Exodus 12:18

18 On the first [day], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat unleavened bread until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.

Exodus 12:18 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 12:18

In the first month
As it was now ordered to be reckoned, the month Abib or Nisan: the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread;
that is, at the evening following, the fourteenth of Nisan, and which was the beginning of the fifteenth day, the Jews beginning their day from the evening: hence the Targum of Jonathan is,

``on the fourteenth of Nisan ye shall slay the passover, in the evening of the fifteenth ye shall eat unleavened bread:''

unto the twentieth day of the month at even;
which would make just seven days; the above Targum adds,

``on the evening of the twenty second ye shall eat leavened bread,''

which was the evening following the twenty first day. This long abstinence from leaven denotes, that the whole lives of those who are Israelites indeed should be without guile, hypocrisy, and malice, and should be spent in sincerity and truth.

Exodus 12:18 In-Context

16 It will be for you on the first day a holy assembly and on the seventh day a holy assembly; no work will be done on them; only what is eaten by every person, it alone will be prepared for you.

17 "And you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought out your divisions from the land of Egypt, and you will keep this day for your generations as a lasting statute.

18 On the first [day], on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat unleavened bread until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.

19 For seven days yeast must not be found in your houses, because {anyone eating food with yeast} will be cut off from the community of Israel--[whether] an alien or a native of the land.

20 You will eat no [food with] yeast; in all of your dwellings you will eat unleavened bread."