Exodus 12:15
in Exodus 12For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
KJV
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
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This verse in Exodus 12
Commentary
6 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Cut off - The penalty inflicted on those who transgressed the command may be accounted for on the ground that it was an act of rebellion; but additional light is thrown upon it by the typical meaning assigned to leaven by our Lord, Mat 16:6.
This site's exposition
you must eat unleavened bread
on Exodus 12:15-16
Leaven first appears in Scripture here, as something to be put out of the house. Seven days of unleavened bread follow one night of the lamb, so the deliverance is a night and its consequence a week.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Now, without doubt, there was much of the gospel in this ordinance; it is often referred to in the New Testament, and, in it, to us is the gospel preached, and not to them only, who could not stedfastly look to the end of these things, Heb. iv. The paschal lamb was typical. Christ is our Passover, 1 Cor. v. 7 .
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
A figurative allusion to this is made (1Co 5:7). The exclusion of leaven for seven days would not be attended with inconvenience in the East, where the usual leaven is dough kept till it becomes sour, and it is kept from one day to another for the purpose of preserving leaven in readiness.
Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread - This has been considered as a distinct ordinance, and not essentially connected with the passover. The passover was to be observed on the fourteenth day of the first month; the feast of unleavened bread began on the fifteenth and lasted seven days, the first and last of which were holy convocations. That soul shall be cut off - There are thirty-six places in which this excision or cutting off is threatened against the Jews for neglect of some particular duty; and what is implied in the thing itself is not well known. Some think it means a violent death, some a premature death, and some an eternal death. It is very likely that it means no more than a separation from the rights and privileges of an Israelite; so that after this excision the person was considered as a mere stranger, who had neither lot nor part in Israel, nor any right to the blessings of the covenant. This is probably what St. Paul means, Rom 9:3. But we naturally suppose this punishment was not inflicted but on those who had showed a marked and obstinate contempt for the Divine authority. This punishment appears to have been nearly the same with excommunication among the Christians; and from this general notion of the cutting off, the Christian excommunication seems to have been borrowed.
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.”
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)
The words behind it
23 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁבְעַ֤ת | shivat | seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| יָמִים֙ | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| מַצּ֣וֹת | matzot | unleavened bread<s> | H4682 → | 53 times |
| תֹּאכֵ֔לוּ | tokhelu | you will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| אַ֚ךְ | ʾakh | surely | H389 → | 161 times |
| בַּיּ֣וֹם | baiyom | on the day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הָרִאשׁ֔וֹן | harishon | <the> first | H7223 → | 182 times |
| תַּשְׁבִּ֥יתוּ | tashbitu | you will remove | H7673 → | 71 times |
| שְּׂאֹ֖ר | seor | leaven | H7603 → | 5 times |
| מִבָּתֵּיכֶ֑ם | mibateikhem | from houses your | H1004 → | 2046 times |
| כִּ֣י׀ | ki | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| אֹכֵ֣ל | ʾokhel | [one who] eats | H398 → | 810 times |
| חָמֵ֗ץ | chametz | leaven | H2557 → | 11 times |
| וְנִכְרְתָ֞ה | venikhretah | and he will be cut off | H3772 → | 288 times |
| הַנֶּ֤פֶשׁ | hanefesh | the person | H5315 → | 754 times |
| הַהִוא֙ | hahiv' | <the> that | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | miyisrael | from Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| מִיּ֥וֹם | miyom | from [the] day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הָרִאשֹׁ֖ן | harishon | <the> first | H7223 → | 182 times |
| עַד־ | ʾad- | until | H5704 → | 1261 times |
| י֥וֹם | yom | [the] day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| הַשְּׁבִעִֽי׃ | hashevii | <the> seventh | H7637 → | 98 times |
שִׁבְעַ֤תseven
shivatH7651 →394 times
יָמִים֙days
yamimH3117 →2304 times
מַצּ֣וֹתunleavened bread<s>
matzotH4682 →53 times
תֹּאכֵ֔לוּyou will eat
tokheluH398 →810 times
אַ֚ךְsurely
ʾakhH389 →161 times
בַּיּ֣וֹםon the day
baiyomH3117 →2304 times
הָרִאשׁ֔וֹן<the> first
harishonH7223 →182 times
תַּשְׁבִּ֥יתוּyou will remove
tashbituH7673 →71 times
שְּׂאֹ֖רleaven
seorH7603 →5 times
מִבָּתֵּיכֶ֑םfrom houses your
mibateikhemH1004 →2046 times
כִּ֣י׀for
kiH3588 →4482 times
כָּל־any
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אֹכֵ֣ל[one who] eats
ʾokhelH398 →810 times
חָמֵ֗ץleaven
chametzH2557 →11 times
וְנִכְרְתָ֞הand he will be cut off
venikhretahH3772 →288 times
הַנֶּ֤פֶשׁthe person
hanefeshH5315 →754 times
הַהִוא֙<the> that
hahiv'H1931 →1879 times
מִיִּשְׂרָאֵ֔לfrom Israel
miyisraelH3478 →2507 times
מִיּ֥וֹםfrom [the] day
miyomH3117 →2304 times
הָרִאשֹׁ֖ן<the> first
harishonH7223 →182 times
עַד־until
ʾad-H5704 →1261 times
י֥וֹם[the] day
yomH3117 →2304 times
הַשְּׁבִעִֽי׃<the> seventh
hasheviiH7637 →98 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
Numbers 28:17On the fifteenth day of this month, there shall be a feast; for seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten.
it leads to
- Leviticus 23:6
On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Leviticus 23:6
Through
Deuteronomy 16:3You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you…
it leads to
- Exodus 12:39
Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had…
- Exodus 12:19–20
For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation…
- Exodus 34:18
You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the…
- Exodus 12:39
Through
Exodus 23:15You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was…
it leads to
- Exodus 34:20
You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb; but if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No…
- Luke 22:7
Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed.
- Proverbs 3:9–10
Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the firstfruits of all your harvest;
- Exodus 34:20
Through
Genesis 17:14But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
it leads to
- Exodus 4:24–26
Now at a lodging place along the way, the LORD met Moses and was about to kill him.
- Exodus 4:24–26
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies30
On this chapter
- The Words Philoxenia and Ger
- The Words Tom and Tamim
- Jesus: Titles & Roles
- Pharaoh
- Rahab and the Scarlet Cord
- The Scarlet Thread
Show the next 6 titles
About Exodus
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.