Exodus 12 — Hebrew and Greek compared
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Same 18 Similar 14 Different 17 Divergent 2 Disparate 0
Each verse is rendered independently from the Hebrew (Rabbinic reading tradition) and from the Greek (Saints reading tradition). The badge classifies the relationship between the two readings; the note beneath records the source document’s comparison and attributed interpretation. Each column retains its own verse references where numbering differs.
The Institution of Passover
12:1 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:1 YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Greek · Saints priority
12:1 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
12:2 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of the year for you.
Greek · Saints priority
12:2 “This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of the year for you.
Head/beginning is an ordinary idiomatic correspondence [H12; G12].
Rabbinic: Rashi on 12:2 combines instruction about recognizing the new moon with the plain calendrical sense: this month begins the numbered sequence of the year’s months [R12].
12:3 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:3 “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month, each man shall take an animal from the flock for his ancestral household, one animal for each household.
Greek · Saints priority
12:3 “Speak to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month, each shall take a sheep for the ancestral households, one sheep for each household.
Hebrew seh can denote a sheep or goat, as verse 5 specifies. Greek uses sheep here but likewise permits lambs or kids in verse 5 [H12; G12].
12:4 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:4 “If the household is too small for an animal, he and the neighbor nearest his house shall take one according to the number of persons. You shall reckon each person’s share according to what he can eat.
Greek · Saints priority
12:4 “If those in the house are too few to be sufficient for a sheep, he shall join with his nearest neighbor. According to the number of persons, each person’s sufficient portion shall be reckoned for the sheep.
Both reckon household size and individual consumption; Greek does not introduce an unrelated economic qualification [H12; G12].
12:5 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:5 “Your animal shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep or the goats.
Greek · Saints priority
12:5 “Your sheep shall be unblemished, a male a year old. You shall take it from the lambs or the kids.
Unblemished describes the animal’s fitness for this offering. It does not directly attribute moral virtue to the animal [H12; G12].
12:6 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:6 “You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. The whole assembled congregation of Israel shall slaughter it between the evenings.
Greek · Saints priority
12:6 “You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. The whole multitude of the congregation of the sons of Israel shall slaughter it toward evening.
Hebrew’s between the evenings is retained as a timing idiom requiring interpretation; Greek has toward evening [H12; G12].
12:7 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:7 “They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
Greek · Saints priority
12:7 “They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them.
Greek has plural them, referring to the animals or their portions; Hebrew uses singular it [G12].
12:8 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:8 “They shall eat the meat that night, roasted over fire, with unleavened bread; they shall eat it with bitter herbs.
Greek · Saints priority
12:8 “They shall eat the meat that night, roasted over fire, and eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs.
The meal’s components agree [H12; G12].
12:9 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:9 “Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over fire, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
Greek · Saints priority
12:9 “Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over fire, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
12:10 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:10 “You shall leave none of it until morning. Whatever remains until morning you shall burn with fire.
Greek · Saints priority
12:10 “You shall leave none of it until morning, and you shall not break a bone of it. Whatever remains until morning you shall burn with fire.
Greek includes the unbroken-bone rule here. RH uses active second-person commands. Both sources give the bone rule again at 12:46.
12:11 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:11 “This is how you shall eat it: with your waist belted, sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is YHWH’s Passover.
Greek · Saints priority
12:11 “This is how you shall eat it: with your waists belted, sandals on your feet, and staffs in your hands. You shall eat it in haste. It is a Passover to the Lord.
Singular distributive and plural expressions describe the same readiness for departure [H12; G12].
Saints: In 1 Corinthians 5:7–8, Paul identifies Christ with the Passover sacrifice and applies unleavened-bread imagery to sincerity and truth. This is typological and moral application [S6].
12:12 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:12 “I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. Against all Egypt’s gods I will execute judgments. I am YHWH.
Greek · Saints priority
12:12 “I will go through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. Against all the Egyptians’ gods I will execute vengeance. I am the Lord.
Judgments/vengeance differs in emphasis [H12; G12]. The divine claim and objects of judgment agree.
