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מַצָּה

𐤌𐤑𐤄

matstsâh

H4682 noun

SILEX Entry

Root מצה to drain, to extract, to be without leaven

Definition

Unleavened bread — bread or cakes made without the addition of yeast or other leavening agents; prepared from meal (flour) and water, and baked quickly before fermentation. Used in ritual, cultic, and everyday settings, particularly significant during the festival of unleavened bread (חַג הַמַּצּוֹת) coinciding with Passover as prescribed in Israelite law. Extended use can denote the festival itself or, by metonymy, a period when only such bread is consumed.

Semantic Range

unleavened bread, flat cake made without leavening, food for sacrificial or ritual use, the festival of unleavened bread (by metonymy)

Root / Etymology

From the root מָצַץ (to suck, extract, drain), though the correspondence is uncertain; matstsâh may be connected conceptually to something not risen, 'drained,' or with absence (of leaven), rather than the notion of sweetness. The direct derivation and precise semantic evolution are debated among philologists. The association with 'sweetness' or 'greedily devouring' found in older lexica is not clearly supported.

Historical & Contextual Notes

מַצָּה refers specifically to flat, unleavened cakes central to Israelite sacred ritual and domestic practice. It is most prominently mandated in the Torah in connection with the Exodus — Israelites were commanded to eat מַצּוֹת for seven days as remembrance of their hasty departure from Egypt (Exod 12; Lev 23:6). In daily life, מַצּוֹת might be consumed apart from ritual, but the term is most strongly associated with cultic contexts and covenantal memory. There is a clear distinction from חָמֵץ (ḥāmēṣ, 'leavened bread'), which represents what is excluded during the festival. Later Hebrew and Jewish tradition retained/expanded meanings related to festival observance, but the biblical term itself primarily refers to the food, not directly to 'sweetness' or 'cakes' in general. In early periods, the focus is on the absence of fermentation/leaven rather than sweetness. English 'unleavened bread' captures the technical aspect but may lack the strong ritual or communal associations the term held for ancient Israelites. Where מַצָּה is used metonymically for the festival (see Exod 12:17), the context makes this extension clear.

Original Strong's Gloss (1890)

from מָצַץ in the sense of greedily devouring for sweetness; properly, sweetness; concretely, sweet (i.e. not soured or bittered with yeast); specifically, an unfermented cake or loaf, or (elliptically) the festival of Passover (because no leaven was then used); unleaved (bread, cake), without leaven.

Bantu Hebrew

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Root Family

מצה (m-ṣ-h) — to drain, to extract, to be without leaven

Strong's Lemma SIBI-P1
H4680 מָצָה you sucked out

Word Forms

5 distinct forms

SIDANCE Surface Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1 Occurrences
H4682-03 מַצּ֣וֹת matsot HNcfpa unleavened bread unleavened breads 30
H4682-01 הַ/מַּצּוֹת֒ hamatsot HTd/Ncfpa of Unleavened Bread the unleavened breads 16
H4682-02 מַצָּ֥ה matsah HNcfsa unleavened unleavened bread 4
H4682-04 וּ/מַצּ֥וֹת umatsot HC/Ncfpa and unleavened bread and unleavened loaves 2
H4682-05 וּ/בַ/מַּצּ֑וֹת uvamatsot HC/Rd/Ncfpa and the unleavened cakes and in the unleavened breads 1

Occurrences in Scripture

53 total occurrences

SIDANCE Reference Word Transliteration Morphology Common SIBI-P1
H4682-04 Genesis 19:3 וּ/מַצּ֥וֹת umatsot HC/Ncfpa and unleavened bread and unleavened loaves
H4682-04 Exodus 12:8 וּ/מַצּ֔וֹת umatsot HC/Ncfpa and unleavened bread and unleavened loaves
H4682-03 Exodus 12:15 מַצּ֣וֹת matsot HNcfpa unleavened bread unleavened breads
H4682-01 Exodus 12:17 הַ/מַּצּוֹת֒ hamatsot HTd/Ncfpa the-unleavened-breads the unleavened breads
H4682-03 Exodus 12:18 מַצֹּ֑ת matsot HNcfpa unleavened bread unleavened breads
H4682-03 Exodus 12:20 מַצּֽוֹת matsot HNcfpa unleavened bread unleavened breads
H4682-03 Exodus 12:39 מַצּ֖וֹת matsot HNcfpa unleavened unleavened breads
H4682-03 Exodus 13:6 מַצֹּ֑ת matsot HNcfpa unleavened bread unleavened breads
H4682-03 Exodus 13:7 מַצּוֹת֙ matsot HNcfpa unleavened bread unleavened breads
H4682-01 Exodus 23:15 הַ/מַּצּוֹת֮ hamatsot HTd/Ncfpa of Unleavened Bread the unleavened breads
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