Exodus 12:11
in Exodus 12This 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is Jehovah’s passover.
KJV
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.
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This verse in Exodus 12
Commentary
14 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
These instructions are understood by the Jews to apply only to the first Passover, when they belonged to the occasion. There is no trace of their observance at any later time. Each of the directions marks preparation for a journey; the long flowing robes are girded round the loins; shoes or sandals, not worn in the house or at meals, were fastened on the feet; and the traveler’s staff was taken in hand. The Lord’s passover - The great and most significant name for the whole ordinance.
This site's exposition
with your loins girded
They eat dressed to leave, with shoes on and staff in hand, which nobody does at a meal in his own house. The posture is itself the instruction, since the food is for a road they have not yet been told they are taking. The word passover occurs here for the first time in Scripture, at the close of the verse that describes how to eat in haste.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers4 voices
A commentator
Augustine of HippoTRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 55.1 · Written in the 5th century.
proposed
[The word] pascha is not, as some think, a Greek word, but a Hebrew one; yet most conveniently there occurs in this name a certain congruity between the two languages. Because in Greek [the word for] "to suffer" is paschein. For this reason "pascha" has been thought of as a passion, as though this name has been derived from [a Greek word for] "suffering." But in its own language, that is, in Hebrew, "pascha" means "a passing over." For this reason the people of God celebrated the pascha for the first time when, fleeing from Egypt, they "passed over" the Red Sea. So now that prophetic figure has been fulfilled in truth when Christ is led as a sheep to the slaughter. By his blood, after our doorposts have been smeared [with it], that is, by the sign of his cross, after our foreheads have been marked [with it], we are freed from the ruin of this world as though from the captivity or destruction in Egypt. And we effect a most salutary passing over when we pass over from the devil to Christ and from this tottering world to his most solidly established kingdom. And therefore we pass over to God who endures so that we may not pass over with the passing world.
And let us know that the law also of the most wise Moses is found to have commanded something of this kind to the Israelites. For a lamb was sacrificed on the fourteenth day of the first month, as a type of Christ. For our Passover, Christ is sacrificed, according to the testimony of most sacred Paul. The hiero-phant Moses, then, or rather God by his means, commanded them, when eating its flesh, saying, "Let your loins be girt, and your shoes on your feet, and your staves in your hands." For I affirm that it is the duty of those who are partakers of Christ to beware of a barren indolence. Yet it is a further duty not to have as it were their loins ungirt and loose but to be ready cheerfully to undertake whatever labors become the saints; and to hasten besides with alacrity wherever the law of God leads them. And for this reason he very appropriately made them wear the garb of travelers [at the Passover].
[The father of the prodigal son] orders the shoes to be brought out, for he who is about to celebrate the Lord's Passover, about to feast on the Lamb, ought to have his feet protected against all attacks of spiritual wild beasts and the bite of the serpent.
Therefore, the just man commends his vow with swiftness. And our fathers hastened to eat the Passover, having their loins girded, and their feet shod with shoes, and carrying burdens of the body, so that they would be ready for the passage; for the Passover of the Lord is a passage from sufferings to exercises of virtue. And therefore it is called the Passover of the Lord; because even then in that Lamb the truth of the Lord's Passion was announced, and now it is celebrated by his grace.
