And when your children say to you, ‘What does this rite mean to you?’
Parallel translations
- WEB It will happen, when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’
- KJV And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye 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?’
- 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 13:14–15It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall tell him, ‘By strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage.
- Deut 32:7Remember the days of old. Consider the years of many generations. Ask your father, and he will show you; your elders, and they will tell you.
- Ps 145:4One generation will commend your works to another, and will declare your mighty acts.
- Josh 4:6–7that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask in the future, saying, ‘What do you mean 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 you, as I do today. The father shall make known your truth to the children.
- Eph 6:4You fathers, don’t provoke your children to wrath, but nurture them in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.
- Josh 4:21–24He spoke to the children of Israel, saying, “When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What do these stones mean?’
- Deut 6:7and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
- Deut 11:19You shall teach them your children, talking of them, when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise up.
- Exod 10:2and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your son’s son, what things I have done to Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that you may know that I am Yahweh.”
- Exod 13:22the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night, didn’t depart from before the people.
- Exod 13:8–9You shall tell your son in that day, saying, ‘It is because of that which Yahweh did for me when I came 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.