Exodus 12:29
Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.
BSB
Parallel translations (2) ▾
ASV
And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.
KJV
And it came to pass, that at midnight the Lord smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle.
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Commentary
2 voicesVoices on this verse
loading…Hebraic traditional view
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.”
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)
Original language & word study
23 tagged words| Original | Transliteration | Meaning | Word study |
|---|---|---|---|
| וַיְהִ֣י׀ | vay.Hi | and it was | H1961 → |
| בַּחֲצִ֣י | ba.cha.Tzi | in [the] middle of | H2677 → |
| הַלַּ֗יְלָה | ha.Lay.lah | the night | H3915 → |
| וַֽיהוָה֮ | va.Yah.weh | and Yahweh | H3068 → |
| הִכָּ֣ה | hi.Kah | he struck | H5221 → |
| כָל־ | khol- | every | H3605 → |
| בְּכוֹר֮ | be.khOr | firstborn | H1060 → |
| בְּאֶ֣רֶץ | be.'E.retz | in [the] land of | H776 → |
| מִצְרַיִם֒ | mitz.ra.Yim | Egypt | H4714 → |
| מִבְּכֹ֤ר | mi.be.Khor | from [the] firstborn of | H1060 → |
| פַּרְעֹה֙ | par.'Oh | Pharaoh | H6547 → |
| הַיֹּשֵׁ֣ב | hai.yo.Shev | who sat | H3427 → |
| עַל־ | 'al- | on | H5921 → |
| כִּסְא֔וֹ | kis.'O | throne his | H3678 → |
| עַ֚ד | 'ad | unto | H5704 → |
| בְּכ֣וֹר | be.Khor | [the] firstborn of | H1060 → |
| הַשְּׁבִ֔י | ha.she.Vi | the prisoner | H7628 → |
| אֲשֶׁ֖ר | 'a.Sher | who | H834 → |
| בְּבֵ֣ית | be.Veit | [was] in [the] house of | H1004 → |
| הַבּ֑וֹר | ha.Bor | the cistern | H953 → |
| וְכֹ֖ל | ve.Khol | and every | H3605 → |
| בְּכ֥וֹר | be.Khor | firstborn of | H1060 → |
| בְּהֵמָֽה׃ | be.he.Mah | livestock | H929 → |
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