Exodus 12:19
in Exodus 12For 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 of Israel.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land.
KJV
Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land.
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This verse in Exodus 12
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Born in the land - A stranger or foreigner might be born in the land, but the word here used means “a native of the land,” belonging to the country by virtue of descent, that descent being reckoned from Abraham, to whom Canaan was promised as a perpetual inheritance.
This site's exposition
ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread
on Exodus 12:17-20
The feast is grounded on a date rather than on a season, since in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. The word armies for a body of unarmed slaves is the text's own and it returns at verse 51. The rule already reaches the stranger as well as the man born in the land, which is the first sign of what verses 48 and 49 will say outright.
This site's exposition
whether a foreigner or native of the land
Albert Barnes reads native of the land as a man belonging to the country by descent from Abraham, to whom Canaan had been promised. The law speaks from Canaan while Israel still stands in Egypt.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening3 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 .
All the old leaven of sin must be put far from us, with the utmost caution and abhorrence, if we would keep the feast of a holy life to the honour of Christ. (3.) It was by an ordinance for ever (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses,.....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
No leaven found in your houses - To meet the letter of this precept in the fullest manner possible, the Jews, on the eve of this festival, institute the most rigorous search through every part of their houses, not only removing all leavened bread, but sweeping every part clean, that no crumb of bread shall be left that had any leaven in it. And so strict were they in the observance of the letter of this law, that if even a mouse was seen to run across the floor with a crumb of bread in its mouth, they considered the whole house as polluted, and began their purification afresh. We have already seen that leaven was an emblem of sin, because it proceeded from corruption; and the putting away of this implied the turning to God with simplicity and uprightness of heart. See on Exo 12:8 (note), and Exo 12:27 (note).
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
18 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׁבְעַ֣ת | shivat | seven | H7651 → | 394 times |
| יָמִ֔ים | yamim | days | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| שְׂאֹ֕ר | seor | leaven | H7603 → | 5 times |
| לֹ֥א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִמָּצֵ֖א | yimatze' | it will be found | H4672 → | 455 times |
| בְּבָתֵּיכֶ֑ם | bevateikhem | in 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 |
| מַחְמֶ֗צֶת | machmetzet | a thing leavened | H2556 → | 8 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 |
| מֵעֲדַ֣ת | meadat | from [the] congregation of | H5712 → | 149 times |
| יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל | yisrael | Israel | H3478 → | 2507 times |
| בַּגֵּ֖ר | bager | in the sojourner | H1616 → | 92 times |
| וּבְאֶזְרַ֥ח | uveezrach | and in [the] native-born of | H249 → | 17 times |
| הָאָֽרֶץ׃ | haaretz | the land | H776 → | 2504 times |
שִׁבְעַ֣תseven
shivatH7651 →394 times
יָמִ֔יםdays
yamimH3117 →2304 times
שְׂאֹ֕רleaven
seorH7603 →5 times
לֹ֥אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִמָּצֵ֖אit will be found
yimatze'H4672 →455 times
בְּבָתֵּיכֶ֑םin houses your
bevateikhemH1004 →2046 times
כִּ֣י׀for
kiH3588 →4482 times
כָּל־any
kol-H3605 →5413 times
אֹכֵ֣ל[one who] eats
ʾokhelH398 →810 times
מַחְמֶ֗צֶתa thing leavened
machmetzetH2556 →8 times
וְנִכְרְתָ֞הand he will be cut off
venikhretahH3772 →288 times
הַנֶּ֤פֶשׁthe person
hanefeshH5315 →754 times
הַהִוא֙<the> that
hahiv'H1931 →1879 times
מֵעֲדַ֣תfrom [the] congregation of
meadatH5712 →149 times
יִשְׂרָאֵ֔לIsrael
yisraelH3478 →2507 times
בַּגֵּ֖רin the sojourner
bagerH1616 →92 times
וּבְאֶזְרַ֥חand in [the] native-born of
uveezrachH249 →17 times
הָאָֽרֶץ׃the land
haaretzH776 →2504 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
Exodus 12:15For 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…
it leads to
- Genesis 17:14
But if any male is not circumcised, he will be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 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…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 16:3
You 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…
- Exodus 23:15
You 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…
- Genesis 17:14
Through
Exodus 12:48If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be…
it leads to
- Numbers 9:14
If a foreigner dwelling among you wants to observe the Passover to the LORD, he is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute…
- Numbers 9:14
Through
Numbers 9:13But if a man who is ceremonially clean and is not on a journey still fails to observe the Passover, he must be cut off from his people, because he did not present the…
it leads to
- Exodus 12:15
For 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…
- Exodus 12:15
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 12:39
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…
- Exodus 34:20
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies10
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); Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.