Chapter Overview
Summary
Exodus 13 institutes the consecration of the firstborn (13:1–2, 11–16), re-legislates the Feast of Unleavened Bread (13:3–10), and narrates the beginning of the wilderness journey with the pillar of cloud and fire (13:17–22). The firstborn-consecration principle is cited verbatim at Luke 2:23 (Jesus' presentation in the temple). The 'sign on your hand, memorial between your eyes' formula at 13:9 and 13:16 is the scriptural basis for tefillin. The pillar of cloud is interpreted at 1 Corinthians 10:2 as the Israelites' 'baptism into Moses.'
Notable Variants
The 'consecrate to me every firstborn' at 13:2 cited at Luke 2:23; the 'sign on your hand, frontlets between your eyes' at 13:9 and 13:16 that establishes tefillin; the 'equipped for battle' at 13:18 (LXX pemptē geneai, 'the fifth generation'); the pillar of cloud and fire at 13:21–22 cited at 1 Cor 10:1–2.
Structural Notes
LXX Exodus 13 preserves MT's 22-verse structure.
The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
The divine speech formula tracks MT.
"Consecrate to Me every firstborn. Whatever opens the womb among the sons of Israel, both of man and of beast — it is Mine."
Masoretic (WLC)
קַדֶּשׁ־לִי כָל־בְּכוֹר פֶּטֶר כָּל־רֶחֶם בִּבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל
Consecrate to Me every firstborn. Whatever opens the womb among the sons of Israel
Septuagint (LXX)
ἁγίασόν μοι πᾶν πρωτότοκον πρωτογενὲς διανοῖγον πᾶσαν μήτραν ἐν τοῖς υἱοῖς Ισραηλ
Sanctify to me every firstborn, first-born, opening every womb among the sons of Israel
Luke 2:23 cites this verse at Jesus' presentation in the temple: "as it is written in the Law of the Lord, 'Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord.'" The Lