Passover

Passages on this topic

From Nave’s Topical Bible (1896), a historical reference index. The groupings are Nave’s; the verses are shown in the text used across this site.

Institution of

• Exodus 12:3–49 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household. If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly. You…
• Exodus 23:15–18 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed. You are also to keep the Feast of Harvest with the…
• Exodus 34:18 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
• Leviticus 23:4–8 These are the LORD’s appointed feasts, the sacred assemblies you are to proclaim at their appointed times. The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days yo…
• Numbers 9:2–5 “The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time. You are to observe it at the appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, in accordance with its statutes and ordinances.” So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover, and they did so in the Wilderness o…
• Numbers 9:13–14 But if a man who is ceremonially clean and is not on a journey still fails to observe the Passover, he must be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin. If a foreigner dwelling among you wants to ob…
• Numbers 28:16–25 The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover. On the fifteenth day of this month, there shall be a feast; for seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten. On the first day there is to be a sacred assembly; you must not do any regular work. Present to the LORD a food offering, a burnt…
• Deuteronomy 16:1–8 Observe the month of Abib and celebrate the Passover to the LORD your God, because in the month of Abib the LORD your God brought you out of Egypt by night. You are to offer to the LORD your God the Passover sacrifice from the herd or flock in the place the LORD will choose as a dwelling for His Na…
• Deuteronomy 16:16 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the LORD your God in the place He will choose: at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. No one should appear before the LORD empty-handed.
• Psalm 81:3 Sound the ram’s horn at the New Moon, and at the full moon on the day of our Feast.

Design of

• Exodus 12:21–28 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb. Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go ou…

Special Passover, for those who were unclean, or on a journey, to be held in the second month

• Numbers 9:6–12 But there were some men who were unclean due to a dead body, so they could not observe the Passover on that day. And they came before Moses and Aaron that same day and said to Moses, “We are unclean because of a dead body, but why should we be excluded from presenting the LORD’s offering with the o…
• 2 Chronicles 30:2–4 For the king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem had decided to keep the Passover in the second month, since they had been unable to keep it at the regular time, because not enough priests had consecrated themselves and the people had not been gathered in Jerusalem. This plan plea…

The lamb killed by Levites, for those who were ceremonially unclean

• 2 Chronicles 30:17 Since there were many in the assembly who had not consecrated themselves, the Levites were in charge of slaughtering the Passover lambs for every unclean person to consecrate the lambs to the LORD.
• 2 Chronicles 35:3–11 To the Levites who taught all Israel and were holy to the LORD, Josiah said: “Put the holy ark in the temple built by Solomon son of David king of Israel. It is not to be carried around on your shoulders. Now serve the LORD your God and His people Israel. Prepare yourselves by families in your divi…
• Ezra 6:20 All the priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean. And the Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their priestly brothers, and for themselves.

Strangers authorized to celebrate

• Exodus 12:48–49 If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it. The same law shall apply to both the native and t…
• Numbers 9:14 If a foreigner dwelling among you wants to observe the Passover to the LORD, he is to do so according to the Passover statute and its ordinances. You are to apply the same statute to both the foreigner and the native of the land.’”

Observed at the place designated by God

• Deuteronomy 16:5–7 You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you. You must only offer the Passover sacrifice at the place the LORD your God will choose as a dwelling for His Name. Do this in the evening as the sun sets, at the same time you departed from Egypt.…

Observed with unleavened bread (no yeast)

• Exodus 12:8 They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
• Exodus 12:15–20 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You mu…
• Exodus 13:3 So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
• Exodus 13:6 For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD.
• Exodus 23:15 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread as I commanded you: At the appointed time in the month of Abib you are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, because that was the month you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before Me empty-handed.
• Leviticus 23:6 On the fifteenth day of the same month begins the Feast of Unleavened Bread to the LORD. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread.
• Numbers 9:11 Such people are to observe it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. They are to eat the lamb, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs;
• Numbers 28:17 On the fifteenth day of this month, there shall be a feast; for seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten.
• Deuteronomy 16:3–4 You must not eat leavened bread with it; for seven days you are to eat with it unleavened bread, the bread of affliction, because you left the land of Egypt in haste— so that you may remember for the rest of your life the day you left the land of Egypt. No leaven is to be found in all your land for…
• Mark 14:12 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”

Penalty for neglecting to observe

• Numbers 9:13 But if a man who is ceremonially clean and is not on a journey still fails to observe the Passover, he must be cut off from his people, because he did not present the LORD’s offering at its appointed time. That man will bear the consequences of his sin.

