Hebrew word · H5692

עֻגָה

'ugah

bun

A round, flat bread baked on heated stones, on a griddle, or covered in hot embers. It was quick, everyday food made from flour and oil (HALOT, BDB). It is usually linked with the root ʿwg, 'to bake' or 'to make round'.

Appears 7 times in 7 verses of the Hebrew Old Testament. ·

What it means

1) disc or cake (of bread)

1a) cake of hot stones (cake baked on hot stones)

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 1 Kings 17:13

Range of meaning

A round, flat bread baked on heated stones, on a griddle, or covered in hot embers. It was quick, everyday food made from flour and oil (HALOT, BDB). It is usually linked with the root ʿwg, 'to bake' or 'to make round'.

Against the English

KJV/WEB 'little cake' suggests to modern ears a sweet baked dessert. BSB 'small cake of bread' is closer, and versions that say 'loaf' or 'bread' are closer still. It was a flatbread: the basic food of a meal, not a treat.

How it drifted

Older English 'cake' meant any small flattened mass of baked bread (compare 'oatcake'). The word later narrowed to sweet confections.

Used elsewhere in the period

Sarah bakes ʿugot for the three visitors (Gen 18:6). Elijah later finds an ʿugah baked on hot stones beside him (1 Kgs 19:6). Hosea mocks Ephraim as 'an ʿugah not turned', burned on one side and raw on the other (Hos 7:8). The Greek Septuagint often renders it enkryphias, 'bread baked under ashes', and the Latin Vulgate here has subcinericium panem, 'bread under the ashes'.

From the study of 1 Kings 19:6

Range of meaning

A round, flat, usually unleavened loaf, baked quickly on heated stones, on embers, or in hot ashes. It was everyday bread for travellers and the bread of hurried hospitality. Lexicons (BDB, HALOT) give 'disc of bread, round cake'.

Against the English

KJV, WEB and ESV say 'cake'. In 1611 'cake' meant a flat round mass of baked dough, but today it suggests something sweet. BSB's 'cake of bread' and NIV/NLT's 'bread' fix this.

How it drifted

In English, 'cake' narrowed over the centuries to mean a sweet baked dessert. The Hebrew word never meant that.

Used elsewhere in the period

In Gen 18:6 Abraham has Sarah make ʿugot for three unexpected visitors who turn out to be divine messengers. In 1 Kgs 17:13 Elijah asks the widow to make him 'a little ʿugah' first. Hos 7:8 pictures Ephraim as 'a ʿugah not turned', burnt on one side and raw on the other, which shows it was cooked on a hot surface and flipped. Ezek 4:12 has an ʿugah baked over fuel. The Greek translation of the Old Testament (the Septuagint, LXX) usually renders it enkryphias, 'bread baked under the ashes'.

From the study of Exodus 12:39

Range of meaning

A round flat loaf or bread-cake baked directly on heated stones, in hot ashes, or on a griddle. Sarah makes 'ugot quickly for her three guests (Gen 18:6); the widow of Zarephath makes a small 'ugah (1 Kgs 17:12–13); an angel leaves Elijah an 'ugat retsafim, "a cake on hot stones" (1 Kgs 19:6); Ephraim is "a cake not turned," burnt on one side and raw on the other (Hos 7:8).

Against the English

KJV/WEB "cakes" makes today's readers think of something sweet and baked in an oven. BSB "loaves" and NIV-style "cakes of bread" are closer to flatbread.

How it drifted

In the 1600s "cake" still meant a small flat round of bread. The modern sweet sense took over later.

Used elsewhere in the period

The Septuagint translates it ἐγκρυφίας, "bread baked hidden in the ashes," and the Vulgate has subcinericios panes, "under-the-ash breads." Both show that ancient translators understood it as fire-baked flatbread.

Where it appears

Genesis · 1

  1. Genesis 18:6 עֻגֽוֹת׃ bread cakes

    So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some bread.”

    Here: Round flatbreads baked on hot stones, a griddle or in hot ashes. This is quick, fresh bread, not sweet cake.

Exodus · 1

  1. Exodus 12:39 עֻגֹ֥ת bread cakes

    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: Round, flat breads baked quickly on hot stones, in embers or on a griddle. This is camp-fire flatbread, not "cake" in the modern sweet sense. It names the shape they baked the dough into.

Numbers · 1

  1. Numbers 11:8 עֻג֑וֹת bread cakes

    The people walked around and gathered it, ground it on a handmill or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot or shaped it into cakes. It tasted like pastry baked with fine oil.

1 Kings · 2

  1. 1 Kings 17:13 עֻגָ֨ה a bread cake

    “Do not be afraid,” Elijah said to her. “Go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake of bread from what you have, and bring it out to me. Afterward, make some for yourself and your son,

    Here: A flat, round bread baked on hot stones or in embers. It echoes her own word in verse 12, 'I have no maʿog' (baked bread), which comes from the same baking vocabulary.

  2. 1 Kings 19:6 עֻגַ֥ת a bread cake of

    And he looked around, and there by his head was a cake of bread baked over hot coals, and a jar of water. So he ate and drank and lay down again.

    Here: A round, flat loaf of the kind cooked fast over a fire, a staple of travellers and quick hospitality. It is the same word as the 'little cake' the widow of Zarephath made for Elijah in 1 Kgs 17:13.

Ezekiel · 1

  1. Ezekiel 4:12 וְעֻגַ֥ת and a bread cake of

    And you shall eat the food as you would a barley cake, after you bake it over dried human excrement in the sight of the people.”

Hosea · 1

  1. Hosea 7:8 עֻגָ֖ה a bread cake

    Ephraim mixes with the nations; Ephraim is an unturned cake.

    Here: A flat, round loaf of everyday bread, baked on hot stones or in embers, like a thick pita. It was not a sweet dessert cake.

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