Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.
Parallel translations
- WEB Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:
- 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:
- 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 sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that their bodies are clean,
- Mal 1:14“But cursed is the deceiver who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but sacrifices a defective animal to the Lord. For I am a great King,” says the LORD of Hosts, “and My name is to be feared among the nations.
- 1 Pet 1:18–19For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
- Mal 1:7–8By presenting defiled food on My altar. But you ask, ‘How have we defiled You?’ By saying that the table of the LORD is contemptible.
- Deut 17:1You shall not sacrifice to the LORD your God an ox or a sheep with any defect or serious flaw, for that is detestable to the LORD your God.
- Heb 7:26Such a high priest truly befits us—One who is holy, innocent, undefiled, set apart from sinners, and exalted above the heavens.
- Lev 22:18–24“Speak to Aaron and his sons and all the Israelites and tell them, ‘Any man of the house of Israel or any foreign resident who presents a gift for a burnt offering to the LORD, whether to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering,
- Lev 23:12On the day you wave the sheaf, you shall offer a year-old lamb without blemish as a burnt offering to the LORD,
- Lev 1:3If one’s offering is a burnt offering from the herd, he is to present an unblemished male. He must bring it to the entrance to the Tent of Meeting for its acceptance before the LORD.
- Lev 1:10If, however, one’s offering is a burnt offering from the flock—from the sheep or goats—he is to present an unblemished male.
- 1 Sam 13:1Saul was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned over Israel forty-two years.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
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 12:5 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.