Exodus 12:2

12:2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. ¹ 

Exodus 12:6

12:6 You must care for it ²  until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community ³  of Israel will kill it around sundown. ⁴ 

Leviticus 23:16-18

23:16 You must count fifty days – until the day after the seventh Sabbath – and then ⁵  you must present a new grain offering to the Lord. 23:17 From the places where you live you must bring two loaves of ⁶  bread for a wave offering; they must be made from two tenths of an ephah of fine wheat flour, baked with yeast, ⁷  as first fruits to the Lord. 23:18 Along with the loaves of bread, ⁸  you must also present seven flawless yearling lambs, ⁹  one young bull, ¹⁰  and two rams. ¹¹  They are to be a burnt offering to the Lord along with their grain offering ¹²  and drink offerings, a gift of a soothing aroma to the Lord. ¹³ 

[12:2]  ¹ sn B. Jacob (Exodus, 294-95) shows that the intent of the passage was not to make this month in the spring the New Year – that was in the autumn. Rather, when counting months this was supposed to be remembered first, for it was the great festival of freedom from Egypt. He observes how some scholars have unnecessarily tried to date one New Year earlier than the other.

[12:6]  ² 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).

[12:6]  ³ 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.

[12:6]  ⁴ 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.

[23:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “and.” In the translation “then” is supplied to clarify the sequence.

[23:17]  ⁶ tc Smr, LXX, Syriac, Tg. Onq., and Tg. Ps.-J. insert the word חַלּוֹת (khallot, “loaves”; cf. Lev 2:4 and the note there). Even though “loaves” is not explicit in the MT, the number “two” suggests that these are discrete units, not just a measure of flour, so “loaves” should be assumed even in the MT.

[23:17]  ⁷ tn Heb “with leaven.” The noun “leaven” is traditional in English versions (cf. KJV, ASV, NASB, NRSV), but “yeast” is more commonly used today.

[23:18]  ⁸ tn Heb “And you shall present on the bread.”

[23:18]  ⁹ tn Heb “seven flawless lambs, sons of a year.”

[23:18]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “and one bull, a son of a herd.”

[23:18]  ¹¹ tc Smr and LXX add “flawless.”

[23:18]  ¹² tn Heb “and their grain offering.”

[23:18]  ¹³ sn See the note on Lev 1:9.