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Êxodo 12

ARC · Chapter 12/40

1E fallou o Senhor a Moysés e a Aarão na terra do Egypto, dizendo:

2Este mesmo mez vos será o principio dos mezes: este vos será o primeiro dos mezes do anno.

3Fallae a toda a congregação d'Israel, dizendo: Aos dez d'este mez tome cada um para si um cordeiro, segundo as casas dos paes, um cordeiro para cada casa.

4Mas se a casa fôr pequena para um cordeiro, então elle tome a seu visinho perto de sua casa, conforme ao numero das almas: cada um conforme ao seu comer, fareis a conta conforme ao cordeiro.

5O cordeiro, ou cabrito, será sem macula, um macho de um anno, o qual tomareis das ovelhas ou das cabras,

6E o guardareis até ao decimo quarto dia d'este mez , e todo o ajuntamento da congregação de Israel o sacrificará á tarde.

7E tomarão do sangue, e pol-o-hão em ambas as umbreiras, e na lumieira da porta, nas casas em que o comerão.

8E n'aquella noite comerão a carne assada no fogo, com pães asmos; com hervas amargosas a comerão.

9Não comereis d'elle crú, nem cozido em agua, senão assado ao fogo, a sua cabeça com os seus pés e com a sua fressura.

10E nada d'elle deixareis até ámanhã: mas o que d'elle ficar até ámanhã, queimareis no fogo.

11Assim pois o comereis: os vossos lombos cingidos, os vossos sapatos nos pés, e o vosso cajado na mão: e o comereis apressadamente: esta é a paschoa do Senhor.

12E eu passarei pela terra do Egypto esta noite, e ferirei todo o primogenito na terra do Egypto, desde os homens até aos animaes; e em todos os deuses do Egypto farei juizos, Eu sou o Senhor.

13E aquelle sangue vos será por signal nas casas em que estiverdes; vendo eu sangue, passarei por cima de vós, e não haverá entre vós praga de mortandade, quando eu ferir a terra do Egypto.

14E este dia vos será por memoria, e celebral-o-heis por festa ao Senhor: nas vossas gerações o celebrareis por estatuto perpetuo.

15Sete dias comereis pães asmos; ao primeiro dia tirareis o fermento das vossas casas; porque qualquer que comer pão levedado, desde o primeiro até ao setimo dia, aquella alma será cortada d'Israel.

16E ao primeiro dia haverá sancta convocação; tambem ao setimo dia tereis sancta convocação: nenhuma obra se fará n'elles, senão o que cada alma houver de comer; isso sómente apromptareis para vós.

17Guardae pois a festa dos pães asmos, porque n'aquelle mesmo dia tirei vossos exercitos da terra do Egypto: pelo que guardareis a este dia nas vossas gerações por estatuto perpetuo.

18No primeiro mez, aos quatorze dias do mez, á tarde, comereis pães asmos até vinte e um do mez á tarde.

19Por sete dias não se ache nenhum fermento nas vossas casas: porque qualquer que comer pão levedado, aquella alma será cortada da congregação de Israel, assim o estrangeiro como o natural da terra.

20Nenhuma coisa levedada comereis; em todas as vossas habitações comereis pães asmos.

21Chamou pois Moysés a todos os anciãos de Israel, e disse-lhes: Escolhei e tomae vós cordeiros para vossas familias, e sacrificae a paschoa.

22Então tomae um mólho de hyssopo, e molhae-o no sangue que estiver na bacia, e mettei na lumieira da porta, e em ambas as umbreiras, do sangue que estiver na bacia, porém nenhum de vós saia da porta da sua casa até á manhã

23Porque o Senhor passará para ferir aos egypcios, porém quando vir o sangue na lumieira da porta, e em ambas as umbreiras, o Senhor passará aquella porta, e não deixará ao destruidor entrar em vossas casas, para vos ferir.

24Portanto guardae isto por estatuto para vós, e para vossos filhos para sempre.

25E acontecerá que, quando entrardes na terra que o Senhor vos dará, como tem dito, guardareis este culto.

26E acontecerá que, quando vossos filhos vos disserem: Que culto é este vosso?

27Então direis: Este é o sacrificio da paschoa ao Senhor, que passou as casas dos filhos d'Israel no Egypto, quando feriu aos egypcios, e livrou as nossas casas. Então o povo inclinou-se, e adorou.

