Exodus 12:15-16

12:15 For seven days ¹  you must eat ²  bread made without yeast. ³  Surely ⁴  on the first day you must put away yeast from your houses because anyone who eats bread made with yeast ⁵  from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off ⁶  from Israel.

12:16 On the first day there will be a holy convocation, ⁷  and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind ⁸  on them, only what every person will eat – that alone may be prepared for you.

Exodus 13:6-7

13:6 For seven days ⁹  you must eat ¹⁰  bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be ¹¹  a festival to the Lord. 13:7 Bread made without yeast must be eaten ¹²  for seven days; ¹³  no bread made with yeast shall be seen ¹⁴  among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders.

Exodus 34:18

34:18 “You must keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days ¹⁵  you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you; do this ¹⁶  at the appointed time of the month Abib, for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

Numbers 28:17-18

28:17 And on the fifteenth day of this month is the festival. For seven days bread made without yeast must be eaten. 28:18 And on the first day there is to be a holy assembly; you must do no ordinary work ¹⁷  on it.

Deuteronomy 16:8

16:8 You must eat bread made without yeast for six days. The seventh day you are to hold an assembly for the Lord your God; you must not do any work on that day. ¹⁸ 

Acts 12:3-4

12:3 When he saw that this pleased the Jews, ¹⁹  he proceeded to arrest Peter too. (This took place during the feast of Unleavened Bread.) ²⁰  12:4 When he had seized him, he put him in prison, handing him over to four squads ²¹  of soldiers to guard him. Herod ²²  planned ²³  to bring him out for public trial ²⁴  after the Passover.

[12:15]  ¹ tn This expression is an adverbial accusative of time. The feast was to last from the 15th to the 21st of the month.

[12:15]  ² tn Or “you will eat.” The statement stresses their obligation – they must eat unleavened bread and avoid all leaven.

[12:15]  ³ tn The etymology of מַצּוֹת (matsot, “unleavened bread,” i.e., “bread made without yeast”) is uncertain. Suggested connections to known verbs include “to squeeze, press,” “to depart, go out,” “to ransom,” or to an Egyptian word “food, cake, evening meal.” For a more detailed study of “unleavened bread” and related matters such as “yeast” or “leaven,” see A. P. Ross, NIDOTTE 4:448-53.

[12:15]  ⁴ tn The particle serves to emphasize, not restrict here (B. S. Childs, Exodus [OTL], 183, n. 15).

[12:15]  ⁵ tn Heb “every eater of leavened bread.” The participial phrase stands at the beginning of the clause as a casus pendens, that is, it stands grammatically separate from the sentence. It names a condition, the contingent occurrences of which involve a further consequence (GKC 361 §116.w).

[12:15]  ⁶ tn The verb וְנִכְרְתָה (vÿnikhrÿtah) is the Niphal perfect with the vav (ו) consecutive; it is a common formula in the Law for divine punishment. Here, in sequence to the idea that someone might eat bread made with yeast, the result would be that “that soul [the verb is feminine] will be cut off.” The verb is the equivalent of the imperfect tense due to the consecutive; a translation with a nuance of the imperfect of possibility (“may be cut off”) fits better perhaps than a specific future. There is the real danger of being cut off, for while the punishment might include excommunication from the community, the greater danger was in the possibility of divine intervention to root out the evildoer (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 94). Gesenius lists this as the use of a perfect with a vav consecutive after a participle (a casus pendens) to introduce the apodosis (GKC 337 §112.mm).

[12:16]  ⁷ sn This refers to an assembly of the people at the sanctuary for religious purposes. The word “convocation” implies that the people were called together, and Num 10:2 indicates they were called together by trumpets.

[12:16]  ⁸ tn Heb “all/every work will not be done.” The word refers primarily to the work of one’s occupation. B. Jacob (Exodus, 322) explains that since this comes prior to the fuller description of laws for Sabbaths and festivals, the passage simply restricts all work except for the preparation of food. Once the laws are added, this qualification is no longer needed. Gesenius translates this as “no manner of work shall be done” (GKC 478-79 §152.b).

[13:6]  ⁹ tn Heb “Seven days.”

[13:6]  ¹⁰ tn The imperfect tense functions with the nuance of instruction or injunction. It could also be given an obligatory nuance: “you must eat” or “you are to eat.” Some versions have simply made it an imperative.

[13:6]  ¹¹ tn The phrase “there is to be” has been supplied.

[13:7]  ¹² tn The imperfect has the nuance of instruction or injunction again, but it could also be given an obligatory nuance.

[13:7]  ¹³ tn The construction is an adverbial accusative of time, answering how long the routine should be followed (see GKC 374 §118.k).

[13:7]  ¹⁴ tn Or “visible to you” (B. Jacob, Exodus, 366).

[34:18]  ¹⁵ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[34:18]  ¹⁶ tn The words “do this” have been supplied.

[28:18]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “any work [of] service”; this means any occupational work, that is, the ordinary service.

[16:8]  ¹⁸ tn The words “on that day” are not in the Hebrew text; they are supplied in the translation for clarification (cf. TEV, NLT).

[12:3]  ¹⁹ tn This could be a reference to the Jewish people (so CEV) or to the Jewish leaders (so NLT). The statement in v. 4 that Herod intended to bring Peter “out to the people” (i.e., for a public trial) may suggest the former is somewhat more likely.

[12:3]  ²⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[12:4]  ²¹ sn Four squads of soldiers. Each squad was a detachment of four soldiers.

[12:4]  ²² tn Grk “guard him, planning to bring him out.” The Greek construction continues with a participle (βουλόμενος, boulomeno") and an infinitive (ἀναγαγεῖν, anagagein), but this creates an awkward and lengthy sentence in English. Thus a reference to Herod was introduced as subject and the participle translated as a finite verb (“Herod planned”).

[12:4]  ²³ tn Or “intended”; Grk “wanted.”

[12:4]  ²⁴ tn Grk “to bring him out to the people,” but in this context a public trial (with certain condemnation as the result) is doubtless what Herod planned. L&N 15.176 translates this phrase “planning to bring him up for a public trial after the Passover.”