Shemot 12:18

18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at erev, ye shall eat matzot, until the one and twentieth day of the month at erev.

Shemot 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.

Shemot 12:18 In-Context

16 And in the yom harishon there shall be a mikra kodesh, and in the yom hashevi’i there shall be a mikra kodesh to you; no manner of melachah shall be done in them, except that which every nefesh must eat [i.e., activity necessary for the preparation of food], that only may be done of you.
17 And ye shall be shomer to safeguard the matzot; for on this very day I brought your tzva’os out of Eretz Mitzrayim; therefore shall ye be shomer over this day in your generations by a chukkat olam.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at erev, ye shall eat matzot, until the one and twentieth day of the month at erev.
19 Shivat yamim shall there be no se’or (yeast, leaven) found in your batim (houses); whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that nefesh shall be cut off from Adat Yisroel, whether he be a ger, or native born in ha’aretz.
20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellingplaces shall ye eat matzot.
The Orthodox Jewish Bible fourth edition, OJB. Copyright 2002,2003,2008,2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International. All rights reserved.