The Fallible Synthetic Study Bible — Deuteronomy 16:1

✦ Public-domain source — quoted & attributed⚙ AI synthesis — generated, verify

Deuteronomy 16:1–8 — Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Each verse below carries the full apparatus: the Berean Standard Bible, the vocalized original (tap any word), and a parsed breakdown of every term transcribed from the interlinear. Synthesized commentary, canonical threads, and the reading of Christ gather at the end, over the whole unit.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The month Abib was so called from the “ears of corn” which appeared in it. By night .—Pharaoh’s permission was given on the night of the death of the first-born, though Israel did not actually depart until the next day ( Numbers 33:3-4 ).

Ellicott on the two cruxes of the verse — the meaning of "Abib" and the reconciliation of "by night" with the morning departure.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

month of Abib ] Abib = young ears of corn ( Exodus 9:31 ; Leviticus 2:14 ) and the month fell in our March–April. So E and J ( Exodus 13:4 ; Exodus 23:15 ; Exodus 34:18 ). The name, belonging to the early agricultural calendar, was replaced after the Exile by the name Nisan of the later priestly calendar

Cambridge traces the name's history — the old agricultural "Abib" giving way to the post-exilic "Nisan" — and lists the very cross-references the Verifier flags below.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

for though they did not set out until morning, when it was day light, and are said to come out in the day, yet it was in the night the Lord did wonders for them, as Onkelos paraphrases this clause; that he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, and passed over the houses of the Israelites, the door posts being sprinkled with the blood of the passover lamb slain that night, and therefore was a night much to be observed

Gill resolves "by night": the march was by day, but the night was when God acted — smote the firstborn and passed over the blood-marked doors.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

As a further preservative against idolatry, Moses proceeds to inculcate upon them a strict regard to the most exact observance of the three great annual festivals, appointed by their law to be celebrated at the stated place of national worship, these being designed for this very end, to keep the people steady to the profession and practice of the religion of the one true God.

Benson names the chapter's strategic purpose: the feasts are "a preservative against idolatry," binding the nation to one God at one place.

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Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šā·mō·wr ’eṯ- ḥō·ḏeš hā·’ā·ḇîḇ wə·‘ā·śî·ṯā pe·saḥ Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā kî bə·ḥō·ḏeš hā·’ā·ḇîḇ Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā hō·w·ṣî·’ă·ḵā mim·miṣ·ra·yim lā·yə·lāh

Word by word16 · parsed

שָׁמוֹר֙šā·mō·wrObserveH8104

√ shâmar — properly, to hedge about (as with thorns), iVerbQalInfinitive absolute

šā·mō·wr (H8104) — "keep / guard"; an infinitive absolute used for emphasis, the same verb as keeping the Sabbath and the covenant.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

חֹ֣דֶשׁḥō·ḏešthe monthH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonNounmasculine singular construct

ḥō·ḏeš (H2320) — "month / new moon"; the lunar reckoning of the festival year.

הָאָבִ֔יבhā·’ā·ḇîḇof AbibH24

√ ʼâbîyb — green, iArticleNounmasculine singular

hā·’ā·ḇîḇ (H24) — "Abib," lit. "green ears"; the rare word (only 6 vv) that fixes the verbal link to Exodus 13:4; 23:15; 34:18.

וְעָשִׂ֣יתָwə·‘ā·śî·ṯāand celebrateH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

פֶּ֔סַחpe·saḥthe PassoverH6453

√ peçach — a pretermission, iNounmasculine singular

pe·saḥ (H6453, peçach) — "Passover"; Strong's: "a pretermission," a passing-over. Cambridge derives it from God's pasach (passing over) the Hebrews' houses; the word recurs 46 times.

לַיהוָ֖הYah·wehto the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

Yah·weh (H3068) — the covenant Name; the festival is "to Yahweh," not to the season.

אֱלֹהֶ֑יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

כִּ֞יkîbecauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

בְּחֹ֣דֶשׁbə·ḥō·ḏešin the monthH2320

√ chôdesh — the new moonPreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

הָֽאָבִ֗יבhā·’ā·ḇîḇof AbibH24

√ ʼâbîyb — green, iArticleNounmasculine singular

יְהוָ֧הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

הוֹצִ֨יאֲךָ֜hō·w·ṣî·’ă·ḵābrought you outH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbHifilPerfectthird person masculine singularsecond person masculine singular

hō·w·ṣî·’ă·ḵā (H3318, yâtsâʼ, Hiphil) — "He brought you out"; the causative — God is the agent of the exodus, not the people.

מִמִּצְרַ֖יִםmim·miṣ·ra·yimof EgyptH4714

√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iPreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

לָֽיְלָה׃lā·yə·lāhby nightH3915

√ layil — properly, a twist (away of the light), iNounmasculine singular

lā·yə·lāh (H3915) — "by night"; the phrase the commentators labor to reconcile with Exodus 13:3, where the march began by day.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Keep the-month of-Abib, and-you-shall-make a-Passover to-Yahweh your-God; for in-the-month of-Abib Yahweh your-God brought-you-out from-Egypt by-night.

Where the English smooths the original

שָׁמוֹר֙ Observe renders šā·mō·wr (H8104, shâmar), an infinitive absolute standing alone — an emphatic, almost imperatival "keep, keep!" Strong's gives the root sense as "to hedge about (as with thorns)," i.e. to guard, watch over. It is the same verb used of keeping the Sabbath (Deuteronomy 5:12) and of keeping the whole covenant. BSB's "observe" is correct but loses the force of the bare infinitive: not merely to notice the month but to stand guard over it.
חֹ֣דֶשׁ The month is ḥō·ḏeš (H2320, chôdesh), whose root meaning Strong's gives as "the new moon." The Hebrew "month" is not an abstract calendar-unit but a moon — the festival is tethered to a lunar reckoning, which is why the Cambridge editors below probe whether Passover's very origin lay in "the phases of the moon."
הָאָבִ֔יב Abib is hā·’ā·ḇîḇ (H24, ʼâbîyb), not a proper name in origin but a common noun — "green ears" of grain, barley still in the ear. Ellicott, JFB, and Gill all note the name means "green ears of corn." The month is named for what is happening in the fields; Cambridge observes the agricultural name "was replaced after the Exile by the name Nisan" of the priestly calendar. BSB keeps "Abib" as a proper noun and so hides the barley in the word.
וְעָשִׂ֣יתָ And celebrate is wə·‘ā·śî·ṯā (H6213, ʻâsâh), simply "and you shall make / do." The Pulpit Commentary insists on the literal sense — "make (‘asita) or prepare the passover" — and Keil notes pesach ‘âsâh "is used primarily to denote the preparation of the paschal lamb for a festal meal," here stretched to mean "keep the Passover." BSB's "celebrate" imports a festivity the verb does not carry; the Hebrew says "make."

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

the word "Passover" is employed in a broader sense, and includes not only the paschal lamb, but the paschal sacrifices generally, which the Rabbins embrace under the common name of chagiga; not the burnt-offerings and sin-offerings, however, prescribed in Numbers 28:19-26 , but all the sacrifices that were slain at the feast of the Passover

Keil's solution to the "herd" problem: "Passover" here is the whole week of festal sacrifices (the chagigah), not the lamb alone.

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

partly because it is here said to consist of the flock and of the herd, or of sheep and oxen , and partly because it follows, Deu 16:3 , Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it, seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith , i.e. with the passover, which could not be done with the passover strictly so called, which was to be wholly spent in one day.

Poole gives the two textual proofs that "Passover" is broad here: the oxen, and the seven-day eating that a one-day lamb cannot bear.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

in the place which Jehovah shall choose ] To Jehovah Sam. LXX add thy God . In J, Exodus 12:21-26 , the service is domestic; and P, Exodus 12:3 ff., also preserves its domestic character

Cambridge marks the historical shift Deuteronomy introduces: the older sources keep the Passover "domestic"; here it is moved to the one chosen place.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

You shall eat the Easter lamb.

The Geneva gloss reads the "Passover" of the verse as the paschal ("Easter") lamb — the narrow sense the other voices weigh against the broad.

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You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Name.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·zā·ḇaḥ·tā Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā pe·saḥ ū·ḇā·qār ṣōn bam·mā·qō·wm ’ă·šer- Yah·weh yiḇ·ḥar lə·šak·kên šə·mōw šām

Word by word13 · parsed

וְזָבַ֥חְתָּwə·zā·ḇaḥ·tāYou are to offerH2076

√ zâbach — to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

wə·zā·ḇaḥ·tā (H2076) — "and you shall slaughter-sacrifice"; the technical killing-verb that forces the rite to the altar.

לַיהוָ֥הYah·wehto the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

פֶּ֛סַחpe·saḥthe Passover sacrificeH6453

√ peçach — a pretermission, iNounmasculine singular

pe·saḥ (H6453) — "Passover"; here in the broad sense (so Keil, Poole, Benson) of the whole festal offering, herd and flock.

וּבָקָ֑רū·ḇā·qārfrom the herdH1241

√ bâqâr — beef cattle or an animal of the ox family of either gender (as used for plowing)Conjunctive wawNounmasculine singular

ū·ḇā·qār (H1241) — "and the herd"; oxen, impossible for the lamb-Passover proper — the lexical proof that "Passover" is used broadly.

