Exodus 12:14-22

Feast of Unleavened Bread

14 'Now 1this day will be 2a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as 3a permanent ordinance.
15 '4Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, 5that person shall be cut off from Israel.
16 '6On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person, that alone may be prepared by you.
17 'You shall also observe 7the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this 8very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as 9a permanent ordinance.
18 '10In the first month, on the fourteenth * day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first * day of the month at evening.
19 '11Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that 12person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.
20 'You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.' "
21 Then 13Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and 14take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay 15the Passover lamb.
22 "16You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none * of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.

Exodus 12:14-22 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 12

This chapter begins with observing, that the month in which the above wonders were wrought in Egypt, and the following ordinance appointed to the Israelites, should hereafter be reckoned the first month in the year, Ex 12:1,2 on the tenth day of which a lamb here described was to be taken and kept till the fourteenth, and then slain, and its blood sprinkled on the posts of the houses of the Israelites, Ex 12:3-7, the manner of dressing and eating it is shown, Ex 12:8-11 and the reason of the institution of this ordinance being given, Ex 12:12-14, and an order to eat unleavened bread during seven days, in which the feast was to be kept, Ex 12:15-20, directions are also given for the immediate observance of it, and particularly about the sprinkling of the blood of the lamb, and the use of it, Ex 12:21-23, and this ordinance, which they were to instruct their children in, was to be kept by them in succeeding ages for ever, Ex 12:24-27 about the middle of the night it was first observed, all the firstborn in Egypt were slain, which made the Egyptians urgent upon the Israelites to depart in haste, Ex 12:28-33 and which they did with their unleavened dough, and with great riches they had borrowed of the Egyptians, Ex 12:34-36, the number of the children of Israel at the time of their departure, the mixed multitude and cattle that went with them, their baking their unleavened cakes, the time of their sojourning in Egypt, and of their coming out of it that night, which made it a remarkable one, are all particularly taken notice of, Ex 12:37-42, laws and rules are given concerning the persons that should partake of the passover, Ex 12:43-49 and the chapter is concluded with observing, that it was kept according to the command of God, and that it was on the same day it was first instituted and kept that Israel were brought out of Egypt, Ex 12:50,51.

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Cross References 16

  • 1. Exodus 12:6; Leviticus 23:4, 5; 2 Kings 23:21
  • 2. Exodus 13:9
  • 3. Exodus 12:17, 24; Exodus 13:10
  • 4. Exodus 13:6, 7; Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18; Leviticus 23:6; Numbers 28:17; Deuteronomy 16:3, 8
  • 5. Genesis 17:14; Exodus 12:19; Numbers 9:13
  • 6. Leviticus 23:7, 8; Numbers 28:18, 25
  • 7. Deuteronomy 16:3-8
  • 8. Exodus 12:41
  • 9. Exodus 12:14; Exodus 13:3, 10
  • 10. Exodus 12:2; Leviticus 23:5-8; Numbers 28:16-25
  • 11. Exodus 12:15; Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18
  • 12. Numbers 9:13
  • 13. Numbers 9:4; Hebrews 11:28
  • 14. Exodus 12:3
  • 15. Exodus 12:11
  • 16. Exodus 12:7

Footnotes 10

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