2a“Consecrate1 to Me all the firstborn, whatever opens the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and beast; it is Mine.”
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
3 And Moses said to the people: a“Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of1 bondage; for bby strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place.cNo leavened bread shall be eaten.
4aOn this day you are going out, in the month Abib.
5 And it shall be, when the Lordabrings you into the bland of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He cswore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, dthat you shall keep this service in this month.
6aSeven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day thereshallbe a feast to the Lord.
7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And ano leavened bread shall be seen among you, nor shall leaven be seen among you in all your quarters.
8 And you shall atell your son in that day, saying, ‘Thisisdone because of what the Lord did for me when I came up from Egypt.’
9 It shall be as aa sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.
10aYou shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.
The Law of the Firstborn
11 “And it shall be, when the Lordabrings you into the land of the bCanaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you,
12athat you shall set apart to the Lord all that open the womb, that is, every firstborn that comes from an animal which you have; the males shallbe the Lord’s.
13 But aevery firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb; and if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. And all the firstborn of man among your sons byou shall redeem.
14aSo it shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, b‘By strength of hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
Sanctify unto me all the first-born—To "sanctify" means to "consecrate," to "set apart" from a common to a sacred use. The foundation of this duty rested on the fact that the Israelites, having had their first-born preserved by a distinguishing act of grace from the general destruction that overtook the families of the Egyptians, were bound in token of gratitude to consider them as the Lord's peculiar property (compare Hebrews 12:23).
Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing Exodus 13:2:
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