צֹ֣אןṣōnor flockH6629

√ tsôʼn — a collective name for a flock (of sheep or goats)Nouncommon singular

ṣōn (H6629, tsôʼn) — "flock"; sheep or goats, the source of the paschal lamb itself.

בַּמָּקוֹם֙bam·mā·qō·wmin the placeH4725

√ mâqôwm — properly, a standing, iPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

bam·mā·qō·wm (H4725, mâqôwm) — "in the place"; the unnamed central sanctuary, the chapter's controlling idea.

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֔הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

יִבְחַ֣רyiḇ·ḥarwill chooseH977

√ bâchar — properly, to try, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

yiḇ·ḥar (H977) — "will choose"; the Deuteronomic refrain of the one chosen place.

לְשַׁכֵּ֥ןlə·šak·kênas a dwellingH7931

√ shâkan — to reside or permanently stay (literally or figuratively)Preposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct

lə·šak·kên (H7931, shâkan) — "to make dwell"; the tabernacle-verb; God's Name, not God's essence, dwells at the place.

שְׁמ֖וֹšə·mōwfor His NameH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

šə·mōw (H8034, shêm) — "His Name"; the Deuteronomic theology of the dwelling Name.

שָֽׁם׃šām. . .H8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-you-shall-sacrifice a-Passover to-Yahweh your-God, from-the-herd and-the-flock, in-the-place that Yahweh will-choose to-make-dwell His-Name there.

Where the English smooths the original

וְזָבַ֥חְתָּ You are to offer is wə·zā·ḇaḥ·tā (H2076, zâbach), specifically "to slaughter an animal, usually in sacrifice." The verse opens with the bloody, technical word for cultic killing, not the gentle "offer." Benson, JFB, and Poole all hang an argument on it: because the Passover is here a zebach (a slaughter-sacrifice), it must be killed at the altar, not at home — the whole centralization that follows turns on this verb.
וּבָקָ֑ר From the herd is ū·ḇā·qār (H1241), cattle / oxen — and its presence is the unit's great puzzle. The Passover proper was a lamb or kid (Exodus 12:5), never an ox. Keil argues this proves "Passover" here is used "in a broader sense" to include all the seven-day festal sacrifices (the rabbinic chagigah), since "an ox was never slaughtered in the place of the lamb." BSB's "herd or flock" preserves the tension the commentators resolve.
לְשַׁכֵּ֥ן As a dwelling is lə·šak·kên (H7931, shâkan, Piel infinitive) — "to cause to dwell / tabernacle." This is the verb behind mishkân ("tabernacle") and, later, the rabbinic Shekhinah (the indwelling Presence). What God settles at the chosen place is His Name (shēm, H8034) — a Deuteronomic theology of presence: God is not contained in the place, but His Name dwells there. BSB's "as a dwelling for His Name" captures it, but the verb's tabernacle-resonance is easily missed.
יִבְחַ֣ר Will choose is yiḇ·ḥar (H977, bâchar), "to choose" with the root sense "properly, to try, examine." The unnamed "place the LORD will choose" is the refrain of Deuteronomy (12:5, 11, 14, 18, 21, 26); the future tense leaves Jerusalem unspoken. Gill supplies the fulfillment — "at Jerusalem, as the event has shown" — but the Hebrew deliberately withholds the name.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

Moses called the unleavened bread "the bread of affliction," because the Israelites had to leave Egypt in anxious flight ( Exodus 12:11 ) and were therefore unable to leaven the dough ( Exodus 12:39 ), for the purpose of reminding the congregation of the oppression endured in Egypt, and to stir them up to gratitude towards the Lord their deliverer, that they might remember that day as long as they lived.

Keil ties the three threads of the verse together: haste, unleavened bread, and lifelong remembrance — the affliction recalled to provoke gratitude.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

and that this might be imprinted on their minds, the master of the family used (p), at the time of the passover, to break a cake of unleavened bread, and say, this is the bread of affliction, &c. or bread of poverty; as it is the way of poor men to have broken bread, so here is broken bread.

Gill cites the living haggadah — the householder breaking the matzah with the words "this is the bread of affliction" — a rite still kept.

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread—a sour, unpleasant, unwholesome kind of bread, designed to be a memorial of their Egyptian misery and of the haste with which they departed, not allowing time for their morning dough to ferment.

JFB on the bread's deliberate unpleasantness — a memorial of misery and of the haste that gave no time to leaven.

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

bread of affliction ] The affliction of Israel in Egypt, Exodus 3:7 ; Exodus 4:31 , culminating in the haste or trepidation (Driver) with which they ate their last meal there. So P, Exodus 12:11 ; cp. for the meaning of the word, Deuteronomy 20:3 ; 1 Samuel 23:26 ; Isaiah 52:12 .

Cambridge cites the very verses (Exodus 12:11; Isaiah 52:12) the Verifier links by the rare word chippâzôwn — independent confirmation of the verbal thread.

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Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

offer the sacrifices proper to the feast of the Passover, which lasted seven days. Compare a similar use of the word in a general sense in John 18:28 . In the latter part of Deuteronomy 16:4 and in the following verses Moses passes, as the context again shows, into the narrower sense of the word Passover.

Barnes confirms the unit's controlling distinction independently of Keil and Poole, and supplies the New Testament parallel: in John 18:28 the Jews would not defile themselves "that they might eat the passover" — i.e. the whole festal week — the same broad sense found here, before the text narrows to the lamb at v. 4b.

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You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste—so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lō- ṯō·ḵal ḥā·mêṣ ‘ā·lāw šiḇ·‘aṯ yā·mîm tō·ḵal- ‘ā·lāw maṣ·ṣō·wṯ le·ḥem ‘ō·nî kî yā·ṣā·ṯā mê·’e·reṣ miṣ·ra·yim ḇə·ḥip·pā·zō·wn lə·ma·‘an tiz·kōr ’eṯ- yō·wm kōl ḥay·ye·ḵā yə·mê ṣê·ṯə·ḵā mê·’e·reṣ miṣ·ra·yim

Word by word26 · parsed

לֹא־lō-You must notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

lō (H3808) — "not"; the prohibition that opens the leaven-law.

תֹאכַ֤לṯō·ḵaleatH398

√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

חָמֵ֔ץḥā·mêṣleavened breadH2557

√ châmêts — ferment, (figuratively) extortionNounmasculine singular

ḥā·mêṣ (H2557) — "leavened bread"; rare (13 vv), with the figurative freight of "ferment / sourness."

עָלָיו֙‘ā·lāwwith itH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionthird person masculine singular

שִׁבְעַ֥תšiḇ·‘aṯfor sevenH7651

√ shebaʻ — seven (as the sacred full one)Numbermasculine singular construct

יָמִ֛יםyā·mîmdaysH3117

√ yôwm — a day (as the warm hours), whether literal (from sunrise to sunset, or from one sunset to the next), or figurative (a space of time defined by an associated term), (often used adverb)Nounmasculine plural

תֹּֽאכַל־tō·ḵal-you are to eatH398

√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

עָלָ֥יו‘ā·lāwwith itH5921

√ ʻal — above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applicationsPrepositionthird person masculine singular

מַצּ֖וֹתmaṣ·ṣō·wṯunleavened breadH4682

√ matstsâh — properly, sweetnessNounfeminine plural

maṣ·ṣō·wṯ (H4682) — "unleavened bread"; root "sweetness," the feast's namesake; the verbal link to Exodus 12:15; 13:7.

לֶ֣חֶםle·ḥemthe breadH3899

√ lechem — food (for man or beast), especially bread, or grain (for making it)Nounmasculine singular construct

le·ḥem (H3899, lechem) — "bread"; in construct, "the bread of" — the same common word the Christ-section reads toward John 6.

עֹ֑נִי‘ō·nîof afflictionH6040

√ ʻŏnîy — depression, iNounmasculine singular

‘ō·nî (H6040) — "affliction"; the matzah as edible memory of bondage.

כִּ֣יkîbecauseH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

יָצָ֙אתָ֙yā·ṣā·ṯāyou leftH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalPerfectsecond person masculine singular

מֵאֶ֣רֶץmê·’e·reṣthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-mNounfeminine singular construct

מִצְרַ֔יִםmiṣ·ra·yimof EgyptH4714

√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iNounproperfeminine singular

בְחִפָּז֗וֹןḇə·ḥip·pā·zō·wnin hasteH2649

√ chippâzôwn — hasty flightPreposition-bNounmasculine singular

ḇə·ḥip·pā·zō·wn (H2649) — "in haste"; the rare 3-verse word fixing the verbal threads to Exodus 12:11 and Isaiah 52:12.

לְמַ֣עַןlə·ma·‘anso thatH4616

√ maʻan — properly, heed, iConjunction

תִּזְכֹּר֔tiz·kōryou may rememberH2142

√ zâkar — properly, to mark (so as to be recognized), iVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

tiz·kōr (H2142, zâkar) — "you may remember"; Strong's root: "to mark so as to be recognized" — the feast is a memory-engine.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

י֤וֹםyō·wmH3117

כֹּ֖לkōlfor the restH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholeNounmasculine singular construct

חַיֶּֽיךָ׃ḥay·ye·ḵāof your lifeH2416

√ chay — aliveNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

ḥay·ye·ḵā (H2416) — "of your life"; the remembrance is lifelong — "all the days of your life."

