It is a night to be much observed to Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of Yahweh, to be much observed by all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
Parallel Translations
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It is a night to be much observed to Yahweh for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of Yahweh, to be much observed by all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
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It is a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.
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It was a night of watching unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt; this same night is a night of watching unto the LORD for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
Cross-references (3)
Passages linked to Exodus 12:42 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 12:14 This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall keep it as a feast to Yahweh. You shall keep it as a feast throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
- Deuteronomy 16:1-6 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the Passover to Yahweh your God; for in the month of Abib Yahweh your God brought you out of Egypt by night. You shall sacrifice the Passover to Yahweh your God, of the flock and the herd, in the place which Yahweh shall choose to cause his name to dwell there. You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction (for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste) that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life. No yeast shall be seen with you in all your borders seven days; neither shall any of the meat, which you sacrifice the first day at evening, remain all night until the morning. You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which Yahweh your God gives you; but at the place which Yahweh your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell in, there you shall sacrifice the Passover at evening, at the going down of the sun, at the season that you came out of Egypt.
- Exodus 13:10 You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 12:42 It [is] a night to be much…
Exo 12:42 It [is] a night to be much observed unto the LORD for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this [is] that night of the LORD to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.
Ver. 42. This is that night.] That, with an accent. God expects our returns should be answerable to our receipts. God’s blessings are binders; and of all things he can least abide to be forgotten.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain But every man's servant that is bought for money,....…
But every man's servant that is bought for money,.... And so his own property:
when thou hast circumcised him; as such an one ought to be, according to the covenant of circumcision given to Abraham, Gen 17:13, though one should think not without his consent; wherefore care was to be taken to purchase such servants as would be willing to conform to that rite, and pains were to be taken with them to instruct them in it, and persuade them to it; to which, when they had submitted, they had a right to eat the passover, but if they did not, it was not allowed:
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then shall he eat thereof; but not otherwise.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain This first passover night was a night of the…
This first passover night was a night of the Lord, much to be observed; but the last passover night, in which Christ was betrayed, was a night of the Lord, much more to be observed, when a yoke heavier than that of Egypt was broke from off our necks, and a land better than that of Canaan set before us. That was a temporal deliverance, to be celebrated in their generations; this an eternal redemption to be celebrated world without end.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 42. A night to be much observed] A…
Verse 42. A night to be much observed] A night to be held in everlasting remembrance, because of the peculiar display of the power and goodness of God, the observance of which annually was to be considered a religious precept while the Jewish nation should continue.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 12:42. This first passover night was a night…
Exo 12:42. This first passover night was a night of the Lord, much to be observed; but the last passover night, in which Christ was betrayed, was a night of the Lord, much more to be observed, when a yoke heavier than that of Egypt was broken from off our necks, and a land better than that of Canaan set before us. That was a temporal deliverance, to be celebrated in their generations; this an eternal redemption, to be celebrated world without end!
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Observable, in which the Lord has been our sentinel…
Observable, in which the Lord has been our sentinel and preserver. (Vatable)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 42. Observed of all the children of Israel in…
42. Observed of all the children of Israel in their generations — Israel was long ago scattered among the Gentiles; all the Levitical sacrifices have for centuries “ceased to be offered;” tabernacle and temple vanished ages ago; yet wherever in his wanderings a Jew retains to-day one shred of his ancestral religion he keeps the passover.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 42. The night is to be observed in perpetuity…
42. The night is to be observed in perpetuity as a night of watching, or of vigil, unto Jehovah; cf. Isa_30:29. Both the margins are preferable to the text. ל, however, cannot mean for (i.e., apparently, in return for), though it might mean with regard to; but its natural meaning here would be in order to; hence Bu. Bä. may be right in rendering, A night of watching was it for Yahweh to bring them out, &c.; Jehovah Himself was on the watch that night to protect His people from the destroyer, and to bring them safely out of Egypt: v. 41b will then be a later addition, transforming the night of vigil kept by Jehovah, into a night of vigil kept to Him (cf. Nowack, Arch. ii. 149).
throughout your generations. See on v. 14.
