Exodus 12:44
in Exodus 12But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
but every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
KJV
But every man’s servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
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This verse in Exodus 12
Commentary
3 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Servant - The circumcision of the slave, thus enjoined formally on the first day that Israel became a nation, in accordance with the law given to Abraham, (see the margin reference) made him a true member of the family, equally entitled to all religious privileges. In the household of a priest the slave was even permitted to eat the consecrated food: Lev 22:11.
The record, by era
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
But every man's servant that is bought for money,....
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,
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
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְכָל־ | vekhol | and every | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| עֶ֥בֶד | ʾeved | slave of | H5650 → | 799 times |
| אִ֖ישׁ | ʾish | anyone | H376 → | 1663 times |
| מִקְנַת־ | miknat- | [the] purchase of | H4736 → | |
| כָּ֑סֶף | kasef | silver | H3701 → | 403 times |
| וּמַלְתָּ֣ה | umaltah | and you will circumcise | H4135 → | |
| אֹת֔וֹ | ʾoto | <obj.> him | H853 → | 10935 times |
| אָ֖ז | ʾaz | then | H227 → | 141 times |
| יֹ֥אכַל | yokhal | he will eat | H398 → | 810 times |
| בּֽוֹ׃ | bo | in <the> it |
וְכָל־and every
vekholH3605 →5413 times
עֶ֥בֶדslave of
ʾevedH5650 →799 times
אִ֖ישׁanyone
ʾishH376 →1663 times
מִקְנַת־[the] purchase of
miknat-H4736 →
כָּ֑סֶףsilver
kasefH3701 →403 times
וּמַלְתָּ֣הand you will circumcise
umaltahH4135 →
אֹת֔וֹ<obj.> him
ʾotoH853 →10935 times
אָ֖זthen
ʾazH227 →141 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
5 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
Genesis 17:23On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or purchased with his money—every male among the members of Abraham’s household—and he circumcised them, just as God…
it leads to
- Psalms 119:60
I hurried without hesitating to keep Your commandments.
- Genesis 17:10–14
This is My covenant with you and your descendants after you, which you are to keep: Every male among you must be circumcised.
- Genesis 17:26–27
Abraham and his son Ishmael were circumcised on the same day.
- Genesis 18:19
For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that…
- Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
- Psalms 119:60
Where this verse is studied
About Exodus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.