Read & explore together
The First Passover and Its Observance
Exodus 12 gives Israel detailed instructions for the first Passover and for keeping it in later generations. The passage joins a household meal, God’s judgment in Egypt, and an ongoing act of worship and remembrance.
Understanding the passage
Understanding the setting
Yahweh speaks to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, sets the first month, and commands how the lamb is chosen, eaten, and marked by blood on the house. He explains that this relates to his striking of Egypt, and later adds rules for who may share the Passover. The passage also states that Yahweh brought Israel out that same day.
Exodus 12:1–28; Exodus 12:43–51Main takeaway
The Passover is a carefully ordered memorial meal by which Israel remembers that Yahweh passed over their houses in Egypt and brought them out of the land that same day.
Explore the instructions
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01A new beginning and a prepared lambYahweh marks this month as the beginning of Israel’s year. Each household is to take a lamb, or share with a neighbour if the household is too small.
Explanation
Yahweh marks this month as the beginning of Israel’s year. Each household is to take a lamb, or share with a neighbour if the household is too small. The lamb must be without defect, and it is kept until the fourteenth day and killed at evening. The meal begins with careful preparation and counting for those who will eat.
02The meal and the sign on the houseThe blood is put on the doorposts and lintel of the house where the meal is eaten. The meat is roasted, not raw or boiled, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Explanation
The blood is put on the doorposts and lintel of the house where the meal is eaten. The meat is roasted, not raw or boiled, and eaten with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Nothing may remain until morning. They are to eat dressed and ready, with belt, sandals, staff, and haste, because it is Yahweh’s Passover.
03Judgment, passing over, and days without yeastYahweh says he will go through Egypt, strike the firstborn, and execute judgments against the gods of Egypt.
Explanation
Yahweh says he will go through Egypt, strike the firstborn, and execute judgments against the gods of Egypt. The blood is the sign that he will pass over those houses. This day is to become a memorial feast. For seven days they are to eat unleavened bread, remove yeast from their houses, and hold holy convocations on the first and seventh days.
04An ordinance to remember and explainMoses tells the elders to carry out the Passover and to stay inside until morning. Israel is to keep this service when they come into the land.
Explanation
Moses tells the elders to carry out the Passover and to stay inside until morning. Israel is to keep this service when they come into the land. When children ask what the service means, the answer is that Yahweh passed over Israel’s houses in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians and spared their houses. The people respond with worship and obedience.
05Who may eat it, and the day of departureThe later ordinance adds that no foreigner may eat the Passover. A bought servant may eat after circumcision, but a hired servant may not.
Explanation
The later ordinance adds that no foreigner may eat the Passover. A bought servant may eat after circumcision, but a hired servant may not. The meal must be eaten in one house, with no meat taken outside and no bones broken. A stranger living among Israel may keep it after circumcision, and the same law applies to native-born and stranger. Alongside this ordinance, the passage says that same day Yahweh brought Israel out of Egypt.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Why did the Israelites put blood on the doorposts and lintel?
Yahweh says the blood would be a sign on the houses, and when he saw it, he would pass over them when he struck the land of Egypt.
02What features of the meal showed that the people were to be ready to leave?
Look especially at the belt, sandals, staff, and the command to eat in haste.
03How does this passage show that Passover was meant to teach later generations?
Notice both the command to keep it as a memorial and the instruction for answering children who ask what the service means.
Read the Bible passages
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Exodus 12:1–28
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, with 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.
Exodus 12:43–51
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.