Wikipedia's first sentence called it “always present on a specially dedicated table”. Today it says “always present”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2020 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2020
Cakes or loaves of bread which were always present on a specially dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem This article is about bread. Showbread ( lechem haPānīm , literally: "Bread of the Faces" ), in the King James Version : shewbread , in a biblical or Jewish context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present, on a specially-dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God. An alternative, and more appropriate, translation would be presence bread , since the Bible requires that the bread be constantly in the presence of God ( Exodus 25:30 ). This is the bread eaten by David as mentioned in ( Matthew 12:4 ) (τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως).1 Commentary of Rashi on Exodus 25:30 – "Bread of the Faces: because it had faces," "לחם פנים - שהיה לו פנים", and commentary of Nachmanides on the same verse – "Bread of the Faces: because it had faces facing this way and that way," "לחם פנים - שיש לו פנים רואים לכאן ולכאן" Jewish Encyclopedia
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 958976925.
The opening as it stood in 2010
Showbread ( , literally: "Bread of the Presence"), in the King James Version : shewbread , in a biblical or Jewish context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present on a specially dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God . An alternative, and more appropriate, translation would be presence bread , since the Bible requires that the bread be constantly in the presence of God ( Exodus 25:30 ).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 366904673.
The opening as it stood in 2015
Showbread ( , literally: "Bread of the Presence"), in the King James Version : shewbread , in a biblical or Jewish context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present on a specially dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God . An alternative, and more appropriate, translation would be presence bread , since the Bible requires that the bread be constantly in the presence of God ( Exodus 25:30 ). It is also mentioned in ( Matthew 12:4 ) (τοὺς ἄρτους τῆς προθέσεως).
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 654749208.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
Cakes or loaves of bread which were always present in the Temple in Jerusalem This article is about bread. Showbread ( Leḥem haPānīm , literally: "Bread of the Faces" ), in the King James Version : shewbread , in a biblical or Jewish context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present, on a specially-dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God. An alternative, and more appropriate, translation would be presence bread , since the Bible requires that the bread be constantly in the presence of God ( Exodus 25:30 ). Commentary of Rashi on Exodus 25:30 – "Bread of the Faces: because it had faces," "לחם פנים - שהיה לו פנים", and commentary of Nachmanides on the same verse – "Bread of the Faces: because it had faces facing this way and that way," "לחם פנים - שיש לו פנים רואים לכאן ולכאן" Jewish Encyclopedia
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1159946941.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Cakes or loaves of bread which were always present in the Temple in Jerusalem This article is about bread. Showbread ( Hebrew : לֶחֶם הַפָּנִים , romanized : Leḥem haPānīm , lit. ' Bread of the Faces ' ), in the King James Version shewbread , in a Biblical or Jewish context, refers to the cakes or loaves of bread which were always present, on a specially-dedicated table, in the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering to God. An alternative, and more appropriate, translation would be presence bread , since the Bible requires that the bread be constantly in the presence of God ( Exodus 25:30 ). Commentary of Rashi on Exodus 25:30 – "Bread of the Faces: because it had faces," "לחם פנים - שהיה לו פנים", and commentary of Nachmanides on the same verse – "Bread of the Faces: because it had faces facing this way and that way," "לחם פנים - שיש לו פנים רואים לכאן ולכאן".
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1279447454. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “always present on a specially dedicated table”. Today it says “always present”. Read the current article and compare.
2010
2015
2020
Oct '23
2025
Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2010, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
always present on a specially dedicated table
Now
always present
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
