Exodus 13:11-16

11 "Now when ¹the LORD brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as ²He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you,

12 ³you shall devote to the LORD the first offspring of every womb, and the first offspring of every beast that you own; the males belong to the LORD.

13 "But ⁴every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and ⁵every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

14 "⁶And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, 'What is this?' then you shall say to him, '⁷With a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.

15 'It came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the ⁸LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore *, I sacrifice to the LORD the males, the first offspring of every womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.'

16 "So ⁹it shall serve as a sign on your hand and as phylacteries on your forehead *, for with a powerful hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."

Exodus 13:11-16 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.

Cross References

• 1. Exodus 13:5
• 2. Genesis 15:18; Genesis 17:8; Genesis 28:15; Psalms 105:42-45
• 3. Exodus 13:1, 2; Exodus 22:29; Exodus 34:19; Leviticus 27:26; Numbers 18:15; Ezekiel 44:30; Luke 2:23
• 4. Exodus 34:20; Numbers 18:15
• 5. Numbers 3:46
• 6. Exodus 10:2; Exodus 12:26, 27; Exodus 13:8; Deuteronomy 6:20; Joshua 4:6, 21
• 7. Exodus 13:3, 9
• 8. Exodus 12:29
• 9. Exodus 13:9; Deuteronomy 6:8

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "cause to pass over"
• [b] Lit "opening"
• [c] Lit "every issue the offspring of a beast"
• [d] Lit "opening"
• [e] Lit "strength of hand"
• [f] Lit "slaves"
• [g] Lit "opening"
• [h] Lit "be for"
• [i] Or "frontlet-bands"
• [j] Lit "between your eyes"
• [k] Lit "strength of hand"