Exodus 12:27

you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Moses commands the Israelites on how to answer their children’s inquiry about the Passover observance. He gives this instruction immediately before the final plague and the people’s subsequent bowing and worship.

The words — The Hebrew פֶּסַח (Pe.sach) names the Passover sacrifice, while its verbal root פָּסַח (Pa.sach) literally means “to pass over.” These terms anchor the rite to Yahweh’s specific action of sparing Israelite homes while striking the Egyptians.

The thread — The Passover framework continues in Exodus 12:11 with instructions on how to eat the meal and Exodus 12:23 where the blood on the doorframe causes the Lord to pass over. The pattern of hearing God’s deed and responding with worship appears in Exodus 4:31.

Why it lands — The text requires a direct verbal explanation of Yahweh’s protective judgment whenever the rite is observed. It demands that participants and observers acknowledge the specific boundary between spared and struck without adding human commentary.

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

That ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshipped.

Cross-references

Exodus 4:31 and they believed. And when they heard that the LORD had attended to the Israelites and had seen their affliction, they bowed down and worshiped.
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 12:23 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.
1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.
Exodus 34:8 Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped.
Exodus 34:25 Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to Me along with anything leavened, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.
Deuteronomy 16:2 You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.
Deuteronomy 16:5 You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.
1 Chronicles 29:20 Then David said to the whole assembly, “Bless the LORD your God.” So the whole assembly blessed the LORD, the God of their fathers. They bowed down and paid homage to the LORD and to the king.
2 Chronicles 20:18 Then Jehoshaphat bowed facedown, and all the people of Judah and Jerusalem fell down before the LORD to worship Him.