Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:
Parallel translations
- KJV Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:
- BSB Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.
- NKJV Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
- NASB Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.
- NLT The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.
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 lamb must be without defect, a year-old male, taken from the sheep or goats.
Overview
The lamb's perfection is essential: only an unblemished substitute is fit to stand in the place of the people. This requirement runs throughout Israel's sacrificial system and finds its fulfillment in Christ, described by Peter as 'a lamb without blemish and without spot' (1 Peter 1:19) and by John the Baptist as 'the Lamb of God.' The spotless lamb teaches that redemption requires a sinless sacrifice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Heb 9:13–14For if the blood of goats and bulls, and the ashes of a heifer sprinkling those who have been defiled, sanctify to the cleanness of the flesh:
- Mal 1:14“But the deceiver is cursed, who has in his flock a male, and vows, and sacrifices to the Lord a defective thing; for I am a great King,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and my name is awesome among the nations.”
- 1 Pet 1:18–19knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers,
- Mal 1:7–8You offer polluted bread on my altar. You say, ‘How have we polluted you?’ In that you say, ‘Yahweh’s table is contemptible.’
- Deut 17:1You shall not sacrifice to Yahweh your God an ox, or a sheep, in which is a defect, or anything evil; for that is an abomination to Yahweh your God.
- Heb 7:26For such a high priest was fitting for us: holy, guiltless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- Lev 22:18–24“Speak to Aaron, and to his sons, and to all the children of Israel, and say to them, ‘Whoever is of the house of Israel, or of the foreigners in Israel, who offers his offering, whether it is any of their vows, or any of their freewill offerings, which they offer to Yahweh for a burnt offering;
- Lev 23:12On the day when you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a male lamb without defect a year old for a burnt offering to Yahweh.
- Lev 1:3“‘If his offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he shall offer a male without defect. He shall offer it at the door of the Tent of Meeting, that he may be accepted before Yahweh.
- Lev 1:10“‘If his offering is from the flock, from the sheep, or from the goats, for a burnt offering, he shall offer a male without defect.
- 1 Sam 13:1Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 12:5 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.