The Medieval Church1 voice
A commentator
BonaventureItinerarium Mentis in Deum, Chapter 7 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Whoever looks upon this mercy seat with full turning of the countenance, gazing upon him who hangs upon the cross through faith, hope, and charity, devotion, admiration, exultation, appreciation, praise, and jubilation, makes the Passover, that is, the passing over, with him, so as to …
7 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church2 voices
Since therefore we have learned how the Passover ought to be eaten, let us now recognize by whom it ought to be eaten. It follows: "And thus shall you eat it. You shall gird your loins." What is understood by the loins except the delight of the flesh? Hence the Psalmist also asks, saying: "Burn my loins." For if he had not known that the pleasure of lust resides in the loins, he would by no means have asked that they be burned. Hence, because the power of the devil has prevailed over the human race especially through lust, it is said of him by the voice of the Lord: "His power is in his loins." Therefore he who eats the Passover ought to have his loins girded, so that he who celebrates the solemnity of resurrection and incorruption may no longer be subject to corruption through any vices, may subdue pleasures, and may restrain the flesh from lust. For he does not know what the solemnity of incorruption is who still lies subject to corruption through incontinence. These things are hard for some, but narrow is the gate that leads to life. And we now have many examples of the continent. Hence it is also well added: "You shall have sandals on your feet." For what are our feet except our works? And what are sandals except the skins of dead animals? Now sandals protect the feet. And what are the dead animals from whose skins our feet are protected, except the ancient fathers who have gone before us to the eternal homeland? When we contemplate their examples, we protect the feet of our works. Therefore to have sandals on our feet is to contemplate the life of the dead and to guard our steps from the wound of sin. "Holding staffs in your hands." What does the law designate by the staff except pastoral care? […]
Passover means "passing over." It derives its ancient name from the Lord's passing over on this [day] through Egypt, striking the firstborn of the Egyptians and freeing the children of Israel, and from the children of Israel's passing over on that night from their slavery …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
), and to leave none of it until the morning; for God would have them to depend upon him for their daily bread, and not to take thought for the morrow. He that led them would feed them. Before they ate the flesh of the lamb, they were to sprinkle the blood upon the doorposts,
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
); when we feed upon Christ by faith we must absolutely forsake the rule and dominion of sin, shake off Pharaoh's yoke; and we must sit loose to the world, and every thing in it, forsake all for Christ, and reckon it no bad bargain, Heb. xiii. The feast of unleavened bread was typical of the Christian life, 1 Cor. v. 7, 8 .
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
And thus shall ye eat it,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
These injunctions seem to have applied chiefly to the first celebration of the rite. it is the Lord's passover--called by this name from the blood-marked dwellings of the Israelites being passed over figuratively by the destroying angel.
And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded - As in the eastern countries they wear long loose garments, whenever they travel they tuck up the fore parts of their garments in the girdle which they wear round their loins. Your shoes on your feet - This seems particularly mentioned because not customary. “The easterns throw off their shoes when they eat, because it would be troublesome,” says Sir J. Chardin, “to keep their shoes upon their feet, they sitting cross-legged on the floor, and having no hinder quarters to their shoes, which are made like slippers; and as they do not use tables and chairs as we do in Europe, but have their floors covered with carpets, they throw off their shoes when they enter their apartments, lest they should soil those beautiful pieces of furniture.” On the contrary the Israelites were to have their shoes on, because now about to commence their journey. It was customary among the Romans to lay aside their shoes when they went to a banquet. The servants took them off them when they entered the house, and returned them when they departed to their own habitations. Your staff in your hand - The same writer observes that the eastern people universally make use of a staff when they travel on foot. Ye shall eat it in haste - Because they were suddenly to take their departure: the destroying angel was at hand, their enemies were coming against them, and they had not a moment to lose. It is the Lord’s passover - That is, Jehovah is now about to pass over the land, and the houses only where the blood is sprinkled shall be safe from the stroke of death. […]
How the passage was read
On Exodus 12:1-51On Exodus 12:1-51
The night Israel still keeps
This chapter founds Passover, in Hebrew Pesach, the spring feast that remembers the night God struck Egypt's firstborn and passed over the blood-marked houses. Jewish families keep it to this day with a ceremonial meal called the seder (Hebrew for “order”): unleavened flatbread (matzah), bitter herbs, cups of wine, and the retelling of this chapter's story, with the children asking the questions.
Honesty about the timeline helps the reader: in the Bible's own period the center of the feast was the lamb, slain and eaten as this chapter commands. The seder as now practiced took its shape after the Temple fell in AD 70 and the lamb could no longer be offered; its oldest written outline is in the Mishnah, the first code of Jewish oral law (about AD 200), which already includes the four cups and the rule that “in every generation a person must see himself as if he personally came out of Egypt.”