28E foram os filhos d'Israel, e fizeram isso; como o Senhor ordenara a Moysés e a Aarão, assim fizeram.

29E aconteceu, á meia noite, que o Senhor feriu a todos os primogenitos na terra do Egypto, desde o primogenito de Pharaó, que se sentava em seu throno, até ao primogenito do captivo que estava no carcere, e todos os primogenitos dos animaes.

30E Pharaó levantou-se de noite, elle e todos os seus servos, e todos os egypcios; e havia grande clamor no Egypto, porque não havia casa em que não houvesse um morto.

31Então chamou a Moysés e a Aarão de noite, e disse: Levantae-vos, sahi do meio do meu povo, tanto vós como os filhos d'Israel: e ide, servi ao Senhor, como tendes dito.

32Levae tambem comvosco vossas ovelhas e vossas vaccas, como tendes dito; e ide, e abençoae-me tambem a mim.

33E os egypcios apertavam ao povo, apressando-se para lançal-os da terra; porque diziam: Todos somos mortos.

34E o povo tomou a sua massa, antes que levedasse, as suas amassadeiras atadas em seus vestidos, sobre seus hombros.

35Fizeram pois os filhos de Israel conforme á palavra de Moysés, e pediram aos egypcios vasos de prata, e vasos de oiro, e vestidos.

36E o Senhor deu graça ao povo em os olhos dos egypcios, e emprestavam-*lhes: e elles despojavam aos egypcios.

37Assim partiram os filhos de Israel de Rameses para Succoth, coisa de seiscentos mil de pé, sómente de varões, sem contar os meninos.

38E subiu tambem com elles muita mistura de gente, e ovelhas, e vaccas, uma grande multidão de gado.

39E cozeram bolos asmos da massa que levaram do Egypto, porque não se tinha levedado, porquanto foram lançados do Egypto; e não se poderam deter, nem ainda se prepararam comida.

40O tempo que os filhos de Israel habitaram no Egypto foi de quatrocentos e trinta annos.

41E aconteceu, passados os quatrocentos e trinta annos, n'aquelle mesmo dia succedeu que todos os exercitos do Senhor sairam da terra do Egypto.

42Esta noite se guardará ao Senhor, porque n'ella os tirou da terra do Egypto: esta é a noite do Senhor, que devem guardar todos os filhos de Israel nas suas gerações.

43Disse mais o Senhor a Moysés e a Aarão: Esta é a ordenança da paschoa; nenhum filho do estrangeiro comerá d'ella.

44Porém todo o servo de qualquer, comprado por dinheiro, depois que o houveres circumcidado, então comerá d'ella.

45O estrangeiro e o assalariado não comerão d'ella.

46N'uma casa se comerá; não levarás d'aquella carne fóra da casa, nem d'ella quebrareis osso.

47Toda a congregação de Israel o fará.

48Porém se algum estrangeiro se hospedar comtigo, e quizer celebrar a paschoa ao Senhor, seja-lhe circumcidado todo o macho, e então chegará a celebral-a, e será como o natural da terra; mas nenhum incircumciso comerá d'ella.

49Uma mesma lei haja para o natural, e para o estrangeiro que peregrinar entre vós.

50E todos os filhos de Israel o fizeram: como o Senhor ordenara a Moysés e a Aarão, assim fizeram.

51E aconteceu n'aquelle mesmo dia que o Senhor tirou os filhos de Israel da terra do Egypto, segundo os seus exercitos.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

The first Passover is instituted: the Israelites are to sacrifice a lamb and put its blood on their doorposts; the final plague kills every Egyptian firstborn, and Pharaoh finally sets the people of Israel free.

Explanation

This is one of the most central chapters in the entire Bible, establishing Passover (Pesach) as the foundational feast of Israelite identity, still celebrated by the Jewish people today. The lamb's blood on the doorposts does not protect the Israelites by their own goodness or merit, but purely through faith in following God's instruction — when He sees the blood, He 'passes over' that house, sparing it from the judgment falling upon Egypt. This simple act of faith and obedience would become, for Christian tradition, one of the clearest foreshadowings of Christ as the 'Passover lamb' who protects from spiritual death through His own shed blood. The hasty departure from Egypt, with unleavened bread for lack of time, and the mention of '430 years' spent in Egypt, give a precise historical close to this phase of Israel's history, marking the birth of the nation as a free people.

