Exodus 12:43
in Exodus 12And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Jehovah said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: there shall no foreigner eat thereof;
KJV
And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:
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This verse in Exodus 12
Commentary
5 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And the Lord said - From this verse to Exo 13:16 are instructions regarding the Passover. Such instructions were needed when the Israelites were joined by the “mixed multitude:” of strangers; and they were probably given at Succoth, on the morning following the departure from Rameses. No stranger - Literally, “son of a stranger.” The term is general; it includes all who were aliens from Israel, until they were incorporated into the nation by circumcision.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
But the deceitful, and he that is not pure of heart and possesses nothing that is pure (as Proverbs says, "To a deceitful man there is nothing good") shall assuredly, being a stranger and of a different race from the saints, be accounted unworthy to eat the Passover, for "a foreigner shall not eat of it." Thus Judas, when he thought he kept the Passover, because he plotted deceit against the Savior, was estranged from the city which is above and from the apostolic company. For the law commanded the Passover to be eaten with due observance.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And the Lord said unto Moses and Aaron,....
We must be born again by the word ere we can be nourished by it. Nor shall any partake of the benefit of Christ's sacrifice, or feast upon it, who are not first circumcised in heart, Col. ii. Any stranger that was circumcised might be welcome to eat of the passover, even servants,
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
This is the ordinance of the passover - From the last verse of this chapter it appears pretty evident that this, to the 50th verse inclusive, constituted a part of the directions given to Moses relative to the proper observance of the first passover, and should be read conjointly with the preceding account beginning at Exo 12:21. It may be supposed that these latter parts contain such particular directions as God gave to Moses after he had given those general ones mentioned in the preceding verses, but they seem all to belong to this first passover. There shall no stranger eat thereof - בן נכר ben nechar, the son of a stranger or foreigner, i.e., one who was not of the genuine Hebrew stock, or one who had not received circumcision; for any circumcised person might eat the passover, as the total exclusion extends only to the uncircumcised, see Exo 12:48. As there are two sorts of strangers mentioned in the sacred writings; one who was admitted to all the Jewish ordinances, and another who, though he dwelt among the Jews, was not permitted to eat the passover or partake of any of their solemn feasts; it may be necessary to show what was the essential point of distinction through which the one was admitted and the other excluded. In treatises on the religious customs of the Jews we frequently meet with the term proselyte, from the Greek προσηλυτος, a stranger or foreigner; one who is come from his own people and country to sojourn with another. All who were not descendants of some one of the twelve sons of Jacob, or of Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons of Joseph, were reputed strangers or proselytes among the Jews. But of those strangers or proselytes there were two kinds, called among them proselytes of the gate, and proselytes of injustice or of the covenant. […]
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
14 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַיֹּ֤אמֶר | vaiyomer | and he said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| יְהוָה֙ | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| אֶל־ | ʾel- | to | H413 → | 5510 times |
| מֹשֶׁ֣ה | mosheh | Moses | H4872 → | 765 times |
| וְאַהֲרֹ֔ן | veaharon | and Aaron | H175 → | 347 times |
| זֹ֖את | zot | this | H2063 → | 603 times |
| חֻקַּ֣ת | chukat | [is] [the] statute of | H2708 → | 104 times |
| הַפָּ֑סַח | hapasach | the passover | H6453 → | 49 times |
| כָּל־ | kol- | any | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| בֶּן־ | ben- | son of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| נֵכָ֖ר | nekhar | foreignness | H5236 → | |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יֹ֥אכַל | yokhal | he will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| בּֽוֹ׃ | bo | in <the> it |
וַיֹּ֤אמֶרand he said
vaiyomerH559 →5305 times
יְהוָה֙Yahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
אֶל־to
ʾel-H413 →5510 times
מֹשֶׁ֣הMoses
moshehH4872 →765 times
וְאַהֲרֹ֔ןand Aaron
veaharonH175 →347 times
זֹ֖אתthis
zotH2063 →603 times
חֻקַּ֣ת[is] [the] statute of
chukatH2708 →104 times
הַפָּ֑סַחthe passover
hapasachH6453 →49 times
כָּל־any
kol-H3605 →5413 times
בֶּן־son of
ben-H1121 →4930 times
נֵכָ֖רforeignness
nekharH5236 →
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יֹ֥אכַלhe will eat
yokhalH398 →810 times
בּֽוֹ׃in <the> it
bo
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
Ephesians 2:12remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
it leads to
- Galatians 4:8
Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods.
- Colossians 1:21
Once you were alienated from God and were hostile in your minds, engaging in evil deeds.
- 1 Peter 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
- Jeremiah 31:31–34
Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
- Ephesians 4:18
They are darkened in their understanding and alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardness of their hearts.
- Galatians 4:8
Through
Exodus 12:11This 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…
it leads to
- Ephesians 6:15
and with your feet fitted with the readiness of the gospel of peace.
- Exodus 12:27
you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the…
- 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.
- Ephesians 6:15
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus

Who and where
2 names in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Athanasius of Alexandria, FESTAL LETTERS 6.11; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