What the Jewish commentators add
The reference is only to the paschal lamb eaten in Egypt. However, those in Argalon. The reference is unclear.
3 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
The idol of wood rotted, and the one of metal melted. 183 This is the language of Rashi. The Mechilta here has it: “the metal idols corroded.” Now Scripture did not elucidate the nature of these judgments because the vanities by which they are instructed are but timber.
BUT THAT WHICH REMAINETH OF IT…BURN WITH FIRE. If one was unable to eat one’s portion due to circumstances beyond one’s control.
You must not leave any of it over until morning. Any of it left over until morning must be burned in fire.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Sources: Mishnah Pesachim 10 (the seder's oldest outline) · Mishnah Pesachim 10:5 (“in every generation”) · The Feasts of the LORD (this site's study)
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
15 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכָכָה֮ | vekhakhah | and thus | H3602 → | |
| תֹּאכְל֣וּ | tokhelu | you will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֹתוֹ֒ | ʾoto | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| מָתְנֵיכֶ֣ם | mateneikhem | loins your | H4975 → | |
| חֲגֻרִ֔ים | chagurim | girded | H2296 → | |
| נַֽעֲלֵיכֶם֙ | naaleikhem | sandals your | H5275 → | |
| בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֔ם | beragleikhem | on feet your | H7272 → | 247 times |
| וּמַקֶּלְכֶ֖ם | umakelkhem | and staff your | H4731 → | |
| בְּיֶדְכֶ֑ם | beyedkhem | in hand your | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֤ם | vaakhaltem | and you will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| אֹתוֹ֙ | ʾoto | <obj.> it | H853 → | 10935 times |
| בְּחִפָּז֔וֹן | bechipazon | in haste | H2649 → | |
| פֶּ֥סַח | pesach | [is] a passover | H6453 → | 49 times |
| ה֖וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| לַיהוָֽה׃ | layahweh | to Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
וְכָכָה֮and thus
vekhakhahH3602 →
תֹּאכְל֣וּyou will eat
tokheluH398 →810 times
אֹתוֹ֒<obj.> it
ʾotoH853 →10935 times
מָתְנֵיכֶ֣םloins your
mateneikhemH4975 →
חֲגֻרִ֔יםgirded
chagurimH2296 →
נַֽעֲלֵיכֶם֙sandals your
naaleikhemH5275 →
בְּרַגְלֵיכֶ֔םon feet your
beragleikhemH7272 →247 times
וּמַקֶּלְכֶ֖םand staff your
umakelkhemH4731 →
בְּיֶדְכֶ֑םin hand your
beyedkhemH3027 →1618 times
וַאֲכַלְתֶּ֤םand you will eat
vaakhaltemH398 →810 times
אֹתוֹ֙<obj.> it
ʾotoH853 →10935 times
בְּחִפָּז֔וֹןin haste
bechipazonH2649 →
פֶּ֥סַח[is] a passover
pesachH6453 →49 times
ה֖וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
לַיהוָֽה׃to Yahweh
layahwehH3068 →6520 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Peter 1:13Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 5:8
Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
- Luke 12:35
Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.
- 1 Peter 4:7
The end of all things is near. Therefore be clear-minded and sober, so that you can pray.
- Hebrews 9:28
so also Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many; and He will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who eagerly await Him.
- 1 Peter 3:15
But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and…
- 1 Peter 5:8
Through
Ephesians 6:15and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace.
it leads to
- Isaiah 52:7
How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
- Romans 10:15
And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”
- Isaiah 52:7
Through
Luke 12:35Be dressed for service and keep your lamps burning.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 1:13
Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
- 1 Peter 1:13
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus

This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Repentance 2.3.18; Ambrose of Milan, On Cain and Abel 1.8.31; Augustine of Hippo, TRACTATE ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 55.1; Bede, Homilies on the Gospels 2.5; Bonaventure, Itinerarium Mentis in Deum, Chapter 7; Cyril of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 92; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 22; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
