maṭṭēh leḥem (מַטֵּה לֶחֶם)
- Language: Hebrew
- Romanized: maṭṭēh leḥem
- Original script: מַטֵּה לֶחֶם
- Gloss: staff of bread
A famine idiom in which bread is the life-support a people lean on — the thing that lets them stand, and the thing God can break. The phrase recurs in The Staff of Bread.
Related entries
- Matteh — staff, rod, support
- Lehem — bread
- Sterigma Artou — Greek rendering of the idiom
- Baculum Panis — Latin (Vulgate) rendering