Lexical Summary
uggah: Cake, round loaf
Original Word:עֻגָּה
Part of Speech:Noun Feminine
Transliteration:`uggah
Pronunciation:oog-gaw'
Phonetic Spelling:(oog-gaw')
KJV: cake (upon the hearth)
NASB:bread cake, cake, cakes, bread cakes
Word Origin:[fromH5746 (עוּג - baked)]
1. an ash-cake (as round)
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance
cake upon the hearth
Fromuwg; an ash-cake (as round) -- cake (upon the hearth).
see HEBREWuwg
NAS Exhaustive Concordance
Word Originfrom an unused word
Definitiona disc or cake of bread
NASB Translationbread cake (2), bread cakes (1), cake (2), cakes (2).
Brown-Driver-Briggs
; — absolute
Hosea 7:8;
1 Kings 17:13, construct
1 Kings 19:6;
Ezekiel 4:12; plural
Genesis 18:6;
Numbers 11:8; construct
Exodus 12:39; —
bread-cake, made of
Genesis 18:6 (J), of
1 Kings 17:13, of manna
Numbers 11:8 (J E; verb ), of barley
Ezekiel 41:2 (simile); unleavened,
Exodus 12:39 (E; verb );
1 Kings 19:6cake of hot-stones i.e. baked on them; metaphor
Hosea 7:8 Ehpraimitic source is
a cake not turned (i.e. burnt, ruined). — On see Benz
Archaeology 85 f. Now
Archaeology i. 111 Kennedy
Ency. Bib. BREAD and synonyms, Ib.
CAKE.
Topical Lexicon
Definition in Daily LifeThe term refers to a simple round cake of bread, commonly unleavened, baked on hot stones or ashes. Such cakes formed the staple fare of pastoral and agrarian households throughout the Ancient Near East, lending the word a natural association with ordinary nourishment, hospitality, and divine provision.
Hospitality and Fellowship (Genesis 18:6)
When Abraham hastened to entertain three mysterious visitors, he instructed Sarah to “quickly prepare three seahs of fine flour, knead it, and bake some cakes” (Genesis 18:6). The offering of these cakes expressed covenantal hospitality and served as a tangible act of faith; Abraham ministered to strangers yet unknowingly hosted the Lord (compareHebrews 13:2). The text reminds believers that humble, timely service—symbolized in a freshly baked cake—may participate in God’s redemptive purposes.
Deliverance and Memorial (Exodus 12:39)
Israel’s first steps out of Egypt were marked by unleavened cakes: “Because they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, they had prepared no provisions for themselves” (Exodus 12:39). The haste of deliverance meant there was no time for fermentation, and the resulting bread became an enduring memorial in the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Every generation that partakes of this feast proclaims God’s mighty act of rescue and the call to leave the leaven of sin behind (1 Corinthians 5:7–8).
Daily Sustenance in the Wilderness (Numbers 11:8)
Manna, gathered and ground, was baked “into cakes, and it tasted like pastries baked with oil” (Numbers 11:8). The image is one of God converting the wilderness into a bakery, supplying Israel with bread directly from heaven. Even in monotony, the cakes testified to faithfulness; Israel’s dissatisfaction exposed hearts prone to despise grace that comes in familiar packaging. Ministers today may draw on this passage to warn against spiritual boredom with divine provision.
Prophetic Provision and Obedience (1 Kings 17:13;1 Kings 19:6)
In Zarephath, the widow was told, “First make me a small cake of bread” (1 Kings 17:13). Her obedience opened the door to unfailing flour and oil, illustrating how God often ties supernatural supply to acts of faith. Later, the despairing prophet himself received “a cake baked on hot stones” from an angel (1 Kings 19:6). These accounts underscore that God both requires and gives: He calls the impoverished to give Him a cake and then sustains the exhausted with one.
Symbolic Judgment (Ezekiel 4:12)
Ezekiel was commanded to bake barley cakes over dried human dung as fuel, graphically portraying the defilement of Jerusalem’s diet in exile. The ordinary cake became a startling sermon, demonstrating how sin corrupts even daily bread. Scripture’s consistent message is that sin contaminates every sphere until repentance restores purity (Titus 1:15).
Moral Diagnosis (Hosea 7:8)
“Ephraim is a flat cake not turned” (Hosea 7:8). An unturned cake is charred on one side and raw on the other—inedible and useless. Hosea’s metaphor exposes half-heartedness: outwardly burned with religious activity yet inwardly doughy with unrepentant sin. The imagery warns churches against partial devotion that fails the test of genuine holiness (James 1:22-25).
Christological Echoes
While the Old Testament cakes primarily meet temporal needs, they anticipate the One who declared, “I am the bread of life” (John 6:35). Jesus fulfills every strand: He is greater than Abraham’s hospitality, the true Passover, the heavenly manna, the widow’s miraculous supply, the prophet’s sustaining meal, the purifier of defiled hearts, and the perfectly “turned” loaf—wholly consumed by the Father’s will.
Ministry Applications
• Practice generous hospitality; God often advances His kingdom through simple meals shared in faith.
• Remember God’s past deliverances; tangible rituals such as Communion point back to the Passover cakes.
• Trust God’s daily provision; monotony in ministry may conceal miraculous faithfulness.
• Obey even when resources seem exhausted; our “last cake” offered to God invites His abundance.
• Preach repentance with clarity; sin renders life’s “bread” impure and half-baked.
• Center all teaching on Christ, the consummate bread who alone satisfies.
Through seven diverse occurrences, עֻגָּה traces a line from kitchen hearths to prophetic theatres, from Exodus haste to eschatological hope, demonstrating that the God who feeds bodies also nourishes souls and that common bread, offered in faith, becomes a vessel of eternal truth.
Forms and Transliterations
וְעֻגַ֥ת ועגת עֻג֑וֹת עֻגַ֥ת עֻגָ֖ה עֻגָ֨ה עֻגֹ֥ת עֻגֽוֹת׃ עגה עגות עגות׃ עגת ‘u·ḡāh ‘u·ḡaṯ ‘u·ḡō·wṯ ‘u·ḡōṯ ‘uḡāh ‘uḡaṯ ‘uḡōṯ ‘uḡōwṯ uGah uGat uGot veuGat wə‘uḡaṯ wə·‘u·ḡaṯ
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