Exodus 12:8-9

12:8 They will eat the meat the same night; ¹  they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast ²  and with bitter herbs. 12:9 Do not eat it raw ³  or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails.

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¹ tn Heb “this night.”

² sn Bread made without yeast could be baked quickly, not requiring time for the use of a leavening ingredient to make the dough rise. In Deut 16:3 the unleavened cakes are called “the bread of affliction,” which alludes to the alarm and haste of the Israelites. In later Judaism and in the writings of Paul, leaven came to be a symbol of evil or corruption, and so “unleavened bread” – bread made without yeast – was interpreted to be a picture of purity or freedom from corruption or defilement (S. R. Driver, Exodus, 90-91).

³ sn This ruling was to prevent their eating it just softened by the fire or partially roasted as differing customs might prescribe or allow.