In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten.

EZEKIEL 45:21KJV
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Ezekiel 45:21 (KJV)

What does Ezekiel 45:21 mean?

Ezekiel 45:21 instructs that on the fourteenth day of the first month, the people are to observe the Passover, a seven-day festival during which only unleavened bread is to be eaten. This verse sets out the timing and basic requirements for celebrating the Passover feast as part of Israel’s worship.

In this part of Ezekiel, God is giving detailed instructions through the prophet Ezekiel to the people of Israel about worship and festivals in a future, restored temple. The verse connects back to the original Passover in Exodus, but here it is part of a renewed order for worship after exile. The focus is on remembering God’s deliverance and keeping the tradition of eating unleavened bread for seven days.

The Hebrew behind Ezekiel 45:21

  • פֶּסַח (pesach, “passover”): This word refers to the Passover festival, which commemorates Israel’s deliverance from Egypt. Its use here ties the future worship directly to the foundational story of Israel’s rescue.
  • חַג (chag, “feast”): This term means a festival or pilgrimage feast. It highlights that Passover is not just a ritual but a communal celebration meant to be observed together.
  • מַצּוֹת (matzot, “unleavened bread”): This word specifies the kind of bread to be eaten—bread made without yeast. It recalls the haste of the original Exodus, when there was no time for dough to rise.
  • שִׁבְעַת יָמִים (shiv’at yamim, “seven days”): This phrase sets the duration of the feast, emphasizing the completeness and significance of the observance.

Why Ezekiel 45:21 matters

  • Ezekiel 45:21 shows that even in a future, restored setting, the Passover remains central to Israel’s identity and worship, linking past deliverance to future hope.
  • The verse clarifies that the celebration is not just a one-day event but a full week, with a specific focus on eating unleavened bread, which some readers might overlook.
  • By including these instructions in a vision of renewed worship, Ezekiel connects the community’s future with its foundational story, emphasizing continuity and faithfulness to God’s commands.

Where else these words appear

“seven” Hebrew H7620 · used in 17 verses

  • Genesis 29:27 Fulfil her week, and we will give thee this also for the service which thou shalt serve with me yet seven other years.
  • Deuteronomy 16:9 Seven weeks shalt thou number unto thee: begin to number the seven weeks from such time as thou beginnest to put the sickle to the corn.
  • Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

“bread” Hebrew H4682 · used in 42 verses

  • Genesis 19:3 And he pressed upon them greatly; and they turned in unto him, and entered into his house; and he made them a feast, and did bake unleavened bread, and they did eat.
  • Leviticus 2:4 And if thou bring an oblation of a meat offering baken in the oven, it shall be unleavened cakes of fine flour mingled with oil, or unleavened wafers anointed with oil.
  • Deuteronomy 16:8 Six days thou shalt eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be a solemn assembly to the LORD thy God: thou shalt do no work therein.

“passover” Hebrew H6453 · used in 46 verses

  • Exodus 12:11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD'S passover.
  • Numbers 28:16 And in the fourteenth day of the first month is the passover of the LORD.
  • 2 Chronicles 30:17 For there were many in the congregation that were not sanctified: therefore the Levites had the charge of the killing of the passovers for every one that was not clean, to sanctify them unto the LORD.

“feast” Hebrew H2282 · used in 55 verses

  • Exodus 10:9 And Moses said, We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD.
  • Deuteronomy 16:14 And thou shalt rejoice in thy feast, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, and thy manservant, and thy maidservant, and the Levite, the stranger, and the fatherless, and the widow, that are within thy gates.
  • Nehemiah 8:18 Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God. And they kept the feast seven days; and on the eighth day was a solemn assembly, according unto the manner.