Exodus 12:1-28

Instructions for the Feast of Passover

1 And Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 "This month [will be] the beginning of months; it [will be] for you the first of the months of the year.
3 Speak to all the community of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month, they will each take for themselves {a lamb for the family}, a lamb for the household.
4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, he and the neighbor nearest to his house will take [one] according to the number of persons; you will count out portions of the lamb {according to how much each one can eat}.
5 The lamb for you must be a male, without defect, in its first year; you will take [it] from the sheep or from the goats.
6 "{You will keep it} until the fourteenth day of this month, and all the assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter it {at twilight}.
7 And they will take [some] of the blood and put [it] on the two doorposts and on the lintel on the houses in which they eat it.
8 And they will eat the meat on this night; they will eat it fire-roasted and [with] unleavened bread on {bitter herbs}.
9 You must not eat any of it raw or boiled, boiled in the water, but rather roasted with fire, its head with its legs and with its inner parts.
10 And you must not leave any of it until morning; anything left from it until morning you must burn in the fire.
11 And this is how you will eat it--[with] your waists fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand, and you will eat it in haste. It [is] Yahweh's Passover.
12 "And I will go through the land of Egypt during this night, and I will strike all of the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal, and I will do punishments among all of the gods of Egypt. I [am] Yahweh.
13 And the blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and I will see the blood, and I will pass over you, and there will not be a destructive plague among you when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 "And this day will become a memorial for you, and you will celebrate it as a religious feast for Yahweh throughout your generations; you will celebrate it as a lasting statute.
15 You will eat unleavened bread for seven days. Surely on the first day you shall remove yeast from your houses, because anyone [who] eats [food with] yeast from the first day until the seventh day--that person will be cut off from Israel.
16 It will be for you on the first day a holy assembly and on the seventh day a holy assembly; no work will be done on them; only what is eaten by every person, it alone will be prepared for you.
17 "And you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought out your divisions from the land of Egypt, and you will keep this day for your generations as a lasting statute.
18 On the first [day], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat unleavened bread until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.
19 For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, because {anyone eating food with yeast} will be cut off from the community of Israel--[whether] an alien or a native of the land.
20 You will eat no [food with] yeast; in all of your dwellings you will eat unleavened bread."
21 And Moses called all the elders of Israel, and he said to them, "Select and take for yourselves sheep for your clans and slaughter the Passover sacrifice.
22 And take a bunch of hyssop and dip [it] into the blood that [is] in the basin and apply [some] of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. And you will not go out, anyone from the doorway of his house, until morning.
23 And Yahweh will go through to strike Egypt, and he will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to come to your houses to strike [you].
24 "And you will keep this event as a rule for you and for your children forever.
25 {And} when you come into the land that Yahweh will give to you, as he said, you will keep this {religious custom}.
26 {And} when your children say to you, 'What [is] this {religious custom} for you?'
27 you will say, 'It [is] a Passover sacrifice for Yahweh, who passed over the houses of the {Israelites} in Egypt when he struck Egypt; and he delivered our houses.'" And the people knelt down and they worshiped.
28 And the {Israelites} went, and they did as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.

Exodus 12:1-28 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.

Footnotes 17

  • [a]. Literally "a lamb/kid for the house of fathers." The word translated "lamb" refers to a small livestock animal and could be either a young sheep or a young goat
  • [b]. Or "the number of selves"
  • [c]. Literally "a man for the mouth of his eating"
  • [d]. Literally "It will be for you for observation"
  • [e]. Literally "between the evenings"
  • [f]. Literally "bitter [things]"
  • [g]. Or "summons," "convocation"
  • [h]. Or "summons," "convocation"
  • [i]. Literally "anyone eating yeasted food, that person"
  • [j]. Or "until eternity"
  • [k]. Literally "and it will be"
  • [l]. Literally "service" or "work"
  • [m]. Literally "and it will be"
  • [n]. Literally "service" or "work"
  • [o]. Or "What does this service mean to you?"
  • [p]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
  • [q]. Literally "sons/children of Israel"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.