יְמֵ֥יyə·mêthe dayH3117

צֵֽאתְךָ֙ṣê·ṯə·ḵāyou leftH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalInfinitive constructsecond person masculine singular

מֵאֶ֣רֶץmê·’e·reṣthe landH776

√ ʼerets — the earth (at large, or partitively a land)Preposition-mNounfeminine singular construct

מִצְרַ֔יִםmiṣ·ra·yimof EgyptH4714

√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iNounproperfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

You-shall-not eat with-it leavened-bread; seven days you-shall-eat with-it unleavened-bread, bread of-affliction — for in-haste you-came-out from-the-land of-Egypt — so-that you-may-remember the-day of-your-coming-out from-the-land of-Egypt all the-days of-your-life.

Where the English smooths the original

חָמֵ֔ץ Leavened bread is ḥā·mêṣ (H2557, châmêts), a rare word (13 vv) whose root carries the figurative sense "ferment" and, by extension, "extortion / sourness." The leaven that puffs and sours dough became, by this association, an image of corruption — the basis of the New Testament's "leaven of malice" (1 Corinthians 5:8). BSB's "leavened bread" is right but flattens a word that already, in Hebrew, smells of moral decay.
מַצּ֖וֹת Unleavened bread is maṣ·ṣō·wṯ (H4682, matstsâh), whose root sense Strong's gives — surprisingly — as "properly, sweetness." The flat, quickly-baked cake is named not for blandness but for being unsoured, untainted by fermentation. The same word names the whole feast (the "days of matstsôth"), and is the verbal thread (42 vv) binding this verse to Exodus 12:15 and 13:7.
עֹ֑נִי Affliction is ‘ō·nî (H6040, ʻŏnîy), "depression, misery, affliction." Lechem ‘ōnî, "bread of affliction," is the haggadah's own phrase for the matzah (Gill cites the Passover liturgy: "this is the bread of affliction"). The unleavened cake is not a neutral ritual food but an edible memory of slavery — Keil: a reminder "of the oppression endured in Egypt." BSB keeps "bread of affliction" verbatim, rightly.
בְחִפָּז֗וֹן In haste is ḇə·ḥip·pā·zō·wn (H2649, chippâzôwn), one of the rarest words in Scripture — it occurs in only three verses (here, Exodus 12:11, and Isaiah 52:12). Strong's: "hasty flight." Such a scarce word is a fingerprint: it ties this verse verbally to the night of the exodus (Exodus 12:11, eaten "in haste") and, by deliberate contrast, to the new exodus of Isaiah 52:12 — "ye shall not go out in haste." The Verifier confirms the link.

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The Pulpit CommentarySpence & Exell, eds.1880s

leaven itself was not to be in the house (cf. 1 Corinthians 5:7 ; see Kitto's 'Cyclop. of Bibl. Lit.,' vol. 3. p. 429).

The Pulpit Commentary presses the law past the loaf to the leaven-agent itself, and cross-references 1 Corinthians 5:7 — leaven purged from the house as the apostolic figure of purged sin.

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

For before the passover they were to search diligently every room in the house, and every hole and crevice, that none might remain any where; see Exodus 12:15 , neither shall there be anything of the flesh, which thou sacrificedst the first day at even, remain all night until the morning

Gill describes the diligent search for leaven — every hole and crevice — that the "shall not be seen" command produced in practice.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

that none of the flesh of the paschal lamb was to be left till the next morning, in order that all corruption might be kept at a distance from the paschal food. Leaven, for example, sets the dough in fermentation, from which putrefaction ensues; and in the East, if flesh is kept, it very quickly decomposes.

Keil unifies the two prohibitions of the verse under one logic: leaven and overnight flesh are both barred because both breed corruption.

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No leaven is to be found in all your land for seven days, and none of the meat you sacrifice in the evening of the first day shall remain until morning.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

wə·lō- śə·’ōr yê·rā·’eh lə·ḵā bə·ḵāl gə·ḇul·ḵā šiḇ·‘aṯ yā·mîm wə·lō- min- hab·bā·śār ’ă·šer tiz·baḥ bā·‘e·reḇ hā·ri·šō·wn bay·yō·wm yā·lîn lab·bō·qer

Word by word18 · parsed

וְלֹֽא־wə·lō-NoH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

שְׂאֹ֛רśə·’ōrleavenH7603

√ sᵉʼôr — barm or yeast-cake (as swelling by fermentation)Nounmasculine singular

śə·’ōr (H7603, sᵉʼôr) — "leaven / yeast-starter"; rare (5 vv), the agent of fermentation, distinct from v. 3's châmêts.

יֵרָאֶ֨הyê·rā·’ehis to be foundH7200

√ râʼâh — to see, literally or figuratively (in numerous applications, direct and implied, transitive, intransitive and causative)VerbNifalImperfectthird person masculine singular

yê·rā·’eh (H7200, râʼâh) — "shall be seen"; the visibility-test behind the rabbinic search for leaven.

לְךָ֥lə·ḵā

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

בְּכָל־bə·ḵālin allH3605

√ kôl — properly, the wholePreposition-bNounmasculine singular construct

גְּבֻלְךָ֖gə·ḇul·ḵāyour landH1366

√ gᵉbûwl — properly, a cord (as twisted), iNounmasculine singular constructsecond person masculine singular

gə·ḇul·ḵā (H1366, gᵉbûwl) — "your territory / border"; root "a cord (as twisted)," hence a boundary-line — the leaven ban covers the whole land, not just the table.

שִׁבְעַ֣תšiḇ·‘aṯfor sevenH7651

√ shebaʻ — seven (as the sacred full one)Numbermasculine singular construct

יָמִ֑יםyā·mîmdaysH3117

וְלֹא־wə·lō-and noneH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absConjunctive wawAdverbNegative particle

מִן־min-ofH4480

√ min — properly, a part ofPreposition

הַבָּשָׂ֗רhab·bā·śārthe meatH1320

√ bâsâr — flesh (from its freshness)ArticleNounmasculine singular

hab·bā·śār (H1320, bâsâr) — "the flesh"; the sacrificial meat that must be eaten the same night.

אֲשֶׁ֨ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

תִּזְבַּ֥חtiz·baḥyou sacrificeH2076

√ zâbach — to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

tiz·baḥ (H2076, zâbach) — "you sacrifice"; the slaughter-verb again, tying the flesh-law to the altar.

בָּעֶ֛רֶבbā·‘e·reḇin the eveningH6153

√ ʻereb — duskPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

הָרִאשׁ֖וֹןhā·ri·šō·wnof the firstH7223

√ riʼshôwn — first, in place, time or rank (as adjective or noun)ArticleAdjectivemasculine singular

בַּיּ֥וֹםbay·yō·wmdayH3117

יָלִ֣יןyā·lînshall remainH3885

√ lûwn — to stop (usually over night)VerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

yā·lîn (H3885, lûwn) — "shall lodge overnight"; the link to Exodus 23:18; 34:25 guarding against decay.

לַבֹּֽקֶר׃lab·bō·qeruntil morningH1242

√ bôqer — properly, dawn (as the break of day)Preposition-l, ArticleNounmasculine singular

lab·bō·qer (H1242, bôqer) — "until morning"; the deadline — nothing of the holy flesh meets the dawn.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-no leaven shall-be-seen for-you in-all your-territory seven days; and-none of-the-flesh that you-sacrifice in-the-evening of-the-first day shall-remain-overnight until the-morning.

Where the English smooths the original

שְׂאֹ֛ר Leaven here is śə·’ōr (H7603, sᵉʼôr) — a different and rarer word (only 5 vv) than the châmêts of v. 3. It is "barm or yeast-cake (as swelling by fermentation)," the leavening agent itself, not leavened bread. The Pulpit Commentary flags the distinction precisely: "properly, no leaven (śᵉ’ōr)… leaven itself was not to be in the house." BSB's plain "leaven" is right, but the Hebrew sharpens it: not the loaf but the very starter must be gone.
יֵרָאֶ֨ה Is to be found is yê·rā·’eh (H7200, râʼâh, Nifal) — literally "shall be seen." The law is not "none shall exist" but "none shall be seen" — a visibility-test that grounded the rabbinic search-by-candlelight Gill describes ("they were to search diligently every room… every hole and crevice"). BSB's "be found" is a fair sense-rendering of "be seen," but the ocular force is the basis of the ritual hunt.
יָלִ֣ין Shall remain is yā·lîn (H3885, lûwn), "to lodge / stop over night." The flesh must not "spend the night." This is the same prohibition as Exodus 23:18 and 34:25 (the Verifier links them by this very verb), guarding the sacrifice from corruption — Keil: "in the East, if flesh is kept, it very quickly decomposes." BSB's "remain until morning" is accurate but misses that the verb is literally "to overnight."

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

The reason of this is evident the passover itself was a sacrifice; hence Christ, as our passover, is said to be sacrificed for us, 1 Corinthians 5:3 ; and many other sacrifices, as we have just seen, were to be offered during the seven days of the feast. Now no sacrifice was accepted but from the altar that sanctified it. It was therefore necessary that they should go up to the place of the altar

Benson gives the reasoning behind centralization — the Passover is a true sacrifice needing the sanctifying altar — and draws the line straight to "Christ, as our passover."

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Within any of thy gates, i. e of thy cities, as that word is oft used, as Genesis 22:17 24:60 Deu 17:2 Ruth 4:10 .