12:13 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:13 “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. I will see the blood and pass over you. No plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Greek · Saints priority
12:13 “The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. I will see the blood and shelter you. No plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Greek explicitly says shelter, skepasō [G12]. Hebrew pasaḥ is rendered pass over here, with sparing or protection evident in the context [H12]. Different images do not require opposing accounts of deliverance.
Rabbinic: Rashi on 12:13 reports a sparing or pity interpretation, while preferring the image of skipping past Israelite houses among Egyptian houses. His discussion preserves more than one explanation of the verb [R12].
The Festival of Unleavened Bread
12:14 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:14 “This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall celebrate it as a feast to YHWH throughout your generations; you shall celebrate it as a perpetual statute.
Greek · Saints priority
12:14 “This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord throughout all your generations; you shall celebrate it as a perpetual statute.
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
12:15 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:15 “You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
Greek · Saints priority
12:15 “You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. From the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. Whoever eats leaven from the first day through the seventh day, that person shall be destroyed from among Israel.
Cut off/destroyed preserves the different penalty language [H12; G12]. Neither English phrase alone resolves how the sanction is imposed. Person translates nephesh/psychē in this context.
12:16 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:16 “On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on them, except preparing what each person must eat; that alone may be done for you.
Greek · Saints priority
12:16 “The first day shall be called holy, and the seventh day shall be a holy appointed day for you. You shall do no servile work on them, except what must be done for each person; that alone may be done for you.
Greek uses holy-day language and servile work; its exception does not explicitly repeat eating [G12]. The meal context informs the comparison without adding eating to the Greek column.
12:17 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:17 “You shall observe the Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual statute.
Greek · Saints priority
12:17 “You shall keep this commandment, for on this day I will bring your host out of the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual statute.
Unleavened Bread/this commandment and brought/will bring differ [H12; G12]. Hebrew already presents a binding observance; Greek does not create its legal force from nothing.
12:18 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:18 “In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat unleavened bread.
Greek · Saints priority
12:18 “Beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month, from evening until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you shall eat unleavened bread.
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
12:19 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:19 “For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a sojourner or a native of the land.
Greek · Saints priority
12:19 “For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall be destroyed from among the congregation of Israel, whether a sojourner or a native of the land.
The penalty wording differs as in verse 15. Greek giōrai is a term for sojourners; it need not be expanded into a complete later conversion procedure [H12; G12].
12:20 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:20 “You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.”
Greek · Saints priority
12:20 “You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.”
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
The Lord’s Final Warning
12:21 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:21 Moses called all Israel’s elders and said to them, “Select and take animals from the flock for your families, and slaughter the Passover.
Greek · Saints priority
12:21 Moses called the whole council of elders of the sons of Israel and said to them, “Go and take a sheep for your families, and slaughter the Passover.
Council of elders renders gerousia without recasting Israel’s leadership as a specific Greek state institution [G12]. Passover here includes the sacrificial animal.
12:22 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:22 “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.
Greek · Saints priority
12:22 “Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood beside the door, and touch the lintel and both doorposts with the blood beside the door. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.
Hebrew bas-saf is rendered in the basin; Greek twice locates the blood beside the door [H12; G12]. This wording does not itself say precisely where the animal was slaughtered.
12:23 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:23 “YHWH will pass through to strike Egypt. He will see the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, and YHWH will pass over the doorway. He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike.
Greek · Saints priority
12:23 “The Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. He will see the blood on the lintel and both doorposts, and the Lord will pass by the doorway. He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike.
Greek here uses pass by, unlike shelter in verses 13 and 27 [G12]. Both explicitly prevent the destroyer from entering.
12:24 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:24 “You shall observe this matter as a statute for you and your sons forever.
Greek · Saints priority
12:24 “You shall keep this word as a statute for you and your sons forever.
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
12:25 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:25 “When you enter the land that YHWH will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this service.
Greek · Saints priority
12:25 “When you enter the land that the Lord gives you, as He has spoken, you shall keep this service.
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
12:26 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:26 “When your sons say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’
Greek · Saints priority
12:26 “When your sons say to you, ‘What is this service?’
Greek lacks the question’s final to you [H12; G12]. Later interpretation of that phrase must not be imported into the shorter Greek question.
12:27 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:27 “you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to YHWH, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck Egypt and delivered our houses.’” The people bowed down and worshiped.
Greek · Saints priority
12:27 “you shall say to them, ‘This Passover is a sacrifice to the Lord, because He sheltered the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses.’” The people bowed down and worshiped.
Pass over/shelter repeats the difference in verse 13. Both state deliverance [H12; G12]. The narrative resumes with the people’s response after the speech.
12:28 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:28 The sons of Israel went and did so. As YHWH had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Greek · Saints priority
12:28 The sons of Israel went and did so. As the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
RH includes both Moses and Aaron in the compliance formula, corresponding to Hebrew.
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
12:29 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:29 At midnight YHWH struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock.
Greek · Saints priority
12:29 At midnight the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the firstborn of the captive woman in the pit, and the firstborn of every animal of the livestock.
Greek specifies a female captive but has pit, lakkos, not V1’s stronghold [G12; G12b]. Hebrew likewise uses the pit image in its expression for the dungeon [H12].
12:30 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:30 Pharaoh rose during the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house without someone dead.
Greek · Saints priority
12:30 Pharaoh rose during the night, with all his attendants and all the Egyptians. There was a great cry throughout the land of Egypt, for there was no house without someone dead.
Greek expands the location to throughout the land; the household loss agrees [G12].
12:31 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:31 He called Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Rise, leave my people, both you and the sons of Israel! Go, serve YHWH, as you have said.
Greek · Saints priority
12:31 Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron during the night and said to them, “Rise and leave my people, both you and the sons of Israel! Go, serve the Lord your God, as you say.
Greek names Pharaoh and has the Lord your God [G12]. The longer title is preserved without claiming that Pharaoh has formally embraced a later creed.
12:32 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:32 “Take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and go. Bless me also.”
Greek · Saints priority
12:32 “Take your sheep and your cattle, and go. Bless me also.”
Greek lacks as you have said [G12].
12:33 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:33 The Egyptians pressed the people to leave the land quickly, for they said, “We are all dead!”
Greek · Saints priority
12:33 The Egyptians pressed the people hard to drive them quickly out of the land, for they said, “We are all dying!”
The cries express impending death with different verbal forms. Neither should be treated as a literal report that every speaker is already dead [H12; G12].
12:34 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:34 The people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped in their garments on their shoulders.
Greek · Saints priority
12:34 The people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneaded batches wrapped in their garments on their shoulders.
Kneading bowls/kneaded batches preserves the distinct descriptions [H12; G12].
12:35 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:35 The sons of Israel did as Moses had said. They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.
Greek · Saints priority
12:35 The sons of Israel did as Moses had instructed them. They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
12:36 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:36 YHWH gave the people favor in the Egyptians’ sight, and they granted their requests. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
Greek · Saints priority
12:36 The Lord gave His people favor in the Egyptians’ sight, and they lent to them. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
Greek explicitly uses lent; Hebrew’s causative asking expression is rendered granted their requests [H12; G12]. The verse does not specify repayment or identify the transfer as calculated back wages.
The Exodus
12:37 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:37 The sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the little ones.
Greek · Saints priority
12:37 The sons of Israel departed from Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, apart from the household company.
Household company renders Greek aposkeuē, a collective including dependents and baggage in this setting [G12]. The shared number is retained without a new demographic reconstruction.
12:38 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, together with flocks and herds, a very great quantity of livestock.
Greek · Saints priority
12:38 A great mixed multitude also went up with them, together with sheep and cattle and very many livestock.
Both include a mixed company and abundant animals; the Greek list is retained [G12].
12:39 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:39 They baked the dough they had brought from Egypt into unleavened cakes, because it was not leavened. They had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.
Greek · Saints priority
12:39 They baked the dough they had brought from Egypt into unleavened hearth-cakes, because it was not leavened. The Egyptians had driven them out, and they could not stay; nor had they prepared provisions for the journey.
