Exodus 12:14–20, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Exodus 12:14–20
Unleavened Bread Becomes a Memorial Festival
The day is to be remembered by a week of unleavened bread
This day is a memorial, kept as a feast to the LORD throughout generations by an ordinance forever. Seven days they eat unleavened bread. On the first day they put away leaven from the houses. Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh is cut off from Israel.
Assemblies, rest from ordinary work, and strangers in the house
Holy convocations on the first and seventh days allow only food preparation. They observe unleavened bread because on this same day God brought their hosts out of Egypt. From the fourteenth day at evening to the twenty-first, no leaven is to be found in houses. Both the one born in the land and the stranger are included in the eating rule.
The festival binds future tables to a departure that has not yet been narrated in this unit. Memory is made of bread without the slow rising of ordinary time—an embodied way to tell children they left in haste.
How this should shape us
Build remembrance into calendars and kitchens, not only into speeches. Include the people who actually share the house, and do not use 'cut off' language to police later communities as if this ordinance were a weapon in your hand.
Teach it back
Explain Exodus 12:14–20 in your own words. Include both movements, its place in Exodus, one historical or compositional uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one conclusion the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Careful interpreters agree that the received text states the following: A seven-day festival removes leaven, gathers sacred assemblies, and binds future generations to remember the day God brought Israel's hosts from Egypt. They disagree over source layers, date, historical recovery, archaeology, Hebrew details, ritual development, legal use, and canonical relationship in different proportions; this study treats the final form directly while marking those alternatives as probable or uncertain rather than settled fact.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exodus 12:14–20, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech, law, ritual vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Exod.xml, words and morphology for 12:14–20
Supports: Unit-bounded Hebrew, syntax, lexical, textual, name, measure, legal, ritual, and older-English notes; silence is not evidence.
NET Bible Exodus PDF, complete 127-page PDF, translation and verse-attached translator notes for 12:14–20
Supports: Household rite, festival traditions, firstborn practices, literary development, and Jewish memorial horizon.
Yale Bible Study, 'Passover,' complete study guide pp. 1–5, sections on Exodus 12–13, Passover, unleavened bread, firstborn, and memorial practice; applied to Exodus 12:14–20
Supports: Relationship among firstborn judgment, protection, consecration, redemption, household ritual, and literary-development alternatives.
Frankel, 'Laws of the Firstborn: How They Were Connected to the Tenth Plague,' complete article, especially sections on Exodus 11–13, Passover blood, firstborn humans and animals, memorialization, and alternative redaction history; applied to Exodus 12:14–20
Supports: Book movement, historicity and archaeology limits, literary plurality, final-form reading, and Exodus's place in Torah.
Yale Bible Study, Exodus Introduction study guide, pp. 1–6: 'Exodus and the Patriarchs,' 'The Historicity of the Exodus,' 'The Sources in Exodus,' and 'The Book of Exodus'
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Exodus 12:14–20, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Exodus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech, law, ritual vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Exod.xml, words and morphology for 12:14–20
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Exodus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded Hebrew, syntax, lexical, textual, name, measure, legal, ritual, and older-English notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Exodus PDF, complete 127-page PDF, translation and verse-attached translator notes for 12:14–20
Open source ↗open university course study guide
Passover Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and John J. Collins
Yale Bible Study, 2019 course edition
Supports: Household rite, festival traditions, firstborn practices, literary development, and Jewish memorial horizon.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, 'Passover,' complete study guide pp. 1–5, sections on Exodus 12–13, Passover, unleavened bread, firstborn, and memorial practice; applied to Exodus 12:14–20
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly literary and ritual study
Laws of the Firstborn: How They Were Connected to the Tenth Plague
David Frankel
TheTorah.com, 2023
Supports: Relationship among firstborn judgment, protection, consecration, redemption, household ritual, and literary-development alternatives.
Exact location: Frankel, 'Laws of the Firstborn: How They Were Connected to the Tenth Plague,' complete article, especially sections on Exodus 11–13, Passover blood, firstborn humans and animals, memorialization, and alternative redaction history; applied to Exodus 12:14–20
Open source ↗open university course study guide
Exodus Introduction Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and John J. Collins
Yale Bible Study, 2019 course edition
Supports: Book movement, historicity and archaeology limits, literary plurality, final-form reading, and Exodus's place in Torah.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Exodus Introduction study guide, pp. 1–6: 'Exodus and the Patriarchs,' 'The Historicity of the Exodus,' 'The Sources in Exodus,' and 'The Book of Exodus'
Open source ↗