Exodus 12:18

18 In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.

Exodus 12:18 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 12:18

In the first month
As it was now ordered to be reckoned, the month Abib or Nisan: the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread;
that is, at the evening following, the fourteenth of Nisan, and which was the beginning of the fifteenth day, the Jews beginning their day from the evening: hence the Targum of Jonathan is,

``on the fourteenth of Nisan ye shall slay the passover, in the evening of the fifteenth ye shall eat unleavened bread:''

unto the twentieth day of the month at even;
which would make just seven days; the above Targum adds,

``on the evening of the twenty second ye shall eat leavened bread,''

which was the evening following the twenty first day. This long abstinence from leaven denotes, that the whole lives of those who are Israelites indeed should be without guile, hypocrisy, and malice, and should be spent in sincerity and truth.

Exodus 12:18 In-Context

16 On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.

17 So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come.

18 In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.

19 For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.

20 You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”