Deuteronomy 16:3

You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses addresses Israel on the plains of Moab, giving final instructions on Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread before the conquest of Canaan. He frames the observance as a corporate command tied directly to the Exodus event.

The words — The text commands not to eat חָמֵץ (chametz, leaven) with the Passover sacrifice and to eat unleavened bread for seven days. The Hebrew verb תֹאכַל (to’ekhal, you will eat) appears twice, marking the mandatory duration and the required action.

The thread — This directive parallels Exodus 12:19, which bans leaven from households for seven days, and Exodus 12:39, which links the unleavened loaves to the hasty departure. It also aligns with Exodus 34:18, which institutes the Feast of Unleavened Bread during the month of Abib.

Why it lands — The text states that unleavened bread is called the bread of affliction because Israel left Egypt in haste. It requires the reader to treat the Exodus departure as a fixed historical reality to be remembered for the rest of life, not merely as a ritual symbol.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

King James Version

Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it; seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, even the bread of affliction; for thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt in haste: that thou mayest remember the day when thou camest forth out of the land of Egypt all the days of thy life.

Cross-references

Exodus 12:39 Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.
Exodus 12:19 For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.
Exodus 34:18 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
Exodus 12:8 They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Exodus 12:14 And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
Exodus 13:3 So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
Numbers 9:11 Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;
Luke 22:19 And He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
Exodus 12:11 This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.
Exodus 12:26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’