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They shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break a bone of it. According to all the statute of the Passover they shall keep it.
Numbers 9:12 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV They shall leave none of it unto the morning, nor break any bone of it: according to all the ordinances of the passover they shall keep it.
  • BSB they may not leave any of it until morning or break any of its bones. They must observe the Passover according to all its statutes.
  • NKJV They shall leave none of it until morning, nor break one of its bones. According to all the ordinances of the Passover they shall keep it.
  • NASB They shall not leave any of it until morning, nor break a bone of it; they shall celebrate it in accordance with the whole statute of the Passover.
  • NLT They must not leave any of the lamb until the next morning, and they must not break any of its bones. They must follow all the normal regulations concerning the Passover.

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

None of the lamb was to be left over and no bone of it broken, just as in the regular Passover. The same sacred rules applied without compromise.

Overview

The command not to break a bone of the Passover lamb is significant: John's Gospel sees it fulfilled in Christ, whose bones were not broken at the cross. Thus even this detail of the feast pointed forward to Jesus, the true Passover Lamb who fulfills the law's every requirement.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 5

  • John 19:36For these things happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.”
  • Exod 12:46It 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.
  • Exod 12:10You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.
  • Exod 12:43Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat of it,
  • Num 9:3On the fourteenth day of this month, at evening, you shall keep it in its appointed season — according to all its statutes, and according to all its ordinances, you shall keep it.”

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Numbers videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

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

  • VideoWatch teaching on Numbers 9:12YouTube · 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 NumbersMatthew 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

In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.

How Numbers 9:12 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.