Exodus 12:23

When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — Moses relays God’s command to the Israelites the night before the Exodus. The instruction follows the application of hyssop-dipped blood to the doorframes and precedes the destruction of the firstborn.

The words — The Hebrew וְ/עָבַ֣ר (ve./'a.Var) literally means "and he will pass through," while הַ/דָּם (ha./Dam) translates to "the blood." The text states that Yahweh sees the blood on the doorframe and passes over it, preventing the destroyer from entering.

The thread — The pattern of a protective mark averting divine judgment appears in Revelation 7:3 and Revelation 9:4, where a seal on the forehead halts harm. Hebrews 11:28 explicitly links the Passover blood sprinkling to the preservation of Israel from the destroyer.

Why it lands — The text demands immediate compliance with the blood application and remaining indoors until morning. It establishes a permanent statute requiring descendants to maintain the commanded sign as the boundary between judgment and preservation.

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

For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.

Cross-references

Revelation 7:3 “Do not harm the land or sea or trees until we have placed a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”
Revelation 9:4 They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Hebrews 11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.
Exodus 12:12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
1 Corinthians 10:10 And do not complain, as some of them did, and were killed by the destroying angel.
Ezekiel 9:6 Slaughter the old men, the young men and maidens, the women and children; but do not go near anyone who has the mark. Now begin at My sanctuary.” So they began with the elders who were before the temple.
2 Samuel 24:16 But when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Isaiah 37:36 Then the angel of the LORD went out and struck down 185,000 men in the camp of the Assyrians. When the people got up the next morning, there were all the dead bodies!
Ezekiel 9:4 “Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”
Hebrews 12:24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.