Bible Strands
Exodus 12:9
Do not eat any of the meat raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire—its head and legs and inner parts.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses the Israelites during the Passover meal preparation, commanding specific instructions for the sacrificial lamb. The text prescribes roasting the meat over fire while explicitly forbidding raw consumption or boiling in water.
The words — The Hebrew נָא (naʾ) denotes raw or uncooked meat, and בָּשַׁל (bašal) means to boil or cook thoroughly. These terms establish the prohibited preparation methods before the text mandates the required roasting technique.
The thread — The roasting command appears in Exodus 12:8 alongside the instruction to eat the meat with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Deuteronomy 16:7 repeats the requirement to roast the meat and consume it at the chosen place before returning home.
Why it lands — The text demands strict adherence to the specified cooking method, requiring the reader to follow the exact boundaries set for the ritual. Compliance is measured by observable obedience to the prescribed preparation rather than personal preference.
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
Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof.
Cross-references
- Exodus 12:8 They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
- Deuteronomy 16:7 And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.
- Lamentations 1:13 He sent fire from on high, and it overpowered my bones. He spread a net for my feet and turned me back. He made me desolate, faint all the day long.