Exodus 12:5

Good News Translation

You may choose either a sheep or a goat, but it must be a one-year-old male without any defects.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:

King James Version
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats:

Lexham English Bible
The lamb for you must be a male, without defect, in its first year; you will take it from the sheep or from the goats.

New Century Version
The lamb must be a one-year-old male that has nothing wrong with it. This animal can be either a young sheep or a young goat.

New English Translation
Your lamb must be perfect, a male, one year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Amplified Bible
'Your lamb or young goat shall be [perfect] without blemish or bodily defect, a male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

New American Standard Bible
'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Your lambe shalbe without blemish, a male of a yeere olde: ye shall take it of the lambes, or of the kiddes.

Legacy Standard Bible
Your lamb shall be a male, without blemish, a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Complete Jewish Bible
Your animal must be without defect, a male in its first year, and you may choose it from either the sheep or the goats.

Darby Translation
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; ye shall take [it] from the sheep, or from the goats.

Easy-to-Read Version
The lamb must be a one-year-old male, and it must be completely healthy. This animal can be either a young sheep or a young goat.

English Standard Version
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,

George Lamsa Translation
The lamb shall be without blemish. a male of the first year; you shall take it from the lambs or from the kids:

Christian Standard Bible®
You must have an unblemished animal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats.

Literal Translation
A flock animal, a male without blemish, a yearling, shall be to you. You shall take from the sheep or from the goats.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
But it shal be a lambe without blemish, a male, & of a yeare olde. From amonge the lambes & goates shal ye take it.

American Standard Version
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old: ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:

Bible in Basic English
Let your lamb be without a mark, a male in its first year: you may take it from among the sheep or the goats:

Bishop's Bible (1568)
And let the lambe of yours be without blemishe, a male of a yere olde [whiche] ye shal take out from among the sheepe, and from among the goates.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats;

King James Version (1611)
Your lambe shall be without blemish, a male of the first yeere: yee shall take it out from the sheepe or from the goates.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
It shall be to you a lamb unblemished, a male of a year old: ye shall take it of the lambs and the kids.

English Revised Version
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:

Berean Standard Bible
Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe the lomb schal be a male of o yeer, without wem; bi which custom ye schulen take also a kide;

Young's Literal Translation
a lamb, a perfect one, a male, a son of a year, let be to you; from the sheep or from the goats ye do take [it].

Update Bible Version
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old: you shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:

Webster's Bible Translation
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take [it] from the sheep or from the goats:

World English Bible
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:

New King James Version
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

New Living Translation
The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.

New Life Bible
Your lamb must be perfect, a male lamb one year old. You may take it from the sheep or the goats.

New Revised Standard
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A lamb without defect a male a year old, shall yours be, - from the sheep or from the goats, shall ye take it.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year; according to which rite also you shall take a kid.

Revised Standard Version
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats;

New American Standard Bible (1995)
'Your lamb shall be an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

Contextual Overview

¹ The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Egypt: ² "This month is to be the first month of the year for you. ³ Give these instructions to the whole community of Israel: On the tenth day of this month each man must choose either a lamb or a young goat for his household. ⁴ If his family is too small to eat a whole animal, he and his next-door neighbor may share an animal, in proportion to the number of people and the amount that each person can eat. ⁵ You may choose either a sheep or a goat, but it must be a one-year-old male without any defects. ⁶ Then, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, the whole community of Israel will kill the animals. ⁷ The people are to take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and above the doors of the houses in which the animals are to be eaten. ⁸ That night the meat is to be roasted, and eaten with bitter herbs and with bread made without yeast. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled, but eat it roasted whole, including the head, the legs, and the internal organs. ¹⁰ You must not leave any of it until morning; if any is left over, it must be burned.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

be without: Leviticus 1:3, Leviticus 1:10, Leviticus 22:19-24, Deuteronomy 17:1, Malachi 1:7, Malachi 1:8, Malachi 1:14, Hebrews 7:26, Hebrews 9:13, Hebrews 9:14, 1 Peter 1:18, 1 Peter 1:19

a male of the first year: Heb. son of a year, Leviticus 23:12, 1 Samuel 13:1, *marg.