Poole on the idiom: "thy gates" = "thy cities," with the parallel uses across the Pentateuch and Ruth.

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Geneva Study BibleMarginal Notes1599

This was chiefly accomplished, when the temple was built.

The Geneva gloss identifies when the unnamed "place" was realized: the building of the Temple.

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You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

lō ṯū·ḵal liz·bō·aḥ ’eṯ- hap·pā·saḥ bə·’a·ḥaḏ šə·‘ā·re·ḵā ’ă·šer- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā nō·ṯên lāḵ

Word by word12 · parsed

לֹ֥אlōYou are notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

תוּכַ֖לṯū·ḵal. . .H3201

√ yâkôl — to be able, literally (can, could) or morally (may, might)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

ṯū·ḵal (H3201, yâkôl) — "you are able"; here negated — the rite is impossible, not merely forbidden, outside the chosen place.

לִזְבֹּ֣חַliz·bō·aḥto sacrificeH2076

√ zâbach — to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice)Preposition-lVerbQalInfinitive construct

liz·bō·aḥ (H2076, zâbach) — "to sacrifice"; the slaughter-verb again, the reason the act is altar-bound.

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

הַפָּ֑סַחhap·pā·saḥthe Passover animalH6453

√ peçach — a pretermission, iArticleNounmasculine singular

hap·pā·saḥ (H6453) — "the Passover [animal]"; here, by the article and context, the narrower sense — the lamb itself.

בְּאַחַ֣דbə·’a·ḥaḏin anyH259

√ ʼechâd — properly, united, iPreposition-bNumbermasculine singular construct

שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָšə·‘ā·re·ḵāof the townsH8179

√ shaʻar — an opening, iNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

šə·‘ā·re·ḵā (H8179, shaʻar) — "your gates"; idiom for "your towns," the local against the central.

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-thatH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֥הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

נֹתֵ֥ןnō·ṯênis givingH5414

√ nâthan — to give, used with greatest latitude of application (put, make, etcVerbQalParticiplemasculine singular

nō·ṯên (H5414, nâthan) — "is giving"; the participle — the land an ongoing gift from the LORD who regulates its worship.

לָֽךְ׃lāḵyou

Prepositionsecond person masculine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

You-are-not able to-sacrifice the-Passover in-one of-your-gates that Yahweh your-God is-giving to-you.

Where the English smooths the original

תוּכַ֖ל You are not renders ṯū·ḵal (H3201, yâkôl), "to be able" — literally "you are not able to sacrifice." The Hebrew frames the centralization not as bare prohibition but as incapacity: away from the chosen place, the act simply cannot be validly done, because (Benson) "no sacrifice was accepted but from the altar that sanctified it." BSB's "you are not to" reads as a command; the Hebrew says "you cannot."
שְׁעָרֶ֔יךָ The towns is šə·‘ā·re·ḵā (H8179, shaʻar), literally "your gates." Because the gate was where a town's public and legal life happened, "gates" stands by synecdoche for the towns themselves — Poole: "i.e. of thy cities, as that word is oft used." BSB renders the sense ("towns") and loses the image; the Hebrew sets the local gate against the one chosen place, the scattered against the central.
נֹתֵ֥ן Is giving is nō·ṯên (H5414, nâthan), a Qal participle — "is [in the act of] giving." The land is being given even as the law is spoken; the participle holds the gift in present, ongoing motion. The towns are the LORD's grant — which is precisely why worship in them is regulated by the Giver, not left to the inhabitants' discretion.

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Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

The word “season” here is ambiguous in the English. Does it mean the time of year, or the time of day? The Hebrew word, which usually denotes a commemorative time, might seem to point to the hour of sunset as the time when the march actually began.

Ellicott exposes the ambiguity of môwʻêd that the translator must resolve — "the time of year, or the time of day?"

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Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

There thou shalt sacrifice the passover, to wit, in the court of the tabernacle or temple. This he prescribed, partly, that this great work might be done with more solemnity and care, in such manner as God required; partly, because it was not only a sacrament, but also a sacrifice, as appears because it is so called, Exodus 12:27 23:18 34:25 Numbers 9:7 , and because here was the sprinkling of blood, which is the essential part and character of a sacrifice; and partly, to design the place where Christ, the true Passover or Lamb of God, was to be slain.

Poole gathers the three reasons for the one place — solemnity, the blood that makes it a true sacrifice, and the foreshadowing of "where Christ, the true Passover… was to be slain."

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Jamieson, Fausset & BrownCommentary Critical and Explanatory1871

at even, at the going down of the sun"—literally, "between the evenings."

JFB pins the literal Hebrew idiom for the hour of slaughter — "between the evenings."

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

between the two evenings it was killed, before the sun was set, and afterwards at night it was eaten; the Targum of Jonathan is,"and at evening, at the setting of the sun, ye shall eat it until the middle of the night

Gill, with the Targum, splits the timing: killed "between the two evenings" before sunset, eaten through the night to midnight.

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You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

kî ’im- tiz·baḥ ’eṯ- hap·pe·saḥ ’el- ham·mā·qō·wm ’ă·šer- Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā yiḇ·ḥar lə·šak·kên šə·mōw šām bā·‘ā·reḇ haš·še·meš kə·ḇō·w mō·w·‘êḏ ṣê·ṯə·ḵā mim·miṣ·rā·yim

Word by word20 · parsed

כִּ֠יkîYou must onlyH3588

√ kîy — (by implication) very widely used as a relative conjunction or adverb (as below)Conjunction

אִֽם־’im-. . .H518

√ ʼim — used very widely as demonstrative, lo!Conjunction

תִּזְבַּ֥חtiz·baḥofferH2076

√ zâbach — to slaughter an animal (usually in sacrifice)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

אֶת־’eṯ-H853

√ ʼêth — properly, self (but generally used to point out more definitely the object of a verb or preposition, even or namely)Direct object marker

הַפֶּ֖סַחhap·pe·saḥthe Passover sacrificeH6453

√ peçach — a pretermission, iArticleNounmasculine singular

אֶל־’el-atH413

√ ʼêl — near, with or amongPreposition

הַמָּק֞וֹםham·mā·qō·wmthe placeH4725

√ mâqôwm — properly, a standing, iArticleNounmasculine singular

ham·mā·qō·wm (H4725) — "the place"; the chosen sanctuary, named again to seal the centralization (vv. 2, 5, 6, 7, 11).

אֲשֶׁר־’ă·šer-H834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֤הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

יִבְחַ֨רyiḇ·ḥarwill chooseH977

√ bâchar — properly, to try, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

yiḇ·ḥar (H977, bâchar) — "will choose"; the refrain, repeated verbatim from v. 2.

לְשַׁכֵּ֣ןlə·šak·kênas a dwellingH7931

√ shâkan — to reside or permanently stay (literally or figuratively)Preposition-lVerbPielInfinitive construct

lə·šak·kên (H7931, shâkan) — "to make dwell"; the tabernacle-verb, again of the dwelling Name.

שְׁמ֔וֹšə·mōwfor His NameH8034

√ shêm — an appellation, as amark or memorial of individualityNounmasculine singular constructthird person masculine singular

שָׁ֛םšām. . .H8033

√ shâm — there (transferring to time) thenAdverb

בָּעָ֑רֶבbā·‘ā·reḇDo this in the eveningH6153

√ ʻereb — duskPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

bā·‘ā·reḇ (H6153, ʻereb) — "in the evening"; the first half of the doubled time-marker.

הַשֶּׁ֔מֶשׁhaš·še·mešas the sunH8121

√ shemesh — the sunArticleNouncommon singular

כְּב֣וֹאkə·ḇō·wsetsH935

√ bôwʼ — to go or come (in a wide variety of applications)Preposition-kVerbQalInfinitive construct

kə·ḇō·w (H935, bôwʼ) — "as [the sun] comes in"; Hebrew's image for sunset — the sun entering its rest.

מוֹעֵ֖דmō·w·‘êḏat the same timeH4150

√ môwʻêd — properly, an appointment, iNounmasculine singular

mō·w·‘êḏ (H4150, môwʻêd) — "appointed time / season"; the word Ellicott calls ambiguous between hour and year.

צֵֽאתְךָ֥ṣê·ṯə·ḵāyou departedH3318

√ yâtsâʼ — to go (causatively, bring) out, in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively, direct and proximVerbQalInfinitive constructsecond person masculine singular

ṣê·ṯə·ḵā (H3318, yâtsâʼ) — "your going-out"; the exodus-verb that dates the rite to the redemption itself.

מִמִּצְרָֽיִם׃mim·miṣ·rā·yimfrom EgyptH4714

√ Mitsrayim — Mitsrajim, iPreposition-mNounproperfeminine singular

Literal — word-for-word from the original

But only at the-place that Yahweh your-God will-choose to-make-dwell His-Name there — there you-shall-sacrifice the-Passover in-the-evening, as-the-sun comes-in, at-the-appointed-time of-your-coming-out from-Egypt.

