its sense of guidance: the daily gathering takes place under direction.
moreh: teacher or instructor
מוֹרֶה
The related word names one who gives direction, making instruction something received and followed.
יֵלֵךְ
yelekh
GROWS FROM
ה־ל־ך
h-l-k
to go or walk
The root keeps the verse’s test in motion: instruction is expressed in the path taken through ordinary acts like gathering. The English can make “law” sound like a static code and “walk” like general behavior; together they show a directed way of moving through the day.
ALSO GROWS
halakh: to walk or go
הָלַךְ
The basic verb makes the test about an enacted path, not only an inward opinion.
holikh: to lead or cause to go
הוֹלִיךְ
This related form carries the sense of being directed along a way, echoing the instruction that shapes the gathering.
THE PATTERN
Daily provision makes dependence concrete: what is received each day reveals whether life is lived by instruction.
And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.Give us this day our daily bread.As it is written, He that had gathered much had nothing over; and he that had gathered little had no lack.THE THREAD
Give us this day our daily bread.The prayer carries the same daily rhythm into the reader’s present: bread is sought for this day. It opens the gathering in Exodus as part of a life that receives provision one day at a time.
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us