Reciprocal: Exodus 12:3 - lamb Exodus 29:1 - without Leviticus 4:32 - a lamb Leviticus 9:3 - both Numbers 7:39 - General Numbers 19:2 - no blemish Deuteronomy 16:2 - sacrifice Ezekiel 46:13 - of the first year Micah 6:6 - of a year old 1 Corinthians 5:7 - Christ

Cross-References

Genesis 10:19
until the Canaanite borders reached from Sidon southward to Gerar near Gaza, and eastward to Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim near Lasha.

Genesis 11:31
Terah took his son Abram, his grandson Lot, who was the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, Abram's wife, and with them he left the city of Ur in Babylonia to go to the land of Canaan. They went as far as Haran and settled there.

Genesis 12:5
Abram took his wife Sarai, his nephew Lot, and all the wealth and all the slaves they had acquired in Haran, and they started out for the land of Canaan. When they arrived in Canaan,

Genesis 12:8
After that, he moved on south to the hill country east of the city of Bethel and set up his camp between Bethel on the west and Ai on the east. There also he built an altar and worshiped the Lord .

Genesis 12:9
Then he moved on from place to place, going toward the southern part of Canaan.

Genesis 14:14
When Abram heard that his nephew had been captured, he called together all the fighting men in his camp, 318 in all, and pursued the four kings all the way to Dan.

Genesis 14:21
The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Keep the loot, but give me back all my people."

Acts 7:4
And so he left his country and went to live in Haran. After Abraham's father died, God made him move to this land where you now live.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Your lamb shall be without blemish,.... Without any spot or defect in it. Maimonides h reckons no less than fifty blemishes in a creature, anyone of which makes it unfit for sacrifice, see

Leviticus 21:21. This lamb was a type of Christ, who is therefore said to be our passover sacrificed for us, 1 Corinthians 5:7 comparable to a lamb for his innocence and harmlessness, for his meekness, humility, and patience, for usefulness both for food and raiment, as well as for being fit for sacrifice; and who is a lamb without spot and blemish, either of original sin, or actual transgression, holy in his nature, harmless in his life:

a male of the first year; anyone within that time, but not beyond it; denoting the strength and vigour of Christ, in the flower of his age, his short continuance among men, and his being tender and savoury food for the faith of his people:

ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats; it might be either a lamb, or a kid of the goats; for the most part, or generally, it was a lamb that was taken; so the Jewish canon runs i,

"he that says to his servant, go and slay for me the passover, if he slays a kid he may eat it; if he slays a lamb he may eat of it; if he slays a kid and a lamb, he may eat of the first.''

The goat being of an ill smell may denote Christ being made sin, and a sin offering for his people; and the taking of a lamb from these may signify the choice of Christ from among the people in the council and covenant of God; the preordination of him to be the lamb slain from the foundation of the world; the preservation of him from the infection of sin in his incarnation, and the separation of him from sinners in his conversation.

h Hilchot Biath Hamikdash, c. 7. sect. 1. i Misn. Pesach. c. 8. sect. 2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Without blemish - This is in accordance with the general rule (margin reference): although in this case there is a special reason, since the lamb was in place of the firstborn male in each household. The restriction to the first year is unique, and refers apparently to the condition of perfect innocence in the antitype, the Lamb of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 12:5. Without blemish — Having no natural imperfection, no disease, no deficiency or redundancy of parts. On this point the rabbins have trifled most egregiously, reckoning fifty blemishes that render a lamb or kid, or any animal, improper to be sacrificed: five in the ear, three in the eyelid, eight in the eye, three in the nose, six in the mouth, c., &c.

A male of the first year — That is, any age in the first year between eight days and twelve months.

From the sheep, or from the goats — The שה seh means either and either was equally proper if without blemish. The Hebrews however in general preferred the lamb to the kid.