Where the English smooths the original

כְּב֣וֹא Sets renders kə·ḇō·w (H935, bôwʼ), "to go / come in" — the sun's "coming in." Hebrew has no word for "set"; the sun enters (its rest, or the horizon). The doubled time-marker — "in the evening, as the sun comes in" — pins the slaughter to the hour the rabbis called bên hâ-‘arbayim, "between the two evenings" (so JFB and Cambridge). BSB's "as the sun sets" is idiomatic; the Hebrew pictures the sun coming home.
מוֹעֵ֖ד At the same time is mō·w·‘êḏ (H4150, môwʻêd), "an appointment, fixed time, sacred season" — the word behind ‘ōhel mô‘êd, the "tent of meeting," and the festal calendar (Leviticus 23). Ellicott flags the very ambiguity BSB must choose between: does mô‘êd mean "the time of year, or the time of day?" — and judges it "a commemorative time," the season of the exodus, not merely the clock-hour. BSB's "at the same time" picks the clock; the word is richer.
צֵֽאתְךָ֥ You departed is ṣê·ṯə·ḵā (H3318, yâtsâʼ), "your going-out" — the standard exodus-verb (the same root as the noun behind "Exodus" itself). The Passover hour is dated by Israel's going out; the meal is set to the very motion it commemorates. BSB's "departed" is exact, but the word is the technical term of the redemption-narrative, recurring through the chapter (vv. 1, 3, 6).

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Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges—1880s

And thou shalt seethe ] The Heb. bashal may be used in the general sense of cooking , but it usually means to boil ( Deuteronomy 14:21 ; 1 Samuel 2:13 ; 1 Samuel 2:15 ). The R.V. roast is due to the effort to harmonise this law with that of P, Exodus 12:9 , which directs that the sacrifice shall be roast with fire ; but P expressly adds that it shall not be boiled in water, and uses for this the same vb bashal as D does. Clearly D and P enjoin different methods of preparing the paschal lamb.

Cambridge states the boiling-vs-roasting tension at its sharpest: bashal means "boil," the "roast" rendering is harmonizing, and "D and P enjoin different methods."

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John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

The word for "roast" signifies to "boil", and is justly so used, and so Onkelos here renders it, and the Septuagint version both roast and boil; but it is certain that the passover lamb was not to be boiled, it is expressly forbidden, Exodus 12:8 wherefore some think the Chagigah is here meant, and the other offerings that were offered at this feast

Gill takes the opposite harmonizing road from Cambridge: since the word means "boil" yet the lamb may not be boiled, the verse must speak of the chagigah-offerings, not the lamb.

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Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

The expression "to thy tents," for going "home," points to the time when Israel was till dwelling in tents, and had not as yet secured any fixed abodes and houses in Canaan, although this expression was retained at a still later time (e.g., 1 Samuel 13:2 ; 2 Samuel 19:9 , etc.).

Keil on "to thy tents": a relic of the nomadic age, kept as an idiom for "home" long after Israel had houses.

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Joseph BensonCommentary on the Old and New Testaments1810s

Thou shalt turn in the morning — The words are only a permission, not an absolute command. After the solemnity was over, they might return to their several places of abode.

Benson reads "turn in the morning" as permission, not command — dismissal granted after the feast, not a same-day departure.

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And you shall roast it and eat it in the place the LORD your God will choose, and in the morning you shall return to your tents.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

ū·ḇiš·šal·tā wə·’ā·ḵal·tā bam·mā·qō·wm ’ă·šer Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā bōw ū·p̄ā·nî·ṯā yiḇ·ḥar ḇab·bō·qer wə·hā·laḵ·tā lə·’ō·hā·le·ḵā

Word by word12 · parsed

וּבִשַּׁלְתָּ֙ū·ḇiš·šal·tāAnd you shall roast itH1310

√ bâshal — properly, to boil upConjunctive wawVerbPielConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

ū·ḇiš·šal·tā (H1310, bâshal) — "and you shall cook/boil"; the crux-word against Exodus 12:9's "roast, not boil."

וְאָ֣כַלְתָּ֔wə·’ā·ḵal·tāand eat itH398

√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

wə·’ā·ḵal·tā (H398, ʼâkal) — "and you shall eat"; the meal, now relocated to the sanctuary, not the home.

בַּמָּק֕וֹםbam·mā·qō·wmin the placeH4725

√ mâqôwm — properly, a standing, iPreposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

bam·mā·qō·wm (H4725) — "in the place"; the chosen sanctuary, repeated yet again.

אֲשֶׁ֥ר’ă·šerH834

√ ʼăsher — who, which, what, thatPronounrelative

יְהוָ֥הYah·wehthe LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

בּ֑וֹbōw

Prepositionthird person masculine singular

וּפָנִ֣יתָū·p̄ā·nî·ṯāH6437

√ pânâh — to turnConjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

ū·p̄ā·nî·ṯā (H6437, pânâh) — "and you shall turn"; face set homeward.

יִבְחַ֛רyiḇ·ḥarwill chooseH977

√ bâchar — properly, to try, iVerbQalImperfectthird person masculine singular

בַבֹּ֔קֶרḇab·bō·qerand in the morningH1242

√ bôqer — properly, dawn (as the break of day)Preposition-b, ArticleNounmasculine singular

ḇab·bō·qer (H1242, bôqer) — "in the morning"; the timing the commentators dispute (next morning, or the eighth?).

וְהָלַכְתָּ֖wə·hā·laḵ·tāyou shall returnH1980

√ hâlak — to walk (in a great variety of applications, literally and figuratively)Conjunctive wawVerbQalConjunctive perfectsecond person masculine singular

לְאֹהָלֶֽיךָ׃lə·’ō·hā·le·ḵāto your tentsH168

√ ʼôhel — a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance)Preposition-lNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

lə·’ō·hā·le·ḵā (H168, ʼôhel) — "to your tents"; the nomadic survival-phrase for "home."

Literal — word-for-word from the original

And-you-shall-cook [it] and-eat [it] in-the-place that Yahweh your-God will-choose; and-you-shall-turn in-the-morning and-go to-your-tents.

Where the English smooths the original

וּבִשַּׁלְתָּ֙ And you shall roast it renders ū·ḇiš·šal·tā (H1310, bâshal), whose plain meaning is "to boil / seethe" (Strong's: "properly, to boil up"). This is the unit's sharpest translation-crux: Exodus 12:9 forbids the Passover to be boiled and commands it roasted, yet Deuteronomy uses the boiling-word. Cambridge says flatly "D and P enjoin different methods"; the AV/BSB "roast" is, in Cambridge's words, "due to the effort to harmonise this law with that of P." The divergence is real and the commentators are openly divided.
וּפָנִ֣יתָ You shall turn / return (rendered in the next clause) is ū·p̄ā·nî·ṯā (H6437, pânâh), "to turn [the face]." The pilgrim does not merely "go"; he turns — face set homeward at dawn. The same verb opens many a Deuteronomic journey ("turn and take your journey," Deuteronomy 1:7); here it gently dismisses the worshipper from the sanctuary back toward the tents.
לְאֹהָלֶֽיךָ To your tents is lə·’ō·hā·le·ḵā (H168, ʼôhel), literally "to your tents" — not "houses." Keil hears in it "the time when Israel was still dwelling in tents," a fossil-phrase older than the settled land; Cambridge calls it "an interesting survival from the nomadic period." By Solomon's day it had become a frozen idiom for "home" (1 Kings 8:66). BSB keeps the literal "tents," preserving the nomadic memory inside a law for a landed people.

The Voices✦ 5 public domain

Charles EllicottCommentary for English Readers1878

A solemn assembly. —Literally, as in the Margin, a restraint—i.e., a day when work was forbidden. The word is applied to the eighth day of the feast of tabernacles in Leviticus 23:36 , and Numbers 29:35 , and does not occur elsewhere in the Pentateuch.

Ellicott unlocks ʻătsârâh from its root — "a restraint," a day of withheld labor — and notes its only other Pentateuchal use, the climax of Tabernacles.

source ↗

Matthew PooleAnnotations upon the Holy Bible1685

Six days, to wit, besides the first day, on which the passover was killed; or rather besides the seventh and the last day, which is here mentioned apart, not as if leavened bread might be eaten then, for the contrary was evident from many places, but because there was something more to be done, to wit, a solemn assembly to be kept. So in all there were seven days , as it is said, Exodus 12:15 Leviticus 23:6 Numbers 28:17 .

Poole reconciles "six" with "seven": the seventh is counted apart for its added assembly, not because leaven returns on it — seven days in all.

source ↗

Keil & DelitzschBiblical Commentary on the Old Testament1860s

the seventh day is brought into especial prominence as the azereth of the feast (see at Leviticus 23:36 ), simply because, in addition to the eating of mazzoth, there was to be an entire abstinence from work, and this particular feature might easily have fallen into neglect at the close of the feast.

Keil's resolution: the seventh is singled out not to shorten the feast but because its rest-from-work was the part most likely to be let slip at the end.

source ↗

John GillExposition of the Entire Bible1746–63

thou shalt do no work therein; that is, the business of their callings, their trades and manufactories; they were obliged to abstain from all kind of work excepting what was necessary for the dressing of food, and in this it differed from a sabbath; see Exodus 12:16 .

Gill defines the work-prohibition precisely — occupational labor barred, food-preparation allowed — distinguishing the festal day from a full Sabbath.

source ↗

Albert BarnesNotes on the Bible1834

they might disperse to their several "tents" or "dwellings" 1 Kings 8:66 . These would of course be within a short distance of the sanctuary, because the other Paschal offerings were yet to be offered day by day for seven days and the people would remain to share them; and especially to take part in the holy convocation on the first and seventh of the days.

