Passover

The special sacrifice made during the Passover festival to remember God's protection of the Israelites in Egypt.

About Passover

Important Jewish festival celebrating Israel’s redemption from Egypt. See Feasts and Festivals of Israel; Meals, Significance of.

Read full article
Go deeper
The Passover Theme

The feast of Passover became a central part of Israelite religious practice. This festival celebrated God's rescue of the Hebrews from Egypt and his protection from the final...

The Cross and Passover Theme

At the start of John’s Gospel, John the Baptist introduced Jesus as "the Lamb of God” ( John 1:29 , 36 ). This phrase might refer to the sacrificial lamb killed daily in the...

Key References

Exodus 12:11

This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.

Deuteronomy 16:1

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.

John 11:55

Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the 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.

All Scripture References (72)

Exodus (6)
Exodus 12:11

This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.

Exodus 12:21

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.

Exodus 12:27

you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.

Exodus 12:43

And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it.

Exodus 12:48

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.

Exodus 34:25

Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to Me along with anything leavened, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.

Leviticus (1)
Leviticus 23:5

The Passover to the LORD begins at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month.

Numbers (10)
Numbers 9:2

“The Israelites are to observe the Passover at its appointed time.

Numbers 9:4

So Moses told the Israelites to observe the Passover,

Numbers 9:5

and they did so in the Wilderness of Sinai, at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Israelites did everything just as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Numbers 9:6

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

Numbers 9:10

“Tell the Israelites: ‘When any one of you or your descendants is unclean because of a dead body, or is away on a journey, he may still observe the Passover to the LORD.

Numbers 9:12

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.

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.

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.’”

Numbers 28:16

The fourteenth day of the first month is the LORD’s Passover.

Numbers 33:3

On the fifteenth day of the first month, on the day after the Passover, the Israelites set out from Rameses. They marched out defiantly in full view of all the Egyptians,

Deuteronomy (4)
Deuteronomy 16:1

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.

Deuteronomy 16:2

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 Name.

Deuteronomy 16:5

You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns that the LORD your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 16:6

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.

Joshua (2)
Joshua 5:10

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.

Joshua 5:11

The day after the Passover, on that very day, they ate unleavened bread and roasted grain from the produce of the land.

2 Kings (3)
2 Kings 23:21

The king commanded all the people, “Keep the Passover of the LORD your God, as it is written in this Book of the Covenant.”

2 Kings 23:22

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.

2 Kings 23:23

But in the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed to the LORD in Jerusalem.

2 Chronicles (16)
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.

2 Chronicles 30:2

For the king and his officials and the whole assembly in Jerusalem had decided to keep the Passover in the second month,

2 Chronicles 30:5

So they established a decree to circulate a proclamation throughout Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come to keep the Passover of the LORD, the God of Israel, in Jerusalem. For they had not observed it in great numbers as prescribed.

2 Chronicles 30:15

And on the fourteenth day of the second month they slaughtered the Passover lamb. The priests and Levites were ashamed, and they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the house of the LORD.

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 30:18

A large number of the people—many from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun—had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah interceded for them, saying, “May the LORD, who is good, provide atonement for everyone

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 35:6

Slaughter the Passover lambs, consecrate yourselves, and make preparations for your fellow countrymen to carry out the word of the LORD given by Moses.”

2 Chronicles 35:7

From his own flocks and herds Josiah contributed 30,000 lambs and goats plus 3,000 bulls for the Passover offerings for all the people who were present.

2 Chronicles 35:8

His officials also contributed willingly to the people and priests and Levites. Hilkiah, Zechariah, and Jehiel, the chief officials of the house of God, gave the priests 2,600 Passover offerings and 300 bulls.

2 Chronicles 35:11

And they slaughtered the Passover lambs, while the priests splattered the blood handed to them and the Levites skinned the animals.

2 Chronicles 35:13

They roasted the Passover animals on the fire according to the regulation, and they boiled the other holy offerings in pots, kettles, and bowls and quickly brought them to all the people.

2 Chronicles 35:16

So on that day the entire service of the LORD was carried out for celebrating the Passover and offering burnt offerings on the altar of the LORD, according to the command of King Josiah.

2 Chronicles 35:17

The Israelites who were present also observed the Passover at that time, as well as the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days.

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.

2 Chronicles 35:19

In the eighteenth year of Josiah’s reign, this Passover was observed.

Ezra (2)
Ezra 6:19

On the fourteenth day of the first month, the exiles kept the Passover.

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.

Ezekiel (1)
Ezekiel 45:21

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.

Matthew (4)
Matthew 26:2

“You know that the Passover is two days away, and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”

Matthew 26:17

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?”

Matthew 26:18

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 at your house.’”

Matthew 26:19

So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.

Mark (4)
Mark 14:1

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.

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?”

Mark 14:14

and whichever house he enters, say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is My guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’

Mark 14:16

So the disciples left and went into the city, where they found everything as Jesus had described. And they prepared the Passover.

Luke (7)
Luke 2:41

Every year His parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover.

Luke 22:1

Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching,

Luke 22:7

Then came the day of Unleavened Bread on which the Passover lamb was to be sacrificed.

Luke 22:8

Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover.”

Luke 22:11

and say to the owner of that house, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with My disciples?’

Luke 22:13

So they went and found it just as Jesus had told them. And they prepared the Passover.

Luke 22:15

And He said to them, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before My suffering.

John (9)
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 6:4

Now the Jewish Feast of the Passover was near.

John 11:55

Now the Jewish Passover was near, and many people went up from the country to Jerusalem to purify themselves before the Passover.

John 12:1

Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, the hometown of Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead.

John 13:1

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.

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.

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?”

John 19:14

It was the day of Preparation for the Passover, about the sixth hour. And Pilate said to the Jews, “Here is your King!”

Acts (1)
Acts 12:4

He arrested him and put him in prison, handing him over to be guarded by four squads of four soldiers each. Herod intended to bring him out to the people after the Passover.

1 Corinthians (1)
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.

Hebrews (1)
Hebrews 11:28

By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of blood, so that the destroyer of the firstborn would not touch Israel’s own firstborn.