Bible Strands
Exodus 12:6
You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Moses and Aaron, issuing a command to the whole assembly of Israel regarding the Passover lamb. The instruction follows the specification of the animal's physical condition and precedes the directions for applying its blood.
The words — The Hebrew לְ/מִשְׁמֶ֔רֶת (le./mish.Meret) translates literally as "for safekeeping," denoting the required preservation of the animal. The preposition עַ֣ד (ad) means "until," fixing the deadline for that preservation at the fourteenth day of the month.
The thread — The same fourteenth-day timing appears in Leviticus 23:5 and Numbers 28:16 as the standard date for the Passover. A later observance on the fourteenth day of a different month is recorded in 2 Chronicles 30:15.
Why it lands — The text commands the community to preserve the lamb intact until a specific day and hour before slaughtering it. Readers must delay action until the appointed time, prioritizing exact timing over immediate consumption or inspection.
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
And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening.
Cross-references
- Leviticus 23:5 The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.
- Numbers 28:16 The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover.
- 2 Chronicles 30:15 And on the fourteenth day of the second month they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.
- Exodus 12:18 In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
- Numbers 9:1 In the first month of the second year after Israel had come out of the land of Egypt, the LORD spoke to Moses in the Wilderness of Sinai:
- 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;
- Exodus 16:12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’”
- Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.
- Ezekiel 45:21 On the fourteenth day of the first month you are to observe the Passover, a feast of seven days, during which unleavened bread shall be eaten.
- Acts 4:27 In fact, this is the very city where Herod and Pontius Pilate conspired with the Gentiles and the people of Israel against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed.