What Is Manger in the Bible?
Object
The box from which animals eat in a stable. Mary laid the newborn Jesus there.
It can mean
- In the Bible: the animals’ feeding box.
- Today: “the manger” or “manger scene” is also the Nativity scene that people set up at Christmas.
Today
Like a feeding trough in a stable, made of wood or stone.
Where it appears in the Bible
Luke 2:7
What the Bible says
Luke 2:7
And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him up in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: NABRE note on Luke 2:7; Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Crib”