Exodus 13:1-7

1 The Lord spoke to Moses:
2 "Consecrate every firstborn male to Me, the firstborn from every womb among the Israelites, both man and animal; it is Mine."[a]
3 Then Moses said to the people, "Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, for the Lord brought you out of here by the strength of [His] hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten.
4 Today, in the month of Abib,[b] you are leaving.
5 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites,[c] which He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you must carry out this ritual in this month.
6 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord.
7 Unleavened bread is to be eaten for those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, and no yeast may be found among you in all your territory.

Exodus 13:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 13

This chapter begins with an order to sanctify or set apart the firstborn of man and beast to the Lord, Ex 13:1,2 and the people of Israel are charged to keep the feast of unleavened bread in its season, from year to year, when they came into the land of Canaan, the reason of which they were to acquaint their children with, Ex 13:3-10 and they are also directed, when come into the land of Canaan, to set apart every firstling of a beast unto the Lord, and particularly the firstling of an ass was to be redeemed with a lamb, or its neck to be broke, and all the firstborn of men were to be redeemed also, Ex 13:11-13, and when their children inquired the reason of it, they were to be told it was on account of the Lord's slaying the firstborn of men and beast among the Egyptians, when Pharaoh would not let Israel go, and of saving the firstborn of his people, Ex 13:14-16, and it is observed, that when the children of Israel went out of Egypt, they were not led by the nearest way, the way of the land of the Philistines, but a round about way, the way of the wilderness of the Red sea, when they took the bones of Joseph with them, as he had adjured them to do, Ex 13:17-19, and the chapter is concluded with an account of their journeying from Succoth to Etham, the Lord going before them in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night, Ex 13:20-22.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Lk 2:23
  • [b]. March-April; called Nisan in the post-exilic period; Neh 2:1; Est 3:7
  • [c]. DSS, Sam, LXX, Syr include Girgashites and Perizzites; Jos 3:10
Holman Christian Standard Bible ® Copyright © 2003, 2002, 2000, 1999 by Holman Bible Publishers.  Used by permission.  All rights reserved.