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It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of the bones.
Exodus 12:46 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB It must be eaten In one house. You shall not carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones.
  • KJV In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth ought of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall ye break a bone thereof.
  • NKJV In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.
  • NASB It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring any of the meat outside of the house, nor are you to break any bone of it.
  • NLT Each Passover lamb must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of its meat outside, and do not break any of its bones.

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 must be eaten in one house, none of its meat taken outside, and none of its bones broken.

Overview

The unity of the meal in a single house pictures the unity of the covenant people gathered around the lamb. The command not to break a bone, repeated in Numbers 9:12 and Psalm 34:20, is applied by John to Christ on the cross (John 19:36), where no bone was broken. This detail seals the Passover lamb as a type of the Lord Jesus, the true Passover for His people.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • John 19:36Now these things happened so that the Scripture would be fulfilled: “Not one of His bones will be broken.”
  • Num 9:12they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones. They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.
  • John 19:33But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs.
  • Eph 2:19–22Therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household,
  • 1 Cor 12:12The body is a unit, though it is composed of many parts. And although its parts are many, they all form one body. So it is with Christ.
  • Ps 34:20He protects all his bones; not one of them will be broken.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Exodus videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Exodus 12:46YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on ExodusMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 12:46 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.