Exodus 12:17

So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God issues this command to the Israelite leadership during the final Passover instructions, prior to the actual departure from Egypt. The narrative context places these directives within the immediate preparations for the Exodus, not after it.

The words — The text highlights שְׁמַרְתֶּם (shemar tem, "you will keep") and עֶצֶם (etzem, "substance" or "very day"), alongside הוֹצֵאתִי (hotze ti, "I brought out"). These terms anchor the command to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the specific day of deliverance.

The thread — The command to preserve this observance as a permanent statute echoes in Exodus 12:41, which confirms the exact day of departure, and Exodus 13:3, which commands the people to remember the day they came out of Egypt. The surrounding context in Exodus 12:16 and Exodus 12:18 frames this feast within the broader Passover and unleavened bread regulations.

Why it lands — The text demands that the Israelites maintain the Feast of Unleavened Bread as an enduring ordinance for all future generations. It requires readers to treat the commemoration of the Exodus as a fixed practice rather than a historical memory.

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

וּשְׁמַרְתֶּם֮u./she.mar.Temand/ you will keep אֶת־'et-<obj.>הַמַּצּוֹת֒ha./ma.tzOtthe/ unleavened bread<s>כִּ֗יKifor בְּעֶ֙צֶם֙be./'E.tzemon/ [the] substance of הַיּ֣וֹםhai./Yomthe/ day הַזֶּ֔הha./Zeh<the>/ this הוֹצֵ֥אתִיho.Tze.tiI brought out אֶת־'et-<obj.>צִבְאוֹתֵיכֶ֖םtziv.'o.tei./Khemhosts/ your מֵאֶ֣רֶץme./'E.retzfrom/ [the] land of מִצְרָ֑יִםmitz.Ra.yimEgypt וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֞םu./she.mar.Temand/ you will keep אֶת־'et-<obj.>הַיּ֥וֹםhai./Yomthe/ day הַזֶּ֛הha./Zeh<the>/ this לְדֹרֹתֵיכֶ֖םle./do.ro.tei./Khemto/ generations/ your חֻקַּ֥תchu.Kata statute of עוֹלָֽם׃o.Lamperpetuity

King James Version

And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.

Cross-references

Exodus 7:5 And the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand against Egypt and bring the Israelites out from among them.”
Exodus 12:41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
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.
Exodus 13:8 And on that day you are to explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
Numbers 20:16 and when we cried out to the LORD, He heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Now look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory.