Exodus 12:14-28
Remember This Day
Read the passage
14And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
15For 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.
16On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.
17So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
18In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
19For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.
20You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”
21Then 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.
22Take 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 out the door of his house until morning.
23When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
24And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants.
25When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service.
26When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’
27you 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.
28And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
Berean Standard Bible
Read aloud
The LORD says that this day is to be a memorial kept as a feast throughout Israel's generations. For seven days the people are to eat unleavened bread; on the first day they are to remove leaven from their houses, and no one is to eat leavened bread during the feast.
The first and seventh days are to be holy gatherings, with no ordinary work except what is needed for food. The people are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread because on that very day God brought their hosts out of Egypt. They are to keep the day throughout their generations as a statute forever.
Moses calls the elders and tells them to select lambs for their households, kill the Passover lamb, and apply the blood to the lintel and doorposts. No one is to go outside the door of the house until morning, because the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians but pass over the houses marked with blood.
When their children ask what this service means, parents must explain that the LORD passed over Israel's houses in Egypt and spared them. The people bow their heads and worship. Then they go and do exactly what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron. Memory here is not merely recalling a date; it is a practiced act of obedience that gathers children and households into the story.
The instructions reach into the promised land before Israel has left Egypt. God intends this rescue to be remembered long after the first generation is gone. Children will learn why their families worship the LORD by hearing what He did to spare their homes.
How We Know
Hebrews 11:28 names Moses' keeping of Passover and sprinkling of blood as an act of faith for the protection of Israel's firstborn. It supplies a later biblical interpretation of his obedience. It does not independently establish every detail of the feast's subsequent observance.
Questions
1 How long is Israel to eat unleavened bread for the feast?
AnswerSeven days, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month to the evening of the twenty-first. Leaven is to be removed from their houses.
2 What must the families do after marking their doorframes?
AnswerRemain inside until morning. God promises to pass over the marked doorway and not allow the destroyer to enter.
3 What explanation should parents give their children?
AnswerThis is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who spared Israel's houses when He struck Egypt. The service remembers His rescue.
4 How do the Israelites respond to these instructions?
AnswerThey bow down and worship, then do what the LORD commanded through Moses and Aaron. Their response includes both praise and obedience.
What This Means for Us
God makes room for a child's question in the observance itself. The answer is about His saving action, not simply the need to keep a family custom. Our children should be able to ask why we pray, gather with the church, or remember Jesus' death, and receive a patient explanation.
Choose one practice your household already shares and explain its meaning in ordinary words. Listen to the questions that follow. You do not need to invent a more impressive tradition; help the people at your table understand the truth the practice is meant to remember.
Prayer
Faithful God, keep your works alive in our memory. Help us worship without empty performance, teach children with honesty, and let our family traditions lead us toward obedience, gratitude, and care. Amen.