matsa · unleavened bread

What it means

matsa (מַצָּה) is a Hebrew word of the Bible that means “unleavened bread”.

Made quickly because the dough does not have to rise; also the feast of Unleavened Bread.

How to say it

Approximate pronunciation. Vowels sound as in Spanish (a as in father, e as in bed, i as in machine, o as in note, u as in rule); the syllable in bold is stressed. The voice is your device's.

Its senses in the Bible

1. Bread made without yeast, eaten at Passover.

From Brown-Driver-Briggs (1906)

Word study

Unleavened bread, made from dough that has not fermented. It is the bread of the Passover and of the feast that bears its name, and the one that goes with many offerings.

• The bread of the going out from Egypt Exodus 12:8Exodus 12:39Deuteronomy 16:3
• The feast of Unleavened Bread Exodus 12:17Leviticus 23:6Exodus 23:15
• Unleavened loaves and cakes in the offerings Leviticus 2:4Exodus 29:2Leviticus 7:12
• Bread made in haste for a guest Genesis 19:3Judges 6:191 Samuel 28:24

Historical and cultural background

Exodus 12:39 gives the reason: they baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt without leavening, “because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay”. Deuteronomy 16:3 calls it “the bread of affliction”. For seven days leaven was removed from the houses (Exodus 12:15).

How we translate it

“Unleavened bread” 39 times; when it goes with another word (cakes, wafers), only “unleavened” (14). The name of the feast is capitalized: “the Feast of Unleavened Bread”.

How it is translated

The words this translation uses for it, most frequent first.

• unleavened bread ×39
• unleavened ×14

Related words

Words of the same family, by Strong’s numbering.

Where it appears

• Genesis×1
• Exodus×16
• Leviticus×12
• Numbers×7
• Deuteronomy×3
• Joshua×1
• Judges×4
• 1 Samuel×1
• 2 Kings×1
• 1 Chronicles×1
• 2 Chronicles×4
• Ezra×1
• Ezekiel×1

• Genesis 19:3

  But he urged them strongly, so they turned aside to him and entered his house; and he made them a feast and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

• Exodus 12:8

  They shall eat the meat that night, roasted in fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

• Exodus 12:15

  Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. Indeed, on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day until the seventh day.

• Exodus 12:17

  You shall keep the festival of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought out your armies from the land of Egypt; and you shall keep this day throughout your generations as a statute forever.

• Exodus 12:18

  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month, in the evening.

• Exodus 12:20

  You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

• Exodus 12:39

  They baked the dough that they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread, for it was not leavened, because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

• Exodus 13:6

  Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival to YHWH.

• Exodus 13:7

  Unleavened bread shall be eaten for the seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory.

• Exodus 23:15

  The feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt. And none shall appear before me empty-handed.

• Exodus 29:2

  and unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil; of fine wheat flour you shall make them.

• Exodus 29:23

  and one round loaf of bread, and one cake of bread made with oil, and one wafer from the basket of unleavened bread that is before YHWH.

• Exodus 34:18

  The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep: seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.

• Leviticus 2:4

  When you present a grain offering baked in an oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, or unleavened wafers smeared with oil.

• Leviticus 2:5

  And if your offering is a grain offering on the griddle, it shall be of fine flour, mixed with oil, unleavened.

• Leviticus 6:16

  What is left of it Aaron and his sons shall eat; it shall be eaten unleavened in a holy place; in the court of the tent of meeting they shall eat it.

• Leviticus 7:12

  If he presents it for thanksgiving, then he shall present, with the sacrifice of thanksgiving, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers smeared with oil, and fine flour well mixed, cakes mixed with oil.

• Leviticus 8:2

  “Take Aaron and his sons with him, and the garments, and the oil of anointing, and the bull of the sin offering, and the two rams, and the basket of unleavened bread,

• Leviticus 8:26

  And from the basket of unleavened bread that was before YHWH he took one unleavened cake, and one cake of bread with oil, and one wafer, and put them on the fat and on the right thigh.

• Leviticus 10:12

  Moses spoke to Aaron and to Eleazar and to Ithamar, his sons who were left, “Take the grain offering that is left from the fire offerings of YHWH, and eat it unleavened beside the altar, for it is a most holy thing.

• Leviticus 23:6

  And on the fifteenth day of this month is the Feast of Unleavened Bread to YHWH; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread.

• Numbers 6:15

  and a basket of unleavened bread, cakes of fine flour mixed with oil, and wafers of unleavened bread smeared with oil, and their grain offering and their libations.

• Numbers 6:17

  And he shall offer the ram as a sacrifice of peace to YHWH, with the basket of unleavened bread; and the priest shall offer its grain offering and its libation.

• Numbers 6:19

  And the priest shall take the boiled shoulder of the ram, and one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them on the palms of the Nazirite after he has shaved off his consecration.

• Numbers 9:11

  In the second month, on the fourteenth day, at twilight, they shall keep it; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.

• Numbers 28:17

  And on the fifteenth day of this month is a feast; for seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.

• Deuteronomy 16:3

  You shall not eat bread with leaven with it; seven days you shall eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, for in haste you came out of the land of Egypt, so that you may remember the day of your coming out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.

• Deuteronomy 16:8

  Six days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn assembly to YHWH your Elohim; you shall not do any work.

• Deuteronomy 16:16

  Three times in the year all your males shall appear before YHWH your Elohim in the place that he chooses: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths. And none shall appear before YHWH empty-handed;

• Joshua 5:11

  They ate of the produce of the land on the day after the Passover, unleavened bread and roasted grain, on this very day.

• Judges 6:19

  Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread from an ephah of flour; the meat he put in the basket, and the broth he put in the pot, and he brought them out to him under the oak and presented them.

• Judges 6:20

  The angel of Elohim said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread and set them on this crag, and pour out the broth.” And he did so.

• Judges 6:21

  The angel of YHWH reached out the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread; and fire went up from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. And the angel of YHWH went from his sight.

• 1 Samuel 28:24

  The woman had a fattened calf in the house, and she hurried and sacrificed it; she took flour, kneaded it, and baked it into unleavened bread.

• 2 Kings 23:9

  However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of YHWH in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers.

• 1 Chronicles 23:29

  and for the bread of the row, and for the fine flour for the grain offering, and for the unleavened wafers and for what is baked on the griddle and for what is well mixed, and for every measure of capacity and of length;

• 2 Chronicles 8:13

  according to what was due each day, offering up according to the commandment of Moses, on the Sabbaths, at the new moons, and at the appointed times, three times a year: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, at the Feast of Weeks, and at the Feast of Booths.

• 2 Chronicles 30:13

  Many people gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very large assembly.

• 2 Chronicles 30:21

  The sons of Israel who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with great joy, and the Levites and the priests were praising YHWH day by day, with instruments of strength to YHWH.

• 2 Chronicles 35:17

  The sons of Israel who were present celebrated the Passover at that time, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days.

And 13 more times.