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43–51 (P). Regulations respecting the Passover, supplementary to those in vv. 1–13, and intended principally to define what persons were or were not authorised to eat it. No foreigner, temporary ‘settler,’ or (foreign) hired servant is to eat of it: a slave, and a ‘sojourner,’ i.e. a protected foreigner, when they have been circumcised, may eat of it (vv. 43–45, 48 f.).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain It is a night to be much observed. We…
It is a night to be much observed. We must suppose that some of the Israelites actually commenced their march before the night was over, being "hastened" by the Egyptians (ver. 33), and having all things in readiness; but the bulk of the people can scarcely have started before daybreak. This is that night of the Lordi.e. , the night concerning which directions had been already given (vers. 6-11) the only "night" for which any observances were appointed. In their generations. To all time so long as they continue to be a people. On the bindingness of this commandment, see the comment on ver. 14 of this chapter.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain A night to be much observed unto the Lord.
Exo_12:42
A night to be much observed unto the Lord.
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The Passover
I. The Passover the appointed means of a great deliverance. The destruction of the firstborn secured Israels freedom; the rite itself saved Israels firstborn.
1. Wrath was averted.
2. Individual faith and action were required.
3. Perfect safety was thus obtained.
II. The Passover as ordained feast of remembrance.
1. Not a formal service, but gratefully rendered, and intelligently observed; the father instructing the child as to its meaning (Exo_12:26-27).
2. To be kept by all the people (Exo_12:4). The redemption to be celebrated by all the redeemed.
3. In each successive generation. A perpetual witness of Jehovahs delivering mercy; an unfailing type; a constant test and measure of religious life. Kept by Moses (Num_9:1-23.); by Joshua (chap. 5.); revived by Josiah; in Nehemiahs time (Ezr_6:1-22.); in our Lords time widely observed.
4. Every detail was divinely ordered.
5. The lamb was eaten with special accompaniments Bitter herbs denoted penitence; unleavened bread, sincerity. Godly sorrow chastens Christian joy. True consecration marks the believers praise.
6. In a pilgrim spirit. Loins girded, shoes on feet, staff in hand. Christs service here is not the Christians rest. His eye is fixed on heaven; and, while he works and praises, his true cry ever is, Come, Lord Jesus. (W. S. Bruce, M. A.)
Freedom and discipline
I. Scholars have said that the old Greeks were the fathers of freedom; and there have been other people in the worlds history who have made glorious and successful struggles to throw off their tyrants and be free. But liberty is of a far older and nobler house. It was born on the first Easter night, when God Himself stooped from heaven to set the oppressed free.
II. The history of the Jews is the history of the whole Church and of every nation in Christendom. The Jews had to wander forty years in the wilderness, and Christendom has had to wander too, in strange and bloodstained paths, for eighteen hundred years and more. For as the Israelites were not worthy to enter at once into rest, no more have the nation of Christs Church been worthy. As the new generation sprang up in the wilderness, trained under Moses stern law, to the fear of God, so for eighteen hundred years have the generations of Christendom, by the training of the Church and the light of the gospel, been growing in wisdom and knowledge, growing in morality and humanity, in that true discipline and loyalty which are the yokefellows of freedom and independence. (C. Kingsley, M. A.)
A holy celebration
It is the night of our regeneration; it is the night of our conversion (night or day, it matters not which); the time in which we actually received salvation, and were made partakers of this Passover, that we would just now admonish you to remember. At that particular time important events transpired for us. The most important events, to us, that ever occurred in our history, happened on that occasion. There was a point in our life up to which we were dead: then we were made alive. There was a point up to which we were condemned: then, in an instant, we were acquitted. Now, what events transpired on that occasion?
1. Well, the first was, it pleased God then to show us the blood of Jesus, and to apply it to our souls. That night, too, or that day, whichever it may have been, we do remember that we enjoyed a feast upon our Saviour. The blood was sprinkled, and so we were saved; and then we sat down at the table, and began at once to feast upon the precious things stored up in the person of Christ.
2. And then it was that for the first time in your life you felt that you were free. You were free; but finding yourself free, you also discovered, for the first time, that you were a pilgrim; for the Israelites, as they ate that paschal supper, had to do so with their loins girl and staves in their hands, like men that were to leave that country. You found that now you were a stranger. If you had an unconverted parent, you could not talk to him or her about your soul. If you had old companions, you felt you must bid them farewell, for they would not understand you; if you did not know you were a pilgrim before, you found it out the very next day, when you began to talk with them. O! it was a time to be remembered, and I want you to remember it now--those blessed days when we began to live!
3. Important results will flow to you from the preservation of this memorial. It will humble you and foster the grace of humility. Have you become an old experienced Christian, my brother? Go back to the hole of the pit whence you were digged. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.