Hebrew word · H4682

מַצָּה

matzah

unleavened bread

Bread baked without leaven, that is, without the fermented sourdough starter (seʾor) kept back from earlier batches. It is flat and quickly baked. It was eaten in haste (Exod 12:39), used in grain offerings (Lev 2:4–5), and was hospitality food that could be made in a hurry (Gen 19:3; Judg 6:19).

Appears 53 times in 42 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

unleavened (bread, cake), without leaven.

Abridged from Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906), via STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0).

In depth

From the study of Exodus 23:15

Range of meaning

Bread baked without leaven, that is, without the fermented sourdough starter (seʾor) kept back from earlier batches. It is flat and quickly baked. It was eaten in haste (Exod 12:39), used in grain offerings (Lev 2:4–5), and was hospitality food that could be made in a hurry (Gen 19:3; Judg 6:19).

Against the English

'Unleavened bread' is accurate. YLT's 'unleavened things' keeps the Hebrew plural, which refers to individual flat cakes rather than bread as a general substance. Modern readers may picture the factory-made crackers of later Jewish practice. The ancient item was a homemade flat loaf.

Used elsewhere in the period

Exodus 12:15–20, 34, 39 and 13:6–7 connect it to the hurried departure. In Leviticus 2:11 leaven is kept off the altar. The Septuagint translates it azyma, 'unleavened [things]', and the festival became hē heortē tōn azymōn (Mark 14:1).

From the study of Exodus 12:15

Range of meaning

A flat cake of bread made from dough that has not been allowed to ferment and rise. The root is uncertain. Some connect it to a root meaning "to drain/squeeze out," others to "sweet" (i.e. not sour). Matzah is ordinary emergency or quick bread as well as ritual bread: Lot bakes it for guests (Gen 19:3), the witch of Endor bakes it in haste (1 Sam 28:24), and grain offerings are normally unleavened (Lev 2:4-5, 11).

Against the English

"Unleavened bread" is accurate, but it can suggest a special religious food. To an Israelite, matzah was simply bread made fast, without waiting for dough to rise. Deuteronomy 16:3 calls it "bread of affliction," eaten because Israel left Egypt "in haste."

Used elsewhere in the period

The LXX translates it ta azyma, "the unleavened things," and the festival becomes hē heortē tōn azymōn, "the feast of Unleavened Bread" (Luke 22:1). Philo (Special Laws 2.150–161) calls it a food of simplicity and the frugality of nature. In the Mishnah, tractate Pesachim lays down which grains may be used for matzah and how fast the dough must be baked before it begins to ferment.

From the study of Deuteronomy 16:3

Range of meaning

Matsah is a flat cake of unfermented dough. Chamets is leavened or soured dough, from a root meaning to be sour (compare chomets, "vinegar"). Leavening was done with seʾor (H7603, verse 4), a piece of old fermented dough kept from the previous batch.

Against the English

"Leavened bread" (BSB, KJV) is fine. Translations that say "yeast" (as some modern ones do) suggest packaged baker's yeast, which did not exist. The point is old, fermented dough carried over from batch to batch.

How it drifted

The modern word "yeast" brings in industrial baking. Christian teaching also often treats leaven as a fixed symbol of sin, based on 1 Corinthians 5:6–8 and Matthew 16:6.

Used elsewhere in the period

Leaven was not ritually bad in itself. Leavened loaves were required at the Feast of Weeks (Leviticus 23:17) and were part of the thanksgiving offering (Leviticus 7:13). They were kept off the altar for most offerings (Leviticus 2:11). Exodus 12:39 explains the matzot historically: the dough "was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait."

Similar words

Where it appears

Genesis · 1
  1. Genesis 19:3 וּמַצּ֥וֹת and unleavened bread<s>

    But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

Exodus · 16
  1. Exodus 12:8 וּמַצּ֔וֹת and unleavened bread<s>

    They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

    Here: "And unleavened cakes" (plural). These are flat loaves of dough baked without the starter that makes bread rise. They are a quick bread, which suits a night when Israel must be ready to leave.

  2. Exodus 12:15 מַצּ֣וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.

    Here: Plural: flat, unrisen cakes of dough baked quickly. It is placed first for emphasis: matzot is what you eat, and nothing else will do for bread.