Re-instituted by Ezekiel

• Ezekiel 45:21–24 On the fourteenth day of the first month you are to observe the Passover, a feast of seven days, during which unleavened bread shall be eaten. On that day the prince shall provide a bull as a sin offering for himself and for all the people of the land. Each day during the seven days of the feast, h…

Observation of, renewed

By the Israelites upon entering Canaan

• Joshua 5:10–11 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, while the Israelites were camped at Gilgal on the plains of Jericho, they kept the Passover. The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

By Hezekiah

• 2 Chronicles 30:1 Then Hezekiah sent word throughout all Israel and Judah, and he also wrote letters to Ephraim and Manasseh inviting them to come to the house of the LORD in Jerusalem to keep the Passover of the LORD, the God of Israel.

By Josiah

• 2 Kings 23:22–23 No such Passover had been observed from the days of the judges who had governed Israel through all the days of the kings of Israel and Judah. But in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.
• 2 Chronicles 35:1 Then Josiah kept the Passover to the LORD in Jerusalem, and the Passover lamb was slaughtered on the fourteenth day of the first month.
• 2 Chronicles 35:18 No such Passover had been observed in Israel since the days of Samuel the prophet. None of the kings of Israel ever observed a Passover like the one that Josiah observed with the priests, the Levites, all Judah, the Israelites who were present, and the people of Jerusalem.

After the return from Babylonian captivity

• Ezra 6:19–20 On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles kept the Passover. All the priests and Levites had purified themselves and were ceremonially clean. And the Levites slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the exiles, for their priestly brothers, and for themselves.

Observed by Jesus

• Matthew 26:17–20 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” He answered, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him that the Teacher says, ‘My time is near. I will keep the Passover with My disciples a…
• Luke 22:15 And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering.
• John 2:13 When the Jewish Passover was near, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
• John 2:23 While He was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the signs He was doing and believed in His name.
• John 13 It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end. The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of… (whole chapter)

Jesus in the temple courtyard at the time of

• Luke 2:41–50 Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up according to the custom of the Feast. When those days were over and they were returning home, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but His parents were unaware He had stayed…

Jesus crucified at the time of

• Matthew 26:2 “You know that the Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
• Mark 14:1–2 Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were two days away, and the chief priests and scribes were looking for a covert way to arrest Jesus and kill Him. “But not during the feast,” they said, “or there may be a riot among the people.”
• John 18:28 Then they led Jesus away from Caiaphas into the Praetorium. By now it was early morning, and the Jews did not enter the Praetorium, to avoid being defiled and unable to eat the Passover.

The lamb of, a type of Christ

• 1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

The Lord's Supper ordained at

• Matthew 26:26–28 While they were eating, Jesus took bread, spoke a blessing and broke it, and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is My body.” Then He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many…
• Mark 14:12–25 On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed, Jesus’ disciples asked Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” So He sent two of His disciples and told them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jug of water will meet yo…
• Luke 22:7–20 Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed. Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.” “Where do You want us to prepare it?” they asked. He answered, “When you enter the city, a man carrying a jug of water wil…

Prisoner released at, by the Romans

• Matthew 27:15 Now it was the governor’s custom at the feast to release to the crowd a prisoner of their choosing.
• Mark 15:6 Now it was Pilate’s custom at the feast to release to the people a prisoner of their choosing.
• Luke 23:16–17 Therefore I will punish Him and release Him.”
• John 18:39 But it is your custom that I release to you one prisoner at the Passover. So then, do you want me to release to you the King of the Jews?”

Peter imprisoned at the time of

• Acts 12:3 And seeing that this pleased the Jews, Herod proceeded to seize Peter during the Feast of Unleavened Bread.

Christ called "our Passover,"

• 1 Corinthians 5:7 Get rid of the old leaven, that you may be a new unleavened batch, as you really are. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

See Feasts