BIBLE CHAPTER STUDY
Exodus 12: The Passover and the Exodus
God institutes Passover and Unleavened Bread, the firstborn of Egypt are slain, and Israel is driven out of Egypt with their flocks, spoils, and a mixed multitude.
Scripture
1And Jehovah spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In 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 be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb.
5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old: ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:
6and ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at even.
7And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it.
8And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9Eat not of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roast with fire; its head with its legs and with the inwards thereof.
10And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Jehovah's passover.
12For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am Jehovah.
13And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah: throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
15Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.
17And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever.
18In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even.
19Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land.
20Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.
21Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the passover.
22And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
23For Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
24And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.
25And it shall come to pass, when ye are come to the land which Jehovah will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
26And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
27that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Jehovah's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.
28And the children of Israel went and did so; as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
29And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.
30And Pharaoh 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.
31And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said.
32Take both your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
33And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men.
34And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
35And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:
36and Jehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyptians.
37And the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot that were men, besides children.
38And a mixed multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
39And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victuals.
40Now the time that the children of Israel dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
41And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt.
42It is a night to be much observed unto Jehovah for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of Jehovah, to be much observed of all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
43And Jehovah said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: there shall no foreigner eat thereof;
44but every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
45A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof.
46In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
47All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
49One law shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
50Thus did all the children of Israel; as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
51And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Jehovah did bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
What this passage means
Exodus 12 is built around a chain of commands that converge on the night of the fourteenth day. Each household must select an unblemished year-old male lamb on the tenth day, guard it until the fourteenth, slaughter it at twilight, and apply its blood to the two doorposts and the lintel of the house where it is eaten (vv. 3–7). The blood itself is not protected by Israel's identity, geography, or ritual purity but by the visible sign the people place on the door: 'when I see the blood, I will pass over you' (v. 13). Protection from the destroyer is tied to a concrete act of obedience, not to a general profession of faith.
The meal embodies the urgency of the moment. The flesh is roasted with fire, eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and nothing is to remain until morning (vv. 8–10). The travelers eat with loins girded, sandals on, staff in hand, because the meal is not a normal supper but a dress rehearsal for departure (v. 11). Unleavened bread then becomes a week-long ordinance: leaven must be purged from every house for seven days, and anyone who eats leavened bread is cut off from Israel (vv. 15, 19). The eating and the feast therefore shape Israel's calendar, household boundaries, and community identity for generations.
Verses 29–51 narrate the fulfillment. At midnight every firstborn in Egypt dies, from Pharaoh's heir to the prisoner in the dungeon and the cattle, fulfilling the warning of verse 12 that God would execute judgment 'against all the gods of Egypt.' Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron by night and orders the people out; the Egyptians themselves urge the Israelites to leave, and 'they despoiled the Egyptians' (vv. 31–36). After 430 years in Egypt, 'all the hosts of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt' on that very day (vv. 40–41). The chapter ends with a closing set of rules restricting the meal to one house, forbidding broken bones, and requiring circumcision of any foreigner who wishes to eat (vv. 43–49), tying the Passover to covenant membership rather than mere presence at the table.
Context
The chapter opens by repositioning Israel's calendar: the month of the coming deliverance becomes 'the beginning of months, the first month of the year' (v. 2). This reframing means that national time itself begins with the night of Passover, not with creation or with the patriarchal promises. All subsequent instructions flow from this calendar reset: the lamb is selected on day ten, kept to day fourteen, and the Feast of Unleavened Bread runs from day fourteen through day twenty-one (vv. 3, 6, 18).
The unit closes by handing the Passover over to the next generation. Parents are told that when their children ask, 'What mean ye by this service?', they are to answer that it is 'the sacrifice of Jehovah's passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt' (vv. 26–27). The ordinance is explicitly to be kept when Israel enters the promised land (v. 25), and participation is repeatedly tied to circumcision and household membership rather than ethnicity alone (vv. 43–49). The chapter's final verse records that on that selfsame day Jehovah brought Israel out 'by their hosts' (v. 51), connecting the liturgical calendar to the historical event that begins Israel's wilderness journey.
Key words in the original
- H3068 The covenant name of God, rendered 'Jehovah' in this translation. Its concentration in this chapter (vv. 1, 11, 12, 13, 14, 23, 27, 29, 42, 43, 51) marks the entire Passover event as an act of the LORD's own person, not a generic divine force: He speaks, He sees the blood, He passes over, He smites, He brings out the hosts.
- H2320 Hebrew word for 'month/new moon,' appearing repeatedly in vv. 2, 3, 6, 18. The institution of Passover redefines this unit of time: the month of redemption becomes the first month of the religious year, anchoring Israel's calendar in the events of Exodus 12.
- H3478 The personal and collective name 'Israel,' appearing in vv. 3, 6, 19, 27, 28, 31, 35, 37, 40, 47, 48, 50, 51. The chapter traces how 'the children of Israel' move from a community addressed by Moses (v. 3) to 'the hosts of Jehovah' who go out from Egypt (v. 51).
Related verses
- Hebrews 11:28 Hebrews frames Moses' Passover act as faith: 'the sprinkling of the blood' was an obedient trust in God's promise that the destroyer would pass over marked houses. This pairs naturally with Exodus 12:13, where seeing the blood is the condition for being passed over.
- 1 John 1:7 John's language of the blood of Jesus cleansing believers echoes the Passover pattern in which the applied blood protects those inside the house. The cross reference is conceptual: Exodus 12 makes blood-on-the-door the prototypical image of cleansing and shelter from judgment.
- Deuteronomy 16:1 Centuries later Moses commands Israel, upon entering the land, to 'observe the month of Abib' and keep the Passover. This directly continues Exodus 12:25, where the people are told to keep the service when they reach the promised land, showing that the chapter establishes a perpetual practice, not a one-night event.
Common questions
Why does the chapter say the Passover month becomes 'the first month of the year'?
By placing the Passover month at the head of the calendar, the text makes Israel's national time begin with redemption rather than with creation or with the patriarchal promises. The religious year is anchored in God's act of bringing Israel out of Egypt, so every subsequent month is counted from that event (vv. 2, 18).
Why is the lamb kept from the tenth day to the fourteenth day?
The four-day interval between selection and sacrifice gives the household time to confirm that the animal is 'without blemish' (v. 5) and to bind the lamb to the family before it is killed. The text does not state a symbolic meaning for the number of days; it only records that the whole assembly slaughters the lamb 'at even' on the fourteenth day (vv. 5–6).
Why must a foreigner be circumcised to eat the Passover?
Verses 43–49 repeatedly tie participation in the meal to covenant membership rather than mere presence. The 'ordinance of the passover' excludes uncircumcised sojourners and hired servants, but allows a circumcised slave or alien to eat 'as one that is born in the land' (vv. 43–44, 48). Eating the Passover is therefore a sign of belonging to the covenant community, not simply a shared meal.