Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from 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:
- 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 bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
- Mal 1:14But cursed be the deceiver, which hath in his flock a male, and voweth, and sacrificeth unto the LORD a corrupt thing: for I am a great King, saith the LORD of hosts, and my name is dreadful among the heathen.
- 1 Pet 1:18–19Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;
- Mal 1:7–8Ye offer polluted bread upon mine altar; and ye say, Wherein have we polluted thee? In that ye say, The table of the LORD is contemptible.
- Deut 17:1Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God.
- Heb 7:26For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens;
- Lev 22:18–24Speak unto Aaron, and to his sons, and unto all the children of Israel, and say unto them, Whatsoever he be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers in Israel, that will offer his oblation for all his vows, and for all his freewill offerings, which they will offer unto the LORD for a burnt offering;
- Lev 23:12And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD.
- Lev 1:3If his offering be a burnt sacrifice of the herd, let him offer a male without blemish: he shall offer it of his own voluntary will at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before the LORD.
- Lev 1:10And if his offering be of the flocks, namely, of the sheep, or of the goats, for a burnt sacrifice; he shall bring it a male without blemish.
- 1 Sam 13:1Saul reigned one year; and when he had reigned two years over Israel,
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.