Êxodo 12

BLIVRE · Chapter 12/40

1E falou o SENHOR a Moisés e a Arão na terra do Egito, dizendo:

2Este mês vos será o princípio dos meses; será este para vós o primeiro nos meses do ano.

3Falai a toda a congregação de Israel, dizendo: No [dia] dez deste mês tome para si cada um um cordeiro pelas famílias dos pais, um cordeiro por família:

4Mas se a família for pequena que não seja capaz de comer o cordeiro inteiro, então tomará a seu vizinho imediato à sua casa, e segundo o número das pessoas, cada um conforme seu comer, fareis a conta sobre o cordeiro.

5O cordeiro será sem defeito, macho de um ano; vós o tomareis das ovelhas ou das cabras:

6E o guardareis até o dia catorze desse mês; e toda a congregação do povo de Israel o imolará ao entardecer.

7E tomarão do sangue, e o porão nos dois postes e na verga das casas em que o comerão.

8E naquela noite comerão a carne assada ao fogo, e pães sem levedura; com ervas amargas o comerão.

9Nenhuma coisa comereis dele crua, nem cozida em água, mas sim assada ao fogo; sua cabeça com seus pés e seus intestinos.

10Nenhuma coisa deixareis dele até a manhã; e o que houver restado até a manhã, queimareis no fogo.

11E assim tereis de comê-lo: cingidos vossos lombos, vossos calçados em vossos pés, e vosso bordão em vossa mão; e o comereis apressadamente: é a Páscoa do SENHOR.

12Pois eu passarei naquela noite pela terra do Egito, e ferirei todo primogênito na terra do Egito, tanto nos homens como nos animais; e executarei juízos em todos os deuses do Egito. EU SOU O SENHOR.

13E o sangue vos será por sinal nas casas onde vós estejais; e verei o sangue, e passarei de vós, e não haverá em vós praga de mortandade, quando ferirei a terra do Egito.

14E hoje vos será em memória, e tereis de celebrá-lo como solenidade ao SENHOR durante vossas gerações; por estatuto perpétuo o celebrareis.

15Sete dias comereis pães sem levedura; e assim o primeiro dia fareis que não haja levedura em vossas casas; porque qualquer um que comer levedado desde o primeiro dia até o sétimo, aquela alma será eliminada de Israel.

16No primeiro dia haverá santa convocação, e também no sétimo dia tereis uma santa convocação; nenhuma obra se fará neles, exceto somente que prepareis o que cada qual houver de comer.

17E guardareis a festa dos pães ázimos, porque em este mesmo dia tirei vossos exércitos da terra do Egito: portanto guardareis hoje em vossas gerações por costume perpétuo.

18No mês primeiro, o dia catorze do mês pela tarde, comereis os pães sem levedura, até o vinte e um do mês pela tarde.

19Por sete dias não se achará levedura em vossas casas, porque qualquer um que comer algo levedado, tanto o estrangeiro como o natural da terra, tal alma será eliminada da congregação de Israel.

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

21E Moisés convocou a todos os anciãos de Israel, e disse-lhes: Tirai, e tomai para vós cordeiros por vossas famílias, e sacrificai a páscoa.

22E tomai um molho de hissopo, e molhai-lhe no sangue que estará em uma bacia, e untai a verga e os dois postes com o sangue que estará na bacia; e nenhum de vós saia das portas de sua casa até a manhã.

23Porque o SENHOR passará ferindo os egípcios; e quando vir o sangue na verga e nos dois postes, passará o SENHOR aquela porta, e não deixará entrar o feridor em vossas casas para ferir.

24E guardareis isto por estatuto para vós e para vossos filhos para sempre.

25E será que quando houverdes entrado na terra que o SENHOR vos dará, como tem falado, que guardareis este rito.

26E quando vos perguntarem vossos filhos: Que rito é este vosso?

27Respondereis: É o sacrifício da Páscoa do SENHOR, que passou nas casas dos filhos de Israel no Egito, quando feriu os egípcios, e livrou nossas casas. Então o povo se inclinou e adorou.

28E os filhos de Israel se foram, e fizeram exatamente assim, como o SENHOR havia mandado a Moisés e a Arão.

29E aconteceu que à meia-noite o SENHOR feriu todo primogênito na terra do Egito, desde o primogênito de Faraó que se sentava sobre seu trono, até o primogênito do prisioneiro que estava no cárcere, e todo primogênito dos animais.

30E levantou-se naquela noite Faraó, ele e todos os seus servos, e todos os egípcios; e havia um grande clamor no Egito, porque não havia casa onde não houvesse morto.

31E fez chamar a Moisés e a Arão de noite, e disse-lhes: Saí do meio de meu povo vós, e os filhos de Israel; e ide, servi ao SENHOR, como dissestes.

32Tomai também vossas ovelhas e vossas vacas, como dissestes, e ide; e abençoai também a mim.

33E os egípcios apressavam ao povo, dando pressa a expulsá-los da terra; porque diziam: Todos seremos mortos.

34E levou o povo sua massa antes que se levedasse, suas massas envoltas em suas mantas sobre seus ombros.

35E fizeram os filhos de Israel conforme o mandamento de Moisés, pedindo aos egípcios objetos de prata, e objetos de ouro, e roupas.

36E o SENHOR deu favor ao povo diante dos egípcios, e deram-lhes; e eles despojaram os egípcios.

37E partiram os filhos de Israel de Ramessés a Sucote, como seiscentos mil homens a pé, sem contar os meninos.

38E também subiu com eles grande multidão de diversa variedade de gentes; e ovelhas, e gados muito muitos.

39E cozeram tortas sem levedura da massa que haviam tirado do Egito; porque não havia levedado, porquanto expulsando-os os egípcios, não haviam podido deter-se, nem ainda preparar para si comida.

40O tempo que os filhos de Israel habitaram no Egito foi quatrocentos e trinta anos.

41E passados quatrocentos e trinta anos, no mesmo dia saíram todos os exércitos do SENHOR da terra do Egito.

42É noite de guardar ao SENHOR, por havê-los tirado nela da terra do Egito. Esta noite devem guardar ao SENHOR todos os filhos de Israel em suas gerações.

43E o SENHOR disse a Moisés e a Arão: Esta é a ordenança da Páscoa: Nenhum estrangeiro comerá dela;

44Mas todo servo humano comprado por dinheiro, comerá dela depois que o houveres circuncidado.

45O estrangeiro e o assalariado não comerão dela.

46Em uma casa se comerá, e não levarás daquela carne fora de casa, nem quebrareis osso seu.

47Toda a congregação de Israel o sacrificará.

48Mas se algum estrangeiro peregrinar contigo, e quiser fazer a páscoa ao SENHOR, seja-lhe circuncidado todo homem, e então se chegará a fazê-la, e será como o natural da terra; mas nenhum incircunciso comerá dela.

49A mesma lei será para o natural e para o estrangeiro que peregrinar entre vós.

50Assim o fizeram todos os filhos de Israel; como mandou o SENHOR a Moisés e a Arão, assim o fizeram.

51E naquele mesmo dia o SENHOR tirou os filhos de Israel da terra do Egito, agrupados em seus esquadrões.

📖 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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