Barnes settles the apparent collision between v. 7's morning departure "to your tents" and the seven-day feast: the "tents" are lodgings near the sanctuary, not the towns of v. 5 — the pilgrim disperses locally and stays for the week's offerings and the seventh-day assembly.

source ↗

For six days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day you shall hold a solemn assembly to the LORD your God, and you must not do any work.

Berean Standard Bible · CC0

Hebrew — tap a word ↓

šê·šeṯ yā·mîm tō·ḵal maṣ·ṣō·wṯ haš·šə·ḇî·‘î ū·ḇay·yō·wm ‘ă·ṣe·reṯ Yah·weh ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵā lō ṯa·‘ă·śeh mə·lā·ḵāh

Word by word12 · parsed

שֵׁ֥שֶׁתšê·šeṯFor sixH8337

√ shêsh — six (as an overplus beyond five or the fingers of the hand)Numbermasculine singular construct

šê·šeṯ (H8337) — "six"; the number that sets up the seven-vs-six puzzle the voices resolve.

יָמִ֖יםyā·mîmdaysH3117

תֹּאכַ֣לtō·ḵalyou must eatH398

√ ʼâkal — to eat (literally or figuratively)VerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

tō·ḵal (H398, ʼâkal) — "you shall eat"; the unleavened-bread command, carried through the week.

מַצּ֑וֹתmaṣ·ṣō·wṯunleavened breadH4682

√ matstsâh — properly, sweetnessNounfeminine plural

maṣ·ṣō·wṯ (H4682) — "unleavened bread"; the feast's namesake, repeated from v. 3.

הַשְּׁבִיעִ֗יhaš·šə·ḇî·‘îand on the seventhH7637

√ shᵉbîyʻîy — seventhArticleNumberordinal masculine singular

haš·šə·ḇî·‘î (H7637, shᵉbîyʻîy) — "the seventh"; the climactic day singled out for the assembly and rest.

וּבַיּ֣וֹםū·ḇay·yō·wmdayH3117

עֲצֶ֙רֶת֙‘ă·ṣe·reṯyou shall hold a solemn assemblyH6116

√ ʻătsârâh — an assembly, especially on afestival or holidayNounfeminine singular

‘ă·ṣe·reṯ (H6116, ʻătsârâh) — "solemn assembly"; from a root meaning "restraint" — a holding-in day.

לַיהוָ֣הYah·wehto the LORDH3068

√ Yᵉhôvâh — Jehovah, Jewish national name of GodPreposition-lNounpropermasculine singular

אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ’ĕ·lō·he·ḵāyour GodH430

√ ʼĕlôhîym — gods in the ordinary senseNounmasculine plural constructsecond person masculine singular

לֹ֥אlōand you must notH3808

√ lôʼ — not (the simple or absAdverbNegative particle

תַעֲשֶׂ֖הṯa·‘ă·śehdoH6213

√ ʻâsâh — to do or make, in the broadest sense and widest applicationVerbQalImperfectsecond person masculine singular

ṯa·‘ă·śeh (H6213, ʻâsâh) — "you shall do"; here negated — the same verb as v. 1's "make a Passover," now forbidding work.

מְלָאכָֽה׃סmə·lā·ḵāhany workH4399

√ mᵉlâʼkâh — properly, deputyship, iNounfeminine singular

mə·lā·ḵāh (H4399, mᵉlâʼkâh) — "work / occupation"; occupational labor, not the food-preparation a festival permits.

Literal — word-for-word from the original

Six days you-shall-eat unleavened-bread, and-on-the-seventh day [is] a-solemn-assembly to-Yahweh your-God; you-shall-not do any work.

Where the English smooths the original

שֵׁ֥שֶׁת Six is šê·šeṯ (H8337) — and the number is the verse's famous difficulty, since vv. 3–4 and Exodus 12:15 say seven days of unleavened bread. Keil resolves it: the "six" and the "seventh" are "not placed in antithesis," but the seventh is singled out for its added rest; "just as the eating of mazzoth for seven days is not abolished by the first clause." Poole counts the six as the days besides the climactic seventh. BSB keeps "six" verbatim, leaving the reader the puzzle the commentators work.
עֲצֶ֙רֶת֙ A solemn assembly is ‘ă·ṣe·reṯ (H6116, ʻătsârâh), "an assembly, especially on a festival." But Ellicott points to the root: "Literally, as in the Margin, a restraint — i.e., a day when work was forbidden." The word comes from ‘âtsar, "to hold back, restrain." The gathering is defined by what is withheld (labor), not only by what is done — a closing, holding-in day. Ellicott notes it "does not occur elsewhere in the Pentateuch" outside the Tabernacles parallel.
מְלָאכָֽה Any work is mə·lā·ḵāh (H4399, mᵉlâʼkâh), "deputyship, business, occupation." Gill marks the precise limit: this is "the business of their callings, their trades and manufactories" — ordinary occupational labor — and so the day differs from a full Sabbath, since "what was necessary for the dressing of food" was still allowed (Exodus 12:16). BSB's "any work" is broad; the Hebrew targets occupational work specifically.

The verse-by-verse work is done. What follows gathers the whole unit. All three layers below are machine-generated (⚙). Weigh them; they have no authority.

⚙

Grand Commentary — the unit, read whole

synthesis · verify

AI synthesis — woven from the public-domain voices above and the original text; generated and fallible.

i. Guard the month — a feast against forgetting — 1

The unit opens with a bare infinitive — šāmôr (H8104), "keep, keep!" — the same verb used of guarding the Sabbath and the covenant. What is to be guarded is a month: Abib (H24), a rare word (six verses in all Scripture) that is not a name but a thing in the fields — "green ears of corn," as Ellicott, JFB, and Gill all note. Cambridge traces its fate: the agricultural "Abib" of the early calendar "was replaced after the Exile by the name Nisan of the later priestly calendar." Benson names the strategy behind the whole chapter — the feasts are "a further preservative against idolatry," three annual pilgrimages "to keep the people steady to the profession and practice of the religion of the one true God." Even the day's puzzle — Israel "brought out… by night," though they marched by day (Exodus 13:3) — the voices resolve in unison: Gill, with Onkelos, says "it was in the night the Lord did wonders for them… smote all the firstborn… and passed over the houses." The night belongs to God's act; the morning, to Israel's march.

ii. The one place — Passover moved from house to sanctuary — 2, 5–7

The chapter's controlling idea is centralization, repeated (Barnes counts) "no less than six times" in this passage: the Passover may be sacrificed only "in the place the LORD will choose to make His Name dwell there" (v. 2). The verb is zâbach (H2076) — to slaughter in sacrifice — and on that word Benson hangs the logic: "the passover itself was a sacrifice… no sacrifice was accepted but from the altar that sanctified it." So v. 5 says, literally, you are not able (yâkôl) to keep it "within any of thy gates" — Poole: "i.e. of thy cities." This is a real historical shift, and Cambridge marks it: in the older sources "the service is domestic," eaten in the home; Deuteronomy moves the blood to the altar. Keil draws out the theological consequence — "the smearing of the door-posts with the blood was tacitly abolished, since the blood was to be sprinkled upon the altar as sacrificial blood." The home-rite of Egypt becomes the temple-rite of the land.

iii. Unleavened bread, the bread of affliction — 3–4

For seven days, no châmêts (H2557, "leaven," a word that already in Hebrew carries "ferment" and figurative "sourness"); instead, matstsôth (H4682) — "unleavened bread," whose root Strong's gives, against expectation, as "sweetness." Moses names it lechem ‘ōnî, "bread of affliction" (H6040), and the reason is sealed by one of the rarest words in the Bible: Israel left Egypt bᵉchippāzôn (H2649, "in haste") — a word that occurs in only three verses anywhere. Keil binds the threads: the bread recalls that they "had to leave Egypt in anxious flight… to stir them up to gratitude." Gill cites the living rite — the householder breaking the matzah and saying "this is the bread of affliction." Verse 4 widens the ban: not the loaf but the very leaven-agent (śᵉ’ōr, H7603, the Pulpit Commentary insists) must "not be seen" — and the sacrificial flesh may not "lodge overnight" (lûwn, H3885), because, as Keil says bluntly, "in the East, if flesh is kept, it very quickly decomposes." Leaven and leftover flesh fall under one law: keep corruption from the holy food.

iv. The hour, the cooking, and the assembly — 6–8

The slaughter is fixed to "the evening, as the sun comes in" (Hebrew has no "set" — the sun enters) — the hour JFB and Gill render "between the evenings." Ellicott catches the ambiguity of môwʻêd (H4150), the "appointed time": is it "the time of year, or the time of day?" Verse 7 then springs the unit's hardest translation-crux: the verb is bâshal (H1310), which "usually means to boil" — yet Exodus 12:9 forbids boiling and commands roasting. Cambridge concedes the conflict outright: "D and P enjoin different methods… the R.V. roast is due to the effort to harmonise." Gill takes the other road — if the word means boil, it must speak of the chagigah, not the lamb. The pilgrim then "turns" (pânâh) home "to thy tents" — a nomadic fossil-phrase Keil and Cambridge both flag as older than the settled land. Finally (v. 8) the seventh day is an ‘ătsârâh (H6116) — which Ellicott unlocks from its root as "a restraint," a day of withheld work. The number "six" against the "seven" of vv. 3–4 is not a contradiction: Keil and Poole agree the seventh is merely singled out for its added rest.

