And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?
Parallel translations
- WEB It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
- BSB When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’
- NKJV And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
- NASB And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’
- NLT Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’
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
God anticipates children asking what this service means, providing an occasion for teaching.
Overview
The Passover is designed to provoke questions from the young and to open the door for instruction in God's redemptive acts. Worship becomes a means of catechesis, handing down the faith. This verse models intentional family discipleship, ensuring that the meaning of redemption is explained rather than merely observed by rote.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 13:14–15And it shall be when thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? that thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the LORD brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage:
- Deut 32:7Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will shew thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee.
- Ps 145:4One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts.
- Josh 4:6–7That this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean ye by these stones?
- Ps 78:3–6Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
- Isa 38:19The living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I do this day: the father to the children shall make known thy truth.
- Eph 6:4And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
- Josh 4:21–24And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones?
- Deut 6:7And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
- Deut 11:19And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
- Exod 10:2And that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son’s son, what things I have wrought in Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know how that I am the LORD.
- Exod 13:22He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
- Exod 13:8–9And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 12:26 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.