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They shall eat the flesh that same night, roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Exodus 12:8 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB They shall eat the meat in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.
  • KJV And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
  • BSB They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
  • NKJV Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
  • NLT That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast.

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

That night the lamb is to be eaten roasted, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

Overview

The Passover is not only a sacrifice but a meal in which the people feed on the lamb. Unleavened bread signals haste and the removal of corruption (leaven often pictures sin), while the bitter herbs recall the bitterness of slavery. Together they form a memorial meal that points to Christ, our Passover, on whom believers feed by faith, remembering both bondage to sin and the cost of redemption.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 18

  • Exod 34:25“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning.
  • Deut 16:7You shall roast and eat it in the place which Yahweh your God chooses. In the morning you shall return to your tents.
  • Deut 16:3–4You shall eat no leavened bread with it. You shall eat unleavened bread with it seven days, even the bread of affliction; for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste; that you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt all the days of your life.
  • Exod 13:7Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and no leavened bread shall be seen with you. No yeast shall be seen with you, within all your borders.
  • John 6:52–57The Jews therefore contended with one another, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”
  • 1 Cor 5:6–8Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast leavens the whole lump?
  • Exod 13:3Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
  • Num 9:11–12In the second month, on the fourteenth day at evening they shall keep it; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
  • Exod 23:18“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The fat of my feast shall not remain all night until the morning.
  • Exod 1:14and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all kinds of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
  • Isa 53:10Yet it pleased Yahweh to bruise him. He has caused him to suffer. When you make his soul an offering for sin, he will see his offspring. He will prolong his days, and Yahweh’s pleasure will prosper in his hand.
  • Amos 4:5offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving of that which is leavened, and proclaim free will offerings and brag about them: for this pleases you, you children of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.
  • Gal 5:9A little yeast grows through the whole lump.
  • Matt 16:12Then they understood that he didn’t tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.
  • Matt 26:26As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.”
  • Zech 12:10I will pour on David’s house, and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplication; and they will look to me whom they have pierced; and they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for his only son, and will grieve bitterly for him, as one grieves for his firstborn.
  • Ps 22:14I am poured out like water. All my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax; it is melted within me.
  • 1 Th 1:6You became imitators of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

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 12:8YouTube · 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 12:8 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.