UNLEAVENED BREAD.—See Passover.
See MAẒẒAH (plural, Maẓẓot):
UNLEAVENED BREAD.—See Bread, Leaven, Passover.
See Passover.
A bread made without leaven (yeast). In ancient times, bread makers used a piece of dough left from a previous bake. It had fermented and developed a certain acid content. This was the yeast that caused bread to rise.
By God's command, bread for the Jewish Passover must be unleavened. This applies to most other religious observances, too (Exodus 12:15–20; 23:15). The people could use leavened bread for spiritual purposes only in certain cases (Leviticus 7:13; 23:17). This was due to leaven's symbol of evil; fermentation implied decay.
The New Testament speaks of leaven negatively, except for Jesus' teaching on the kingdom of God (Matthew 13:33).
Jesus warned of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees (Matthew 16:6)
Paul urged believers to guard against unhealthy values. They can spread like yeast in the dough (1 Corinthians 5:6–8).
See also Bread; Food and Food Preparation; Leaven.
Aquifer Open Bible Dictionary © 2026 Mission Mutual, an adaptation of the Tyndale Open Bible Dictionary © 2023 Tyndale House Publishers. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
References:
Description:
Unleavened bread was a thin cracker-like bread resulting from baking the dough quickly before fermentation could cause it to rise.
Usage:
When the people of Israel left Egypt in a hurry, they baked their bread quickly before it had time to rise. Such bread became a symbol of their redemption from Egypt and was included as a special feature of the Feast of Passover, which celebrated that redemption. It was also included in some of the sacrificial offerings.
Translation:
The phrase “unleavened bread” may be rendered “bread made without yeast” or “bread that does not rise.” Some languages will have to say “bread lacking that which causes it to rise.”
Except for 1CO 5:7; 1CO 5:8, in which the Greek word azumos occurs in a highly figurative passage referring to pure and true life, this term is used exclusively in the New Testament in reference to the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
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Bread baked without yeast, often made because of insufficient time to prepare bread in the conventional manner. It was also eaten at the Passover Feast and was presented with sacrifices and offerings.
Unleavened bread prepared in haste
EXO 12:39 See also GEN 19:1–19:3; EXO 12:8–12:11; JDG 6:17–6:19; 1SA 28:21–28:25
Unleavened bread eaten to commemorate the Passover
EXO 12:1–12:20, EXO 13:3–13:7, EXO 23:15, EXO 34:18; ; LEV 23:5–23:6 parallel NUM 28:16–28:17; ; NUM 9:9–9:11; ; DEU 16:1–16:4, DEU 16:8; ; EZK 45:21
Unleavened bread presented to God as an offering
LEV 2:11 See also EXO 29:2–29:4 parallel LEV 8:1–8:3; EXO 29:22–29:25 parallel LEV 8:25–8:28; LEV 2:4–2:5, LEV 6:14–6:17, LEV 7:11–7:12; NUM 6:13–6:20
Symbolism of unleavened bread
Dictionary of Bible Themes © 1999 Martin H. Manser. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.