  3. Exodus 12:17 הַמַּצּוֹת֒ the unleavened bread<s>

    So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come.

  4. Exodus 12:18 מַצֹּ֑ת unleavened bread<s>

    In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.

  5. Exodus 12:20 מַצּֽוֹת׃ פ unleavened bread<s>

    You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”

  6. Exodus 12:39 מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

    Here: The breads were matsot: unrisen, unfermented bread. It is the same word as the festival name "Feast of Matsot" (12:17), so the verse ties the ritual bread to this moment.

  7. Exodus 13:6 מַצֹּ֑ת unleavened bread<s>

    For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.

  8. Exodus 13:7 מַצּוֹת֙ unleavened bread<s>

    Unleavened bread shall be eaten during those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, nor shall leaven be found anywhere within your borders.

  9. Exodus 23:15 הַמַּצּוֹת֮ מַצּ֜וֹת the unleavened bread<s>, unleavened bread<s>

    You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.

    Here: Plural: 'the unleavened [cakes]', flat loaves baked without any sourdough starter. The festival is named after the food that sets it apart.

  10. Exodus 29:2 מַצּ֗וֹת מַצֹּת֙ מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    along with unleavened bread, unleavened cakes mixed with oil, and unleavened wafers anointed with oil. Make them out of fine wheat flour,

  11. Exodus 29:23 הַמַּצּ֔וֹת the unleavened bread<s>

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

  12. Exodus 34:18 הַמַּצּוֹת֮ מַצּוֹת֙ the unleavened bread<s>, unleavened bread<s>

    You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

    Here: The word is plural: 'the flat-breads' or 'the matzah-cakes'. These were thin loaves baked without any sourdough starter. The festival takes its name from them.

Leviticus · 12
  1. Leviticus 2:4 מַצֹּת֙ מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    Now if you bring an offering of grain baked in an oven, it must consist of fine flour, either unleavened cakes mixed with oil or unleavened wafers coated with oil.

    Here: Made without leaven (sourdough starter). It describes the loaves: they must be flat, unfermented bread, the same kind eaten at Passover.

  2. Leviticus 2:5 מַצָּ֥ה unleavened bread<s>

    If your offering is a grain offering prepared on a griddle, it must be unleavened bread made of fine flour mixed with oil.

  3. Leviticus 6:16 מַצּ֤וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    Aaron and his sons are to eat the remainder. It must be eaten without leaven in a holy place; they are to eat it in the courtyard of the Tent of Meeting.

    Here: This word describes the form the food takes: it is eaten 'as unleavened cakes.' The leftover flour and oil are made into flat bread without leaven. It does not mean the offering is eaten alongside a separate loaf of bread.

  4. Leviticus 7:12 מַצּוֹת֙ מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    If he offers it in thanksgiving, then along with the sacrifice of thanksgiving he shall offer unleavened cakes mixed with olive oil, unleavened wafers coated with oil, and well-kneaded cakes of fine flour mixed with oil.

    Here: Made without leaven (no sourdough starter). Bread that touched the altar had to be unleavened (Lev 2:11). This has nothing to do with Passover here.

  5. Leviticus 8:2 הַמַּצּֽוֹת׃ <the> unleavened bread<s>

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

  6. Leviticus 8:26 הַמַּצּ֜וֹת מַצָּ֤ה <the> unleavened bread<s>, unleavened bread<s>

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

  7. Leviticus 10:12 מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    And Moses said to Aaron and his remaining sons, Eleazar and Ithamar, “Take the grain offering that remains from the food offerings to the LORD and eat it without leaven beside the altar, because it is most holy.

  8. Leviticus 23:6 הַמַּצּ֖וֹת מַצּ֥וֹת <the> unleavened bread<s>, unleavened bread<s>

    On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.

Numbers · 7
  1. Numbers 6:15 מַצּ֗וֹת מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    together with their grain offerings and drink offerings—and a basket of unleavened cakes made from fine flour mixed with oil and unleavened wafers coated with oil.

  2. Numbers 6:17 הַמַּצּ֑וֹת the unleavened bread<s>

    He shall also offer the ram as a peace offering to the LORD, along with the basket of unleavened bread. And the priest is to offer the accompanying grain offering and drink offering.

