H4682 H4682
Unleavened bread or cakes, prepared without yeast for Passover, sacrificial offerings, and urgent hospitality.
Flat bread made without leaven, central to Israel's liturgical and domestic life. When Lot welcomed angels in Genesis 19:3 he baked unleavened cakes because there was no time to let dough rise, and that motif of holy urgency pervades the Passover narrative of Exodus 12, where Israel ate matzot in haste on the night of liberation. The term covers the bread itself and the seven-day Festival of Unleavened Bread (chag hamatzot). In Levitical law, matzah appears in grain offerings, peace offerings, and priestly consecration rites. Spanish panes azimos, French pain sans levain, and German ungesaeuertes Brot all preserve the defining characteristic: bread without yeast.
Senses
1. unleavened bread/cakes — Unleavened bread or flat cakes prepared without yeast, used in Passover observance (Exod 12:8, 15-18), sacrificial grain offerings (Lev 2:4-5), peace offerings (Lev 7:12), and priestly consecration (Exod 29:2). The Spanish azimos and French sans levain both point to the absence of leaven as the essential feature, while the German Gebote reflects a liturgical framing of the commanded bread. Whether for urgent hospitality (Gen 19:3) or sacred ritual, the word always denotes bread whose purity lies in what it lacks. 53×
AR["فَطيراً", "فَطيرًا", "فَطيرٍ", "فَطِيرًا", "فَطِيرٌ", "فَطِيرٍ"]·ben["খমিরহিত-রুটি", "খমিরহিন-রুটি", "খামির-রুটি", "খামিরবিহীন", "খামিরবিহীন-রুটি", "খামিরহিন-রুটি", "খামিরহিন-রুটির", "খামিরহীন-রুটি", "তাড়িশূন্য-রুটি", "তাড়িহীন-রুটি"]·DE["Gebote", "ungesaeuertes-Brot", "unleavened-Brot"]·EN["unleavened-bread"]·FR["pain-sans-levain", "pains-sans-levain", "sans-levain-pain", "unleavened-pain"]·heb["מצות"]·HI["अखमीरी", "अखमीरी-की", "अखमीरी-रोटी", "अख़मीरी-रोटी", "बिन-खमेएर-कि-रोति", "मज़्ज़ोत"]·ID["roti tidak beragi", "roti-tak-beragi", "roti-tidak-beragi", "tak-beragi", "tidak-beragi"]·IT["comandamenti", "pane-azzimo", "senza-lievito-pane", "unleavened-pane"]·jav["Roti-tanpa-ragi", "roti-tanpa-ragi", "tanpa-ragi"]·KO["누룩-없는-빵", "무교병", "무교병들", "무교병을", "무교병의", "무교병이"]·PT["Pães-ázimos", "matsi-(pães-ázimos)", "matzot", "pães-ázimos", "pães-ázimos,", "ázimos"]·RU["Опресноки", "мацот", "мацу", "опресноками", "опресноки", "пресные", "пресными"]·ES["Panes-ázimos", "panes-sin-levadura", "panes-ácimos", "panes-ázimos", "ázimos"]·SW["Mikate-isiyotiwa-chachu", "isiyotiwa-chachu", "mikate-isiyochachwa", "mikate-isiyotiwa-chachu", "zisizo-na-chachu"]·TR["mayasız", "mayasız-ekmek", "mayasız-ekmekler", "maysız", "maysız-ekmek", "mayısız-ekmek", "mayısız-ekmekler", "mayısız-ekmekleri"]·urd["بے-خمیر", "بے-خمیری", "بے-خمیری-روٹی", "بے-خمیری-روٹیاں", "بےخمیری-روٹیاں"]
Gen 19:3, Exod 12:8, Exod 12:15, Exod 12:17, Exod 12:18, Exod 12:20, Exod 12:39, Exod 13:6, Exod 13:7, Exod 23:15, Exod 23:15, Exod 29:2 (+38 more)
Related Senses
H8081 1. oil (substance) (180×)H3196 1. wine (fermented grape juice) (141×)H1706 1. honey (54×)H2461 1. milk (42×)H8492 1. new wine / must (38×)H0400 1. food, nourishment (36×)G3631 1. wine (34×)H3978 1. food, nourishment (30×)H1314 1. spice / perfume / balsam (29×)H7416 1. pomegranate (fruit/ornament) (28×)H3323 1. fresh oil, olive oil (23×)H2964 1. prey, torn flesh (19×)H3899 2. food, sustenance (19×)G1033 1. food (17×)G5160 1. food (16×)H5561 1. spices, aromatic substances (16×)H0402 1. food, nourishment (14×)G2219 1. leaven (13×)H4478a 1. manna (13×)G1637 1. olive oil (11×)
BDB / Lexicon Reference
† I. מַצָּה n.f. unleavened bread, or cake(s);—abs. מ׳ Lv 2:5; 8:26 (חַלַּת מ׳ אַחַת), Nu 6:19 (id.), v 19; usually pl. מַצּוֹת Ex 12:15 + 44 times; מַצֹּת Ex 12:18 + 3 times;—unleavened bread, prepared in form of לֶחֶם Ex 29:2; חַלָּה Ex 29:2 + 4 times P; רקיקים Ex 29:2 1 Ch 23:29 + 4 times P; עגה Ex 12:39; used at ordinary meals (prepared hastily): אפה מ׳ Gn 19:3 (J), Ex 12:39 (J), 1 S 28:24;…