Fun facts

  • The instruction that 'not a bone' of the Passover lamb was to be broken (v. 46) is directly quoted in the Gospel of John (19:36) to describe how Jesus' bones were not broken on the cross, despite common Roman practice, theologically linking the Jewish Passover to the Christian crucifixion.
  • The number of '600,000 men on foot, besides children' (v. 37) who left Egypt, combined with women and children, suggests a total Israelite population somewhere between two and three million people — a figure debated among scholars as to whether it should be taken literally or symbolically, but one that shows the sheer magnitude of the event described.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 12:1Marks the beginning of the specific instructions about the Passover, given while still in Egypt, on the very night before the final plague strikes.
  2. Êxodo 12:2God reorganizes Israel’s calendar starting with this event: the month of the exodus from Egypt becomes the first month of the people’s religious year.
  3. Êxodo 12:3The lamb had to be chosen by family four days ahead of the sacrifice, giving time to observe whether the animal was healthy.
  4. Êxodo 12:4If a family was too small to eat a whole lamb, it was to share the animal with the neighboring household, dividing the amount according to the number of people.
  5. Êxodo 12:5The lamb had to be a male, a year old, and without physical defect — the same quality standards later used for other sacrifices under the law.
  6. Êxodo 12:6The lamb was kept for four days and slaughtered in the late afternoon of the fourteenth day of the month, a specific time that Jewish tradition kept for centuries.
  7. Êxodo 12:7“Side posts” are the sides of the doorframe, and the “lintel” is the top part; the lamb is slaughtered and its blood applied to those three points at the entrance of the house as a visible sign from outside. It is that blood, not some silent faith held by those inside, that serves as the mark for the plague to pass over that house.
  8. Êxodo 12:8“Unleavened bread” is bread made without yeast, baked in haste because there was no time to let the dough rise on the night of the escape; the bitter herbs recall the bitter taste of slavery in Egypt. The whole meal is built as a physical reminder of the haste and suffering of that night.
  9. Êxodo 12:9The meat had to be roasted whole over the fire, never boiled in water or eaten raw — a specific method of preparation that was itself part of the ritual.
  10. Êxodo 12:10Nothing could be left over from the meal for the next day; whatever remained had to be burned, so the sacrificial meat would never be kept as ordinary food.
  11. Êxodo 12:11Eating it with “loins girded” — clothes tucked into the belt, ready to run —, sandals on the feet, and staff in hand is the posture of people already on their way out, as if the escape had already begun. That is where the feast gets its name, called in the text the “passover,” because the Lord passes over the houses marked with blood.
  12. Êxodo 12:12God ties the final plague to a judgment against the Egyptian gods as well, since several of them were associated with animals and with Pharaoh himself, who was considered divine.
  13. Êxodo 12:13The blood on the doors was not a magic charm but the visible sign of obedience that made the plague of death pass over that particular house.
  14. Êxodo 12:14God establishes that night as a permanent celebration, remembered every year by Israel’s future generations — the origin of the Jewish Passover feast.
  15. Êxodo 12:15Begins the instruction about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which lasts seven days and forbids any trace of yeast in the houses during that period.
  16. Êxodo 12:16The first and seventh days of the feast are marked by holy gatherings with rest from ordinary work, similar in structure to a special Sabbath.
  17. Êxodo 12:17Reinforces that the Feast of Unleavened Bread must be celebrated forever, precisely because it marks the actual day the people left Egypt.
  18. Êxodo 12:18Sets the exact dates of the feast, from the beginning of the night of the fourteenth day to the end of the night of the twenty-first day of the same month.
  19. Êxodo 12:19Repeats the ban on yeast during the seven days, extending the rule also to the foreigners living among the people of Israel.
  20. Êxodo 12:20Closes the instruction about the unleavened bread, insisting that the ban applies in every Israelite household, without exception.
  21. Êxodo 12:21Moses passes on to the elders the instructions received from God, following the same pattern seen elsewhere in the book: the leaders first, then the people.
  22. Êxodo 12:22Hyssop, a plant used like a kind of brush, was used to spread the blood on the doors; staying inside until morning avoided the danger outside.
  23. Êxodo 12:23“The destroyer” is a figure associated with this specific plague, likely an agent sent by God to carry out the judgment against the firstborn.
  24. Êxodo 12:24Moses insists that this practice must continue to be followed forever, not only on that first night in Egypt.
