Exodus 12:2

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.

King James Version · Read in your translation · Open the Explore console

Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
month	הַחֹ֧דֶשׁ ha.Cho.desh	H2320	the new moon · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
beginning	רֹ֣אשׁ rosh	H7218	the head (as most easily shaken) · noun, common masculine singular construct
months	חֳדָשִׁ֑ים cho.da.Shim	H2320	the new moon · noun, common masculine plural absolute
first	רִאשׁ֥וֹן ri.Shon	H7223	first · ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
month	לְחָדְשֵׁ֖י le.cha.de.Shei	H2320	the new moon · preposition + noun, common masculine plural construct
year	הַשָּׁנָֽה ha.sha.Nah	H8141	a year (as a revolution of time) · definite article + noun, common feminine singular absolute

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Exodus 13:4 This day came ye out in the month Abib.
Deuteronomy 16:1 Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto the LORD thy God: for in the month of Abib the LORD thy God brought thee forth out of…
Exodus 34:18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abi…
Exodus 23:15 Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of th…
Leviticus 23:5 In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the LORD’s passover.
Numbers 28:16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD.
Esther 3:7 In the first month, that is, the month Nisan, in the twelfth year of king Ahasuerus, they cast Pur, that is, the lot, before Haman from day…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 12:1-20

Moses and Aaron here receive of the Lord what they were afterwards to deliver to the people concerning the ordinance of the passover, to which is prefixed an order for a new style to be observed in their months (Exo 12:1, Exo 12:2): This shall be to you the beginning of months. They had hitherto begun their year from the middle of September, but henceforward they were to begin it from the middle of March, at least in all their ecclesiastical computations. Note, It is good to begin the day, and begin the year, and especially to begin our lives, with God. This new calculation began the year with the spring, which reneweth the face of the earth, and was used as a figure of the coming of Christ,…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 12:2

this month shall be unto you the beginning of months--the first not only in order but in estimation. It had formerly been the seventh according to the reckoning of the civil year, which began in September, and continued unchanged, but it was thenceforth to stand first in the national religious year which began in March, April.

Adam Clarke on Exodus 12:2

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months - It is supposed that God now changed the commencement of the Jewish year. The month to which this verse refers, the month Abib, answers to a part of our March and April; whereas it is supposed that previously to this the year began with Tisri, which answers to a part of our September; for in this month the Jews suppose God created the world, when the earth appeared at once with all its fruits in perfection. From this circumstance the Jews have formed a twofold commencement of the year, which has given rise to a twofold denomination of the year itself, to which they afterwards attended in all their reckonings: that which began with Tisri o…

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John Gill on Exodus 12:2

This month shall be unto you the beginning of months,.... Not only the first, as after expressed, but the chief and principal of them, now famous for their coming out of Egypt in it, and would be more so for the sufferings and death of the Messiah, and redemption by him from sin, Satan, and the world, law, hell, and death, for he suffered at the time of the passover. This month was called Abib, Exodus 13:4, which signifies an ear of corn, and at this time we find that the barley was in ear, Exodus 9:31 which clearly shows in what month the above things were transacted; afterwards it was called Nisan, which seems to be the Chaldean name for it, Nehemiah 2:1, it shall be the first month of the…

The Church Fathers

After having inflicted the Egyptians with many plagues, he led them out of Egypt in the month of flowers, when the most pleasant spring appears and the sadness of winter passes away.
— Pseudo-Macarius, HOMILY 47.3

And we can also understand the same about this: "This month shall be to you the beginning of months"; although it is understood as the 7th in terms of time, because it spoke of the Lord's Passover, which is celebrated at the beginning of spring. Therefore, in this beginning of months, He made the heavens and the earth, which was fitting for the beginning of the world, where a suitable spring season was for everyone.
— Ambrose of Milan, The Six Days of Creation 1.4.13

This, I say, is the first month of the year. This brings joy to every creature. It clothes the naked trees. It opens the earth. This produces joy in all animals. It brings mirth to all. This is for Christians Xanthicus, the first month, the time of the resurrection in which their bodies will be glorified by means of the light which even now is in them hidden. This is the power of the Spirit who will then be their clothing, food, drink, exultation, gladness, peace, adornment and eternal life.
— Pseudo-Macarius, HOMILY 5.9

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Blood — (1.) As food, prohibited in Gen. 9:4, where the use of animal food is first allowed. Comp. Deut. 12:23; Lev. 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-14. The injunction to abstain from blood is renewed in the decree of the…
Frontlets — Occurs only in Ex. 13:16; Deut. 6:8, and 11:18. The meaning of the injunction to the Israelites, with regard to the statues and precepts given them, that they should “bind them for a sign upon their…
Month — Among the Egyptians the month of thirty days each was in use long before the time of the Exodus, and formed the basis of their calculations. From the time of the institution of the Mosaic law the…
Passover — The name given to the chief of the three great historical annual festivals of the Jews. It was kept in remembrance of the Lord’s passing over the houses of the Israelites (Ex. 12:13) when the first…
Pentecost — I.e., “fiftieth”, found only in the New Testament (Acts 2:1; 20:16; 1 Cor. 16:8). The festival so named is first spoken of in Ex. 23:16 as “the feast of harvest,” and again in Ex. 34:22 as “the day…
Abib · First month in the Jewish — First month in the Jewish
Chronology · Jewish year institute — Jewish year institute
Egypt · History of Israel in: The passover instituted — History of Israel in: The passover instituted
Feast Of The Passover, The · Ordained by God — Ordained by God
Month · .The Jewish — .The Jewish
Year · Divi — Divi
Years · Commencement of, changed after the exodus

Exodus 12:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 12:1-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 12:2

Adam Clarke on Exodus 12:2

John Gill on Exodus 12:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 12:2

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 12:1-20

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 12:2

Adam Clarke on Exodus 12:2

John Gill on Exodus 12:2

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Calvin on Exodus 12:1-14

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 12:1-28

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 12:2

Rashi on Exodus 12:2