Exodus 12:17-27

17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ¹on this very day I brought your ²hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.

18 ³In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

19 ⁴For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, ⁵that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, ⁶whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.

20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread. ”

21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves ⁷according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.

22 Take a bunch of ⁸hyssop and ⁹dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch ¹⁰the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. ¹¹None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

23 ¹²For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on ¹³the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ¹⁴will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.

24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.

25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, ¹⁵as he has promised, you shall keep this service.

26 And ¹⁶when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service? ’

27 you shall say, ¹⁷‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses. ’” And the people ¹⁸bowed their heads and worshiped.

Exodus 12:17-27 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. 12:17 ch. 13:3
• 2. 12:17 ver. 51; ch. 7:4
• 3. 12:18 Lev. 23:5; Num. 28:16
• 4. 12:19 ver. 15
• 5. 12:19 ver. 15
• 6. 12:19 ver. 48, 49
• 7. 12:21 ver. 3
• 8. 12:22 Lev. 14:6; Num. 19:18; Ps. 51:7; Heb. 9:19
• 9. 12:22 Heb. 11:28
• 10. 12:22 ver. 7
• 11. 12:22 [Isa. 26:20]
• 12. 12:23 ver. 12, 13
• 13. 12:23 [See ver. 22 above]
• 14. 12:23 Heb. 11:28; [Ezek. 9:6; Rev. 7:3; 9:4]
• 15. 12:25 ch. 3:8, 17
• 16. 12:26 ch. 13:8, 14; Deut. 6:20; 32:7; Josh. 4:6, 21; Ps. 78:3-6
• 17. 12:27 ver. 11, 21
• 18. 12:27 ch. 4:31