You are not allowed to sacrifice the Passover in any of your towns which the Lord your God is giving you;
Parallel translations
- WEB You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates, which Yahweh your God gives you;
- KJV Thou mayest not sacrifice the passover within any of thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee:
- BSB You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.
- NKJV “You may not sacrifice the Passover within any of your gates which the Lord your God gives you;
- NLT “You may not sacrifice the Passover in just any of the towns that the Lord your God is giving you.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The Passover could not be sacrificed in just any town. God restricted it to his one chosen place of worship.
Overview
Unlike the first Passover kept in homes throughout Egypt, the settled Passover was to be observed only at the central sanctuary. This guarded Israel from fragmented or corrupted worship and bound the nation together. The centralization anticipates the one place and one sacrifice in which God now receives his people, Jesus Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 2
- Deut 12:5–6But to the place which Yahweh your God shall choose out of all your tribes, to put his name there, you shall seek his habitation, and there you shall come.
- Deut 16:2You 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 16:5 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.