2 Chronicles 30:15-17

30:15 They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. The priests and Levites were ashamed, so they consecrated themselves and brought burnt sacrifices to the Lord’s temple. 30:16 They stood at their posts according to the regulations outlined in the law of Moses, the man of God. The priests were splashing the blood as the Levites handed it to them. ¹  30:17 Because many in the assembly had not consecrated themselves, the Levites slaughtered ²  the Passover lambs of all who were ceremonially unclean and could not consecrate their sacrifice to the Lord. ³ 

Exodus 12:6

12:6 You must care for it ⁴  until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community ⁵  of Israel will kill it around sundown. ⁶ 

Exodus 12:21-22

12:21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel, and told them, “Go and select ⁷  for yourselves a lamb or young goat ⁸  for your families, and kill the Passover animals. ⁹  12:22 Take a branch of hyssop, ¹⁰  dip it in the blood that is in the basin, ¹¹  and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out ¹²  the door of his house until morning.

Ezra 6:20-21

6:20 The priests and the Levites had purified themselves, every last one, ¹³  and they all were ceremonially pure. They sacrificed the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their colleagues ¹⁴  the priests, and for themselves. 6:21 The Israelites who were returning from the exile ate it, along with all those who had joined them ¹⁵  in separating themselves from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel.

¹ tn Heb “from the hand of the Levites.”

² tn Heb “were over the slaughter of.”

³ tn Heb “of everyone not pure to consecrate to the Lord.”

⁴ tn The text has וְהָיָה לָכֶם לְמִשְׁמֶרֶת (vÿhaya lakem lÿmishmeret, “and it will be for you for a keeping”). This noun stresses the activity of watching over or caring for something, probably to keep it in its proper condition for its designated use (see 16:23, 32-34).

⁵ tn Heb “all the assembly of the community.” This expression is a pleonasm. The verse means that everyone will kill the lamb, i.e., each family unit among the Israelites will kill its animal.

⁶ tn Heb “between the two evenings” or “between the two settings” (בֵּין הָעַרְבָּיִם, ben ha’arbayim). This expression has had a good deal of discussion. (1) Tg. Onq. says “between the two suns,” which the Talmud explains as the time between the sunset and the time the stars become visible. More technically, the first “evening” would be the time between sunset and the appearance of the crescent moon, and the second “evening” the next hour, or from the appearance of the crescent moon to full darkness (see Deut 16:6 – “at the going down of the sun”). (2) Saadia, Rashi, and Kimchi say the first evening is when the sun begins to decline in the west and cast its shadows, and the second evening is the beginning of night. (3) The view adopted by the Pharisees and the Talmudists (b. Pesahim 61a) is that the first evening is when the heat of the sun begins to decrease, and the second evening begins at sunset, or, roughly from 3-5 p.m. The Mishnah (m. Pesahim 5:1) indicates the lamb was killed about 2:30 p.m. – anything before noon was not valid. S. R. Driver concludes from this survey that the first view is probably the best, although the last view was the traditionally accepted one (Exodus, 89-90). Late afternoon or early evening seems to be intended, the time of twilight perhaps.

⁷ tn Heb “draw out and take.” The verb has in view the need “to draw out” a lamb or goat selected from among the rest of the flock.

⁸ tn The Hebrew noun is singular and can refer to either a lamb or a goat. Since English has no common word for both, the phrase “a lamb or young goat” is used in the translation.

⁹ tn The word “animals” is added to avoid giving the impression in English that the Passover festival itself is the object of “kill.”

¹⁰ sn The hyssop is a small bush that grows throughout the Sinai, probably the aromatic herb Origanum Maru L., or Origanum Aegyptiacum. The plant also grew out of the walls in Jerusalem (1 Kgs 4:33). See L. Baldensperger and G. M. Crowfoot, “Hyssop,” PEQ 63 (1931): 89-98. A piece of hyssop was also useful to the priests because it worked well for sprinkling.

¹¹ tn The Greek and the Vulgate translate סַף (saf, “basin”) as “threshold.” W. C. Kaiser reports how early traditions grew up about the killing of the lamb on the threshold (“Exodus,” EBC 2:376).

¹² tn Heb “and you, you shall not go out, a man from the door of his house.” This construction puts stress on prohibiting absolutely everyone from going out.

¹³ tn Heb “as one.” The expression is best understood as referring to the unity shown by the religious leaders in preparing themselves for the observance of Passover. On the meaning of the Hebrew phrase see DCH 1:182 s.v. אֶחָד 3b. See also HALOT 30 s.v. אֶחָד 5.

¹⁴ tn Heb “brothers.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “who had separated from the uncleanness of the nations of the land to them.”