Read under Sola Scriptura — this tool’s own fallible reading (⚙)

Read under the rule that Scripture interprets Scripture, three things press up out of this unit — offered as a reading to be tested, not a verdict to be trusted:

This feast is built to fight forgetting. The whole passage is wired for memory: "guard" the month, eat "bread of affliction," "so that you may remember… all the days of your life" (v. 3). The food is deliberately unpleasant (JFB: "sour, unpleasant"), the haste is preserved in a word so rare it appears three times in all Scripture. Israel is not asked to recall a fact but to taste it annually — the redeemed are people who re-enter their own slavery once a year so they never lose their gratitude.

The blood moves from the door to the altar. The most striking thing Deuteronomy does is relocate the Passover from the home (where, in Egypt, the blood went on the doorposts) to "the place the LORD will choose." Keil sees it: the doorpost-blood is "tacitly abolished," because the blood now belongs on the altar. A rite that began as a household's private deliverance becomes the whole nation's public sacrifice. The Passover grows up from a family meal into a temple-offering — and so was ready, when the time came, to be read as the sacrifice.

The text shows its own seams, and does not hide them. Deuteronomy 16 says "boil" where Exodus says "roast, not boiled"; it says "six days" where the surrounding verses say seven; it lets "Passover" mean both the lamb and the whole week. The honest reader does not paper these over. The commentators themselves split — Cambridge says the laws simply differ; Gill and Keil harmonize. That two godly readings of one text can stand side by side is not a defect of Scripture but the discipline of reading it: the seams are where the work is done.

A feast is memory you can eat: bread baked in such haste it never had time to rise, served once a year so a freed people never forgets the night the blood stood between them and the destroyer. (⚙ a fallible reading, not Scripture.)

⚙

Canonical Threads — out to the whole of Scripture

cross-refs · verify

AI-generated connections. Each carries a verification badge with a recorded basis; contested links are flagged.

The month of green ears — Deuteronomy 16:1 ↔ Exodus 13:4; 23:15; 34:18 verbal / quotation — confirmed

The opening command, "keep the month of Abib," reaches back to the earlier festal laws that name the same month. The link is unusually firm because Abib (ʼâbîyb, H24) is a rare word — only six verses in all Scripture. The Verifier ties this verse to Exodus 13:4 by ʼâbîyb together with chôdesh ("month," H2320) and yâtsâʼ ("brought out"), and to Exodus 23:15 by ʼâbîyb, chôdesh, and shâmar ("keep," the very verb of v. 1). Cambridge independently cites exactly these cross-references — "So E and J (Exodus 13:4; 23:15; 34:18)." A shared lexeme this scarce, joined to the shared command-verb, marks a true verbal kinship, not a vague echo.

Deuteronomy 16:1 · Exodus 13:4 · Exodus 23:15 · Exodus 34:18

basis: rare shared lexeme H24 ʼâbîyb (only 6 vv in all Scripture) + H2320 chôdesh (224 vv) + H8104 shâmar (440 vv, the shared command-verb) + H3318 yâtsâʼ — Verifier-computed for Deut 16:1 ↔ Exod 13:4 and ↔ Exod 23:15; Cambridge names these same cross-references in its note on the verse

Eaten in haste — Deuteronomy 16:3 ↔ Exodus 12:11 and Isaiah 52:12 verbal / quotation — confirmed

"You came out of Egypt in haste" rests on chippāzôn (H2649), one of the rarest words in the Hebrew Bible — it occurs in only three verses anywhere, and the other two are both in view here. Exodus 12:11 commands the first Passover to be eaten "in haste (chippāzôn); it is the LORD's passover" — the night this verse remembers. Isaiah 52:12 deliberately inverts it for the new exodus: "ye shall not go out in haste (chippāzôn), nor go by flight." Cambridge cites both verses by name in its note on "bread of affliction." When a word this scarce binds three texts, the link is as verbal as Scripture offers — and the Isaiah reversal turns a fingerprint into a theology: the second redemption will not be a panicked flight but a led procession.

Deuteronomy 16:3 · Exodus 12:11 · Isaiah 52:12

basis: rare shared lexeme H2649 chippâzôwn (only 3 vv in all Scripture: Deut 16:3, Exod 12:11, Isa 52:12) — Verifier-computed for both pairs; Cambridge cites Exod 12:11 and Isa 52:12 by name. Isaiah deliberately negates the word ("not in haste"), a verbal allusion confirmed by the shared scarce lexeme

Seven days of unleavened bread — Deuteronomy 16:3 ↔ Exodus 12:15; 13:7; 12:19 verbal / quotation — confirmed

The seven-day unleavened-bread law restates the Exodus institution almost in its own words. The Verifier links Deuteronomy 16:3 to Exodus 12:15 by a cluster including two uncommon festal terms — matstsâh ("unleavened bread," H4682, 42 vv) and châmêts ("leaven," H2557, only 13 vv) — with shebaʻ ("seven") and ʼâkal ("eat"). The same pair binds it to Exodus 13:7, and to Exodus 12:19 (which adds the rarer śᵉ’ôr, H7603, the yeast-agent of Deut 16:4). Keil reads Deuteronomy 16:4 as Moses deliberately "repeating" the points "laid down in Exodus 13:7" and "Exodus 23:18; 34:25." Because châmêts is rare and the two leaven-terms recur together, this is a genuine verbal restatement of one law across the codes.

Deuteronomy 16:3 · Exodus 12:15 · Exodus 13:7 · Exodus 12:19

basis: shared lexemes H2557 châmêts (rare, 13 vv) + H4682 matstsâh (42 vv) + H7651 shebaʻ + H398 ʼâkal — Verifier-computed for Deut 16:3 ↔ Exod 12:15 and ↔ Exod 13:7; the rare châmêts plus matstsâh together mark a verbal restatement of the one unleavened-bread law (Keil: Moses "repeats" Exod 13:7)

The place the LORD will choose — Deuteronomy 16:2, 6 ↔ Deuteronomy 12:11 structural / thematic — confirmed

The centralizing refrain — "the place the LORD will choose to make His Name dwell there" — is the signature formula of Deuteronomy, sounded first at 12:11 and repeated through chapter 16 (vv. 2, 6, 7, 11). The Verifier ties 16:2 to 12:11 by the formula's whole word-cluster: bâchar ("choose," H977), mâqôwm ("place," H4725), shâkan ("make dwell," H7931), shēm ("Name," H8034), and shâm ("there," H8033). Held honestly: these are not a quotation of a distinct text but the recurring formulaic refrain of one book — Barnes notes the centralization is "reiterated… no less than six times" in this chapter alone. So the basis is the shared Deuteronomic formula, and the tier is structural, not verbal.

Deuteronomy 16:2 · Deuteronomy 16:6 · Deuteronomy 12:11

basis: shared lexeme cluster H977 bâchar (164 vv) + H4725 mâqôwm (379 vv) + H7931 shâkan (124 vv) + H8034 shêm (771 vv) + H8033 shâm — Verifier-computed for Deut 16:2 ↔ Deut 12:11. The Verifier flags lexeme overlap, but this is Deuteronomy's own recurring centralization formula (12:5,11,14; 16:2,6,7,11), not a quotation of a separate text — so the honest tier is structural

Nothing left till morning — Deuteronomy 16:4 ↔ Exodus 23:18; 34:25 structural / thematic — confirmed

The rule that the sacrificial flesh "shall not lodge overnight until morning" repeats the old altar-law of the covenant codes. The Verifier links Deuteronomy 16:4 to Exodus 23:18 by lûwn ("to remain overnight," H3885 — the exact verb of v. 4), zâbach ("sacrifice," H2076), and bôqer ("morning," H1242). Keil names the same cross-references: Moses "repeats… the one in Exodus 23:18 and 34:25, that none of the flesh of the paschal lamb was to be left till the next morning." The shared overnight-verb plus the sacrifice-and-morning frame make this a firm structural restatement of one ritual rule across the law-codes — guarding the holy flesh from decay.

Deuteronomy 16:4 · Exodus 23:18 · Exodus 34:25

basis: shared lexemes H3885 lûwn (78 vv, the exact 'remain overnight' verb of Deut 16:4) + H2076 zâbach (127 vv) + H1242 bôqer (189 vv) — Verifier-computed for Deut 16:4 ↔ Exod 23:18; Keil cites Exod 23:18 and 34:25 as the same law repeated. Recurring ritual vocabulary, not a rare quotation — tier structural

No leaven on the LORD's portion — Deuteronomy 16:4 ↔ Leviticus 2:11; Exodus 12:19 verbal / quotation — confirmed

The ban on the leaven-agent in v. 4 — śᵉ’ôr ("yeast-starter," H7603), not the loaf — uses one of the rarest words in the Torah: it occurs in only five verses. Two of the other four converge here. Exodus 12:19 commands the same starter gone from the houses for the seven days; and Leviticus 2:11 makes the principle a law of the altar itself — "ye shall burn no leaven (śᵉ’ôr)… in any offering of the LORD made by fire." The Verifier confirms the Deuteronomy 16:4 ↔ Leviticus 2:11 link on this scarce shared lexeme. The kinship is verbal and the theology is one: what is brought to God must be free of the agent of fermentation — the same logic Keil draws on this verse ("leaven sets the dough in fermentation, from which putrefaction ensues"). Held honestly: Leviticus 2:11 also forbids honey and is a grain-offering law, not a Passover text; the firm tie is the rare leaven-word and its shared rationale, not a quotation of the Passover statute.