  3. Numbers 6:19 מַצָּ֤ה מַצָּ֖ה unleavened bread

    And the priest is to take the boiled shoulder from the ram, one unleavened cake from the basket, and one unleavened wafer, and put them into the hands of the Nazirite who has just shaved the hair of his consecration.

  4. Numbers 9:11 מַצּ֥וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;

  5. Numbers 28:17 מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    On the fifteenth day of this month, there shall be a feast; for seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten.

Deuteronomy · 3
  1. Deuteronomy 16:3 מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

    Here: Plural: flat cakes of dough baked before it could ferment. They are quick to make and plain to eat, the bread of people in a hurry or with little.

  2. Deuteronomy 16:8 מַצּ֑וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.

  3. Deuteronomy 16:16 הַמַּצּ֛וֹת the unleavened bread<s>

    Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.

    Here: 'The unleavened loaves': the spring feast at barley harvest. Deuteronomy 16:1–8 joins it to Passover and ties it to the hurried flight from Egypt.

Joshua · 1
  1. Joshua 5:11 מַצּ֣וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

Judges · 4
  1. Judges 6:19 מַצּ֔וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    So Gideon went in and prepared a young goat and unleavened bread and an ephah of flour. He placed the meat in a basket and the broth in a pot and brought them out to present to Him under the oak.

  2. Judges 6:20 הַמַּצּוֹת֙ the unleavened bread<s>

    And the angel of God said to him, “Take the meat and the unleavened bread, lay them on this rock, and pour out the broth.” And Gideon did so.

  3. Judges 6:21 וּבַמַּצּ֑וֹת הַמַּצּ֔וֹת and <in> the unleavened bread<s>, the unleavened bread<s>

    Then the angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.

1 Samuel · 1
  1. 1 Samuel 28:24 מַצּֽוֹת׃ unleavened bread<s>

    The woman had a fattened calf at her house, and she quickly slaughtered it. She also took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread.

2 Kings · 1
  1. 2 Kings 23:9 מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    Although the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the LORD in Jerusalem, they ate unleavened bread with their fellow priests.

1 Chronicles · 1
  1. 1 Chronicles 23:29 הַמַּצּ֔וֹת the unleavened bread<s>

    as well as for the rows of the showbread, the fine flour for the grain offering, the wafers of unleavened bread, the baking, the mixing, and all measurements of quantity and size.

2 Chronicles · 4
  1. 2 Chronicles 8:13 הַמַּצּ֛וֹת the unleavened bread<s>

    He observed the daily requirement for offerings according to the commandment of Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons, and the three annual appointed feasts—the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles.

  2. 2 Chronicles 30:13 הַמַּצּ֖וֹת the unleavened bread<s>

    In the second month, a very great assembly gathered in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

  3. 2 Chronicles 30:21 הַמַּצּ֛וֹת the unleavened bread<s>

    The Israelites who were present in Jerusalem celebrated the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with great joy, and the Levites and priests praised the LORD day after day, accompanied by loud instruments of praise to the LORD.

    Here: The flat bread made without yeast, eaten for the seven days after Passover in memory of the hurried departure from Egypt (Exod 12:15–20, 39; Deut 16:3, where it is called 'bread of affliction').

  4. 2 Chronicles 35:17 הַמַּצּ֖וֹת the unleavened bread<s>

    The Israelites who were present also observed the Passover at that time, as well as the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

    Here: 'The unleavened breads': flat loaves made without yeast. Deuteronomy calls them 'bread of affliction', eaten because Israel left Egypt in haste (Deut 16:3).

Ezra · 1
  1. Ezra 6:22 מַצּ֛וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    For seven days they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread with joy, because the LORD had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them to strengthen their hands in the work on the house of the God of Israel.

    Here: Flat bread made without yeast, eaten for the week after Passover in memory of the hurried departure from Egypt (Exod 12:15–20, 39). Names the festival: "the Feast of Unleavened Breads."

Ezekiel · 1
  1. Ezekiel 45:21 מַצּ֖וֹת unleavened bread<s>

    On the fourteenth day of the first month you are to observe the Passover, a feast of seven days, during which unleavened bread shall be eaten.

Word data: STEPBible.org (CC BY 4.0), main text only.