Exodus 12:1-39

The Passover Lamb

1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

2 "¹This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a lamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a lamb for each household.

4 'Now if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the number of persons in them; according to what each man should eat, you are to divide the lamb.

5 'Your lamb shall be ²an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

6 'You shall keep * it until the ³fourteenth * day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it ⁴at twilight.

7 '⁵Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.

8 'They shall eat the flesh ⁶that same night, ⁷roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with ⁸unleavened bread ⁹and bitter herbs.

9 'Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather * ¹⁰roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with ¹¹its entrails.

10 '¹²And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.

11 'Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste -it is ¹³the LORD'S Passover.

12 'For ¹⁴I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and ¹⁵against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments -¹⁶I am the LORD.

13 '¹⁷The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where * you live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

14 'Now ¹⁸this day will be ¹⁹a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as ²⁰a permanent ordinance.

15 '²¹Seven 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, ²²that person shall be cut off from Israel.

16 '²³On 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 ²⁴the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this ²⁵very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as ²⁶a permanent ordinance.

18 '²⁷In 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 '²⁸Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that ²⁹person 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 ³⁰Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go and ³¹take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and slay ³²the Passover lamb.

22 "³³You 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.

A Memorial of Redemption

23 "For ³⁴the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will ³⁵not allow the ³⁶destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.

24 "And ³⁷you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever *.

25 "When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite.

26 "³⁸And when your children say to you, 'What does this rite mean to you?'

27 you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to ³⁹the LORD who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but spared our homes.' " ⁴⁰And the people bowed low and worshiped.

28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

29 Now it came about at ⁴¹midnight * that ⁴²the LORD struck all ⁴³the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of ⁴⁴cattle.

30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was ⁴⁵a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where * there was not someone dead.

31 Then ⁴⁶he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, "Rise up, ⁴⁷get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, worship the LORD, as you have said.

32 "Take ⁴⁸both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also."

Exodus of Israel

33 ⁴⁹The Egyptians urged * the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We will all be dead."

34 So the people took ⁵⁰their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.

35 ⁵¹Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing;

36 and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they ⁵²plundered the Egyptians.

37 Now the ⁵³sons of Israel journeyed from ⁵⁴Rameses to Succoth, about ⁵⁵six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children.

38 A ⁵⁶mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a ⁵⁷very large number of livestock.

39 They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were ⁵⁸driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor * had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

Exodus 12:1-39 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.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 13:4; Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18; Deuteronomy 16:1
• 2. Leviticus 22:18-21; Leviticus 23:12; Hebrews 9:14; 1 Peter 1:19
• 3. Exodus 12:14, 17; Leviticus 23:5; Num 9:1-3, 11; Numbers 28:16
• 4. Exodus 16:12; Deuteronomy 16:4, 6
• 5. Exodus 12:22
• 6. Exodus 34:25; Numbers 9:12
• 7. Deuteronomy 16:7
• 8. Deuteronomy 16:3, 4; 1 Corinthians 5:8
• 9. Numbers 9:11
• 10. Exodus 12:8
• 11. Ex 29:13, 17, 22
• 12. Exodus 16:19; Exodus 23:18; Exodus 34:25
• 13. Ex 12:13, 21, 27, 43
• 14. Exodus 11:4, 5
• 15. Numbers 33:4; Psalms 82:1
• 16. Exodus 6:2
• 17. Hebrews 11:28
• 18. Exodus 12:6; Leviticus 23:4, 5; 2 Kings 23:21
• 19. Exodus 13:9
• 20. Exodus 12:17, 24; Exodus 13:10
• 21. Exodus 13:6, 7; Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18; Leviticus 23:6; Numbers 28:17; Deuteronomy 16:3, 8
• 22. Genesis 17:14; Exodus 12:19; Numbers 9:13
• 23. Leviticus 23:7, 8; Numbers 28:18, 25
• 24. Deuteronomy 16:3-8
• 25. Exodus 12:41
• 26. Exodus 12:14; Exodus 13:3, 10
• 27. Exodus 12:2; Leviticus 23:5-8; Numbers 28:16-25
• 28. Exodus 12:15; Exodus 23:15; Exodus 34:18
• 29. Numbers 9:13
• 30. Numbers 9:4; Hebrews 11:28
• 31. Exodus 12:3
• 32. Exodus 12:11
• 33. Exodus 12:7
• 34. Exodus 11:4; Exodus 12:12, 13
• 35. Revelation 7:3; Revelation 9:4
• 36. 1 Corinthians 10:10; Hebrews 11:28
• 37. Exodus 12:14, 17; Exodus 13:5, 10
• 38. Exodus 10:2; Exodus 13:8, 14, 15; Deuteronomy 32:7; Joshua 4:6; Psalms 78:6
• 39. Exodus 12:11
• 40. Exodus 4:31
• 41. Exodus 11:4, 5
• 42. Numbers 8:17; Numbers 33:4; Psalms 135:8; Psalms 136:10
• 43. Exodus 4:23; Psalms 78:51; Psalms 105:36
• 44. Exodus 9:6
• 45. Exodus 11:6
• 46. Exodus 8:8
• 47. Exodus 8:25
• 48. Exodus 10:9, 26
• 49. Exodus 10:7; Exodus 11:1; Exodus 12:39; Psalms 105:38
• 50. Exodus 12:39
• 51. Exodus 3:21, 22; Exodus 11:2, 3; Psalms 105:37
• 52. Exodus 3:22
• 53. Numbers 33:3, 5
• 54. Genesis 47:11
• 55. Exodus 38:26; Numbers 1:46; Numbers 2:32; Numbers 11:21; Numbers 26:51
• 56. Numbers 11:4
• 57. Exodus 17:3; Numbers 20:19; Numbers 32:1; Deuteronomy 3:19
• 58. Exodus 6:1; Exodus 11:1; Exodus 12:31-33

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "Egypt, saying"
• [b]. Or "kid"
• [c]. Or "kid"
• [d]. Lit "the"
• [e]. Or "kid"
• [f]. Or "amount"
• [g]. Lit "each man's eating"
• [h]. Lit "compute for"
• [i]. Or "kid"
• [j]. Lit "It shall be to you for a guarding"
• [k]. Lit "between the two evenings"
• [l]. Lit "upon"
• [m]. Lit "in addition to"
• [n]. Lit "are"
• [o]. Lit "for destruction"
• [p]. Or "an eternal"
• [q]. Lit "cause to cease"
• [r]. Lit "soul"
• [s]. Lit "pertaining to"
• [t]. Lit "done"
• [u]. Or "eternal"
• [v]. Lit "soul"
• [w]. Lit "Draw out"
• [x]. Lit "sheep"
• [y]. Lit "cause to touch"
• [z]. Lit "spoken"
• [aa]. Lit "service"
• [ab]. Lit "What is this service to you?"
• [ac]. Lit "because He"
• [ad]. Lit "delivered"
• [ae]. Or "serve"
• [af]. Lit "and"
• [ag]. Lit "made"