Deuteronomy 16:4 · Leviticus 2:11 · Exodus 12:19

basis: rare shared lexeme H7603 sᵉʼôr (only 5 vv in all Scripture) — Verifier-computed for Deut 16:4 ↔ Lev 2:11 and ↔ Exod 12:19. The same scarce yeast-agent word ties the Passover leaven-ban to the altar-law (Lev 2:11, leaven barred from every fire-offering) and to the Exodus institution (Exod 12:19). A lexeme this rare marks verbal kinship; the link is the shared leaven-agent ban, not a quotation of the Passover law itself

The first Passover in the chosen land — Deuteronomy 16:1–2 ↔ Joshua 5:11; Ezekiel 45:21 structural / thematic — confirmed

This law looks forward to its first keeping in Canaan and to its prophetic renewal. Joshua 5:11 records Israel eating "unleavened cakes" of "the produce of the land" the day after the first Passover at Gilgal; Ezekiel 45:21 reissues the Passover-and-unleavened-bread ordinance for the restored temple. The Verifier links both to this unit by pesach ("Passover," H6453, 46 vv), with Ezekiel adding chôdesh ("month"). Held honestly: pesach is the festival's proper name, shared by every Passover text, so this is a thematic/structural identity — the same ordinance enacted (Joshua) and re-prescribed (Ezekiel) — not a quotation. The tier is structural.

Deuteronomy 16:1 · Deuteronomy 16:2 · Joshua 5:11 · Ezekiel 45:21

basis: shared lexeme H6453 peçach (46 vv) for Deut 16:2 ↔ Josh 5:11; + H2320 chôdesh for ↔ Ezek 45:21 — Verifier-computed. peçach is the festival's proper name shared by all Passover texts, so the basis is the shared ordinance (Joshua enacts it in the land; Ezekiel re-prescribes it for the restored temple), not a verbal quotation — tier structural

⚙Christ in the Unittypology · verify

AI-generated reading; weigh it against the text.

Christ our Passover, sacrificed for us ancient/widely-held

The commentators on this very chapter reach forward to the New Testament's central application of the feast. Benson, expounding the centralization of v. 5, draws the line himself: "the passover itself was a sacrifice; hence Christ, as our passover, is said to be sacrificed for us, 1 Corinthians 5"; and the Pulpit Commentary, on the leaven of v. 4, cites 1 Corinthians 5:7 — "purge out the old leaven… For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us." Matthew Henry, reading the whole festal law (vv. 1–17), hears it summon the believer never to "forget his low estate of guilt and misery, his deliverance, and the price it cost the Redeemer." That Deuteronomy moves the slaying to the altar at the chosen place (Poole: "to design the place where Christ, the true Passover or Lamb of God, was to be slain") prepared the rite for its fulfillment in a sacrifice offered at Jerusalem. Held honestly: this is a Hebrew-text → Greek-text link — no shared Strong's number is possible — so it is figural, not lexical; but it is ancient and woven into these very commentaries.

Deuteronomy 16:2 · Deuteronomy 16:5 · Deuteronomy 16:6 · 1 Corinthians 5:7

The unleavened bread and the unleavened life ancient/widely-held

The seven-day purge of leaven (vv. 3–4) becomes, in Paul, a figure of the Christian's purged life: "purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump… not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth" (1 Corinthians 5:7–8). The Pulpit Commentary makes the connection on this passage's own ground, citing 1 Corinthians 5:7 as the leaven of Deuteronomy 16:4 is described. The Hebrew already loads châmêts with the figurative sense of "sourness" and corruption — the very moral freight Paul gives it. As Keil read the literal law (leaven barred because it breeds "putrefaction"), so the apostle reads the spiritual: the festal week of unleavened bread is a parable of a life kept free of the old fermenting corruption. Held honestly: cross-Testament and figural, not a shared lexeme.

Deuteronomy 16:3 · Deuteronomy 16:4 · 1 Corinthians 5:8

The bread of affliction and the bread of life novel

The matzah is named lechem ‘ōnî, "the bread of affliction" (v. 3) — bread eaten in poverty and haste, broken (Gill) with the words "this is the bread of affliction." Christian reading has long heard in the Passover-bread that Christ took, broke, and named "this is my body" (Luke 22:19, at a Passover meal) the bread of affliction transfigured: the bread of Israel's affliction becoming the bread of Christ's affliction given for the world, and so the "bread of life" (John 6:35, 48). The lifelong remembrance commanded here — "that thou mayest remember… all the days of thy life" — finds its echo in "this do in remembrance of me" (1 Corinthians 11:24). Held honestly: this is a typological reading across Testaments, marked as such; the connection is figural and thematic, not a verbal quotation, and is offered to be tested against the texts themselves.

Deuteronomy 16:3 · Luke 22:19 · John 6:35 · 1 Corinthians 11:24

Apparatus & Provenance

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). Hebrew/Greek text, transliteration, morphology and Strong’s are transcribed from the Berean interlinear (CC0) + Strong’s lexicons (PD); the literal renderings, divergence notes, word notes and all synthesis are this tool’s own work (⚙) — fallible; verify them.

Named voices, quoted verbatim from public-domain works:

Albert Barnes, Notes on the Bible (1834)
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, — (1880s)
Charles Ellicott, Commentary for English Readers (1878)
Geneva Study Bible, Marginal Notes (1599)
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory (1871)
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63)
Joseph Benson, Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1810s)
Keil & Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1860s)
Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (1685)
The Pulpit Commentary, Spence & Exell, eds. (1880s)

The biblical text is the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain (CC0). The named voices are quoted verbatim from public-domain commentaries on Deuteronomy 16:1–8, attributed in place: Charles Ellicott (Commentary for English Readers, 1878), Joseph Benson (1810s), Matthew Henry (Concise Commentary, 1706), Albert Barnes (Notes, 1834), Jamieson–Fausset–Brown (1871), Matthew Poole (1685), John Gill (1746–63), the Geneva Study Bible (1599), the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (1880s), the Pulpit Commentary (1880s), and Keil & Delitzsch (1860s). Each excerpt is a contiguous, unaltered substring of its source; a few are drawn from the running notes the older commentaries place on the unit's first verse (16:1) and so are cited to that verse's page.

The Hebrew is the Masoretic tradition; transliterations, parsings, literal renderings, and the "where the English smooths the Hebrew" notes are this tool's own work (⚙) — careful but fallible; check them against BDB/HALOT and a standard grammar. Several genuine tensions in the unit are reported, not smoothed: the word "Passover" shifts between the lamb (narrow) and the whole seven-day festival (broad), which the commentators (Keil, Poole, Benson) resolve from the "herd" of v. 2 and the seven-day eating of v. 3; the cooking-verb of v. 7 is bâshal ("boil"), against Exodus 12:9's "roast, not boiled," where Cambridge judges "D and P enjoin different methods" while Gill and the harmonizers refer it to the chagigah; and "six days" (v. 8) against the "seven" of vv. 3–4, which Keil and Poole reconcile by the seventh day's special prominence. These are left open, with the voices on both sides.

On the cross-references: three links in this unit are truly verbal, each resting on a rare shared lexeme the Verifier computed — Deuteronomy 16:1 ↔ Exodus 13:4/23:15 on ʼâbîyb ("Abib," only 6 vv), Deuteronomy 16:3 ↔ Exodus 12:11/Isaiah 52:12 on chippāzôn ("in haste," only 3 vv in all Scripture, with Isaiah deliberately negating it), and Deuteronomy 16:4 ↔ Leviticus 2:11/Exodus 12:19 on śᵉ’ôr (the yeast-agent, only 5 vv — the same scarce word that bars leaven from every fire-offering of the altar). The unleavened-bread link to Exodus 12:15/13:7 also reaches "verbal" on the uncommon pair châmêts / matstsâh. Three further links the Verifier flagged on lexeme overlap have been honestly tiered structural: the "place the LORD will choose" formula (16:2 ↔ 12:11) is Deuteronomy's own recurring refrain, not a quotation; "nothing left till morning" (16:4 ↔ Exodus 23:18) is shared ritual vocabulary; and the Passover-in-the-land links to Joshua 5:11 and Ezekiel 45:21 rest on pesach, the festival's proper name shared by every Passover text. The forward links to 1 Corinthians 5, John 6, and the Lord's Supper cross from a Hebrew text to a Greek one, where no shared Strong's number is even possible, so they are marked typological / structural — the Christ-our-Passover and unleavened-life readings are ancient and woven into these very commentaries (Benson and the Pulpit Commentary cite 1 Corinthians 5 by name here); the bread-of-affliction → bread-of-life reading is marked novel as a figural extension to be tested. The Joshua 1:5 → Hebrews 13:5 flagged-provenance rule does not apply to this unit (it is Deuteronomy 16 and contains no 16:5 NT-quotation of disputed provenance). ⚙ = machine-generated synthesis, to be verified. "Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so." (Acts 17:11)

✦ = human, public-domain source, quoted and named. ⚙ = machine synthesis, to be verified. Flagged cross-references are left visible on purpose — the verifier working in the open. “Search the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so.” (Acts 17:11)