Greek names the expelling agent, specifies hearth-cakes, and says for the journey [G12].
12:40 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:40 The time the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
Greek · Saints priority
12:40 The time the sons of Israel lived in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan was four hundred and thirty years.
RH includes Canaan, changing the stated geographical scope. Both selected sources state four hundred thirty years. The provisional webpage’s four hundred thirty-five is superseded. [H12; G12]
12:41 Divergent
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:41 At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all YHWH’s hosts went out from the land of Egypt.
Greek · Saints priority
12:41 After the four hundred and thirty years, all the Lord’s host went out from the land of Egypt.
RH has the four-hundred-thirty-year period and the departure of the Lord’s host but lacks Hebrew’s on that very day. Its night-watch notice follows in verse 42. [H12; G12]
12:42 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:42 It was a night of watching for YHWH, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is a night of watching for YHWH for all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
Greek · Saints priority
12:42 It is a night vigil for the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is a vigil for the Lord for all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
Watching/vigil preserves both texts’ observance and protection imagery. RH places this night-watch notice in verse 42; the selected text is followed throughout verses 40–42. [H12; G12]
The Instructions about the Passover
12:43 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:43 YHWH said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it.
Greek · Saints priority
12:43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the law of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it.
The participation rules continue through verse 49. Verse 48 must be considered before making ancestry alone an absolute barrier.
12:44 Different
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:44 “Every man’s slave bought with money, after you have circumcised him, may eat of it.
Greek · Saints priority
12:44 “Every household slave or one bought with money, you shall circumcise; then he may eat of it.
Greek connects the two descriptions with or [G12]. Slavery is explicit in this purchase context; a gentler household-service term should not hide it.
12:45 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:45 “A resident alien and a hired worker shall not eat of it.
Greek · Saints priority
12:45 “A resident alien or a hired worker shall not eat of it.
The conjunction differs without changing the listed exclusions. Compare the circumcised sojourner in verse 48.
12:46 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:46 “It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the meat outside the house, and you shall not break a bone of it.
Greek · Saints priority
12:46 “It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the meat outside the house, and you shall not break a bone of it.
Both have plural you in the unbroken-bone command; V1 incorrectly called the Hebrew singular [H12; G12]. The preceding carrying command is singular in Hebrew and plural in Greek.
Saints: John 19:36 applies a scriptural statement about unbroken bones to Jesus’ death. The Passover rule here is a relevant parallel, alongside Numbers 9:12 and Psalm 34:20; John’s sentence is not a verbatim reproduction of this entire verse [S7].
12:47 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:47 “The whole congregation of Israel shall observe it.
Greek · Saints priority
12:47 “The whole congregation of the sons of Israel shall observe it.
Greek explicitly includes sons of [G12].
12:48 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:48 “If a sojourner lives with you and wishes to observe the Passover to YHWH, let every male belonging to him be circumcised. Then he may approach to observe it, and he shall be as a native of the land. No uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
Greek · Saints priority
12:48 “If a sojourner comes to you to observe the Passover to the Lord, you shall circumcise every male belonging to him. Then he may approach to observe it, and he shall be as a native of the land. No uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
Greek prosēlytos is rendered sojourner in this law; approach and circumcision describe the participation required here [G12]. Later proselyte terminology should be explained separately.
12:49 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:49 “There shall be one law for the native and for the sojourner who lives among you.”
Greek · Saints priority
12:49 “There shall be one law for the native and for the sojourner who has come among you.”
The corresponding meaning and content agree.
12:50 Similar
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:50 All the sons of Israel did so. As YHWH had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Greek · Saints priority
12:50 The sons of Israel did so. As the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron concerning them, so they did.
The closing command has the additional concerning them in Greek [G12].
12:51 Same
Hebrew · Rabbinic priority
12:51 On that very day YHWH brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
Greek · Saints priority
12:51 On that day the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their host.
Hosts/host renders the organized company in context, without converting the Greek collective into an abstract supernatural power [G12].
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Saints Translation · Companion comparison edition · working draft awaiting specialist review.