Bible Strands
Exodus 12:21
Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the elders of Israel immediately after the unleavened bread command and just before the blood-application instructions.
The words — מִֽשְׁכ֗וּ (mish.Khu) translates literally as "draw" or "withdraw," directing the elders to take the lambs from the flock for the ritual.
The thread — This directive repeats the initial selection command from Exodus 12:3 and resurfaces in Joshua 5:10 and 2 Kings 23:21 as the established pattern for Passover observance.
Why it lands — It demands immediate, precise action to secure the lamb before any protective measures are applied, establishing obedience as the prerequisite for deliverance.
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
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take you a lamb according to your families, and kill the passover.
Cross-references
- Exodus 12:3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household.
- Joshua 5:10 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover.
- 2 Kings 23:21 The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”
- Ezra 6:20 All the priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean. And the Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their priestly brothers, and for themselves.
- Mark 14:12 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”
- Numbers 9:2 “The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.
- Exodus 3:16 Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—has appeared to me and said: I have surely attended to you and have seen what has been done to you in Egypt.
- 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 17:5 And the LORD said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
- Exodus 19:7 So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him.