Exodus
Exodus 12
1Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2“This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you. 3Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household; 4and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls. You shall make your count for the lamb according to what everyone can eat. 5Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats. 6You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening. 7They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two door posts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it. 8They shall eat the meat in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. 9Don’t eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts. 10You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire. 11This is how you shall eat it: with your belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is Yahweh’s Passover. 12For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am Yahweh. 13The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 14This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh. You shall keep it as a feast throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
15“ ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no kind of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, only that may be done by you. 17You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever. 18In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening. 19There shall be no yeast found in your houses for seven days, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a foreigner, or one who is born in the land. 20You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”
21Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover. 22You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two door posts, Yahweh will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. 24You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever. 25It shall happen when you have come to the land which Yahweh will give you, as he has promised, that you shall keep this service. 26It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27that you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Yahweh’s Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.’ ”
The people bowed their heads and worshiped. 28The children of Israel went and did so; as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
29At midnight, Yahweh struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. 30Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. 31He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve Yahweh, as you have said! 32Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also!”
33The Egyptians were urgent with the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We are all dead men.” 34The people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 35The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing. 36Yahweh gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. They plundered the Egyptians.
37The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, in addition to children. 38A mixed multitude went up also with them, with flocks, herds, and even very much livestock. 39They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought out of Egypt; for it wasn’t leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and couldn’t wait, and they had not prepared any food for themselves. 40Now the time that the children of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 41At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the day, all of Yahweh’s armies went out from the land of Egypt. 42It is a night to be much observed to Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of Yahweh, to be much observed by all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
43Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it, 44but every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it. 45A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat of it. 46It must be eaten in one house. You shall not carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones. 47All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48When a stranger lives as a foreigner with you, and would like to keep the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it. He shall be as one who is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you.” 50All the children of Israel did so. As Yahweh commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 51That same day, Yahweh brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
Commentary
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What others are saying
5 commentators · 130 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry5
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
Moses and Aaron here receive of the Lord what they were afterwards to deliver to the people concerning the ordinance of the passover, to which is prefixed an order for a new style to be observed in their months (Exo 12:1, Exo 12:2): This shall be to you the…
I. Moses is here, as a faithful steward in God's house, teaching the children of Israel to observe all things which God had commanded him; and no doubt he gave the instructions as largely as he received them, though they are not so largely recorded. It is…
Here we have, I. The Egyptians' sons, even their first-born, slain, Exo 12:29, Exo 12:30. If Pharaoh would have taken the warning which was given him of this plague, and would thereupon have released Israel, what a great many dear and valuable lives might…
John Gill51
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,.... Before they and the children of Israel came out of it, before the slaying of the firstborn, yea, before Moses came from the presence of Pharaoh, and had given him notice of it; and it is very…
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months,.... Not only the first, as after expressed, but the chief and principal of them, now famous for their coming out of Egypt in it, and would be more so for the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and…
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel,.... That is, to the elders of the people, and heads of families; unless we can suppose that they had been gradually gathered, and were now gathered together in a body by the direction of Moses, by whom they were…
Adam Clarke36
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
This month shall be unto you the beginning of months - It is supposed that God now changed the commencement of the Jewish year. The month to which this verse refers, the month Abib, answers to a part of our March and April; whereas it is supposed that…
In the tenth day of this month - In after times they began their preparation on the thirteenth day or day before the Passover, which was not celebrated till the fourteenth day, see Exo 12:6 : but on the present occasion, as this was their first passover, they…
If the household be too little - That is, if there be not persons enough in one family to eat a whole lamb, then two families must join together. The rabbins allow that there should be at least ten persons to one paschal lamb, and not more than twenty. Take…
Keil & Delitzsch6
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
Institution of the Passover. - The deliverance of Israel from the bondage of Egypt was at hand; also their adoption as the nation of Jehovah (Exo 6:6-7). But for this a divine consecration was necessary, that their outward severance from the land of Egypt…
Death of the first-born, and Release of Israel. - The last blow announced to Pharaoh took place in "the half of the night," i.e., at midnight, when all Egypt was lying in deep sleep (Mat 25:5-6), to startle the king and his people out of their sleep of sin…
Departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt. - The starting-point was Ramses, from which they proceeded to Succoth (Exo 12:37), thence to Etham at the end of the desert (Exo 13:20), and from that by a curve to Hachiroth, opposite to the Red Sea, from…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown32
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
this month shall be unto you the beginning of months--the first not only in order but in estimation. It had formerly been the seventh according to the reckoning of the civil year, which began in September, and continued unchanged, but it was thenceforth to…
Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel--The recent events had prepared the Israelitish people for a crisis in their affairs, and they seem to have yielded implicit obedience at this time to Moses. It is observable that, amid all the hurry and bustle of…
if the household be too little for the lamb, &c.--It appears from JOSEPHUS that ten persons were required to make up the proper paschal communion. every man according to his eating--It is said that the quantity eaten of the paschal lamb, by each individual…
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