ma.na describes keeping back a benefit, provision, or word, or preventing a person or action from proceeding.

The verb most often marks the keeping back of goods, benefits, needed provision, or a message; it also describes restraining a person, action, or natural flow from proceeding. The same observed range includes what is not granted, what is held back from someone, and what is prevented from happening.

1. Keeping back a provision, benefit, or word · dominant

   Qal forms show a person or agent not giving what is available or expected: in Amos 4:7 the APB renders rain being withheld, while in Nehemiah 9:20 manna is not withheld. In Jeremiah 42:4, the Qal imperfect commits to declaring every answer received rather than keeping back a word; Job 22:7 and Proverbs 11:26 place the action around bread, water, and grain.

   Amos 4:7Nehemiah 9:20Jeremiah 42:4Job 22:7Proverbs 11:26Proverbs 3:27
2. Restraining or preventing a course of action · common

   The verb can focus on stopping someone or something from continuing toward an action or outcome. In 1 Samuel 25:34 the Qal perfect concerns being restrained from doing harm, and in Numbers 22:16 the Niphal jussive asks Balaam not to be prevented from going. Imperative forms in Jeremiah 31:16 and Proverbs 1:15 direct the hearer to keep voice, eyes, or foot from a stated course.

   1 Samuel 25:34Numbers 22:16Jeremiah 31:16Proverbs 1:15Ezekiel 31:15Numbers 24:11

In the Anselm Project Bible: The APB variously uses "withheld," "kept back," "restrained," and "refuse" in verses containing the lemma. These renderings confirm the clauses' overall presentation rather than assigning a fixed English equivalent in every verse.