  25. Êxodo 12:25The Passover celebration was meant to continue even after the people had already settled in the promised land, not only during the escape from Egypt.
  26. Êxodo 12:26Anticipates that future generations will ask the meaning of that ritual, setting up the explanation given in the following verse.
  27. Êxodo 12:27The answer expected from the parents explains the meaning of Passover to the next generations: a living reminder of when God spared the Hebrew houses in Egypt.
  28. Êxodo 12:28Marks that the people carry out exactly what they were instructed, the same expression of obedience already used earlier regarding Moses and Aaron.
  29. Êxodo 12:29The final plague strikes every Egyptian household without exception of social class, from Pharaoh’s own son to the son of the lowliest prisoner, and the livestock as well.
  30. Êxodo 12:30The reaction in Egypt is widespread mourning: there is not a single house without someone dead, a direct contrast to the protection of the Hebrew houses marked with blood.
  31. Êxodo 12:31Pharaoh finally gives in completely, calling for Moses and Aaron while it is still night and ordering the people to leave at once, just as had been asked from the beginning.
  32. Êxodo 12:32Pharaoh even allows the livestock to leave with the people, something he had denied before, and asks them to bless him as well.
  33. Êxodo 12:33The Egyptians themselves press the Hebrews to leave quickly, afraid of more deaths if the people stayed in the country any longer.
  34. Êxodo 12:34The haste of the departure is so great that the people carry their dough before it is even leavened, wrapped up and carried on their shoulders, with no time for normal preparation.
  35. Êxodo 12:35The people follow the instructions received earlier and ask the Egyptians for silver, gold, and clothing, fulfilling what had already been announced to Moses back in chapter 3.
  36. Êxodo 12:36The Egyptians, afraid and favorably disposed toward the people after so many plagues, lend these items without resistance — a kind of settling of accounts for the slavery.
  37. Êxodo 12:37Rameses and Succoth mark the start of the route out of Egypt; the number of six hundred thousand men, not counting women and children, shows a people far larger than the original seventy.
  38. Êxodo 12:38Besides the Israelites, a mixed group of other people also takes the chance to leave Egypt along with them, bringing large flocks and herds.
  39. Êxodo 12:39With no time to prepare any proper meal, the people bake unleavened cakes from the dough they had brought along — the practical origin of the Passover food.
  40. Êxodo 12:40The length of the stay in Egypt, four hundred and thirty years, is a point scholars calculate differently, comparing it with other genealogical counts in the Bible, which in Genesis seem to suggest a shorter period. There is no way to pin down the exact length, but the text uses this number to symbolically close a very long chapter of the people’s history.
  41. Êxodo 12:41Closes the period of the stay in Egypt with an exact date: the exodus happened on the very day the four hundred and thirty years were completed.
  42. Êxodo 12:42That specific night comes to be marked as an annual vigil in memory of the exodus from Egypt, kept by the generations of Israel that follow.
  43. Êxodo 12:43Begins a new set of rules about who may take part in the Passover meal, starting with the exclusion of foreigners just passing through with no ties to the people.
  44. Êxodo 12:44A purchased slave, however, could take part in the Passover as long as he was circumcised — the mark of the covenant that included him as part of the Israelite household.
  45. Êxodo 12:45Foreign workers hired temporarily were left out of the meal, since they were not a permanent part of the covenant community.
  46. Êxodo 12:46The rule against breaking any bone of the Passover lamb was part of the careful way the whole animal was prepared and eaten inside the house, without waste. It is a specific ritual detail of the Passover meal, tied to the idea of treating that sacrifice with a care no other dish at the table received.
  47. Êxodo 12:47Establishes that the Passover must be celebrated by the whole congregation of Israel, not only by individual families who happened to want to take part.
  48. Êxodo 12:48A foreigner living among the people could take part in the Passover, as long as every male in the household was circumcised, thereby being treated as native-born.
  49. Êxodo 12:49Establishes that the same Passover law applies equally to native-born Israelites and to foreigners who chose to join the people in this way.
  50. Êxodo 12:50Repeats the formula of obedience: the people carry out exactly the instructions given to Moses and Aaron about the Passover and the exodus from Egypt.
  51. Êxodo 12:51Closes the chapter confirming that the exodus happened on that very day, organized like the march of an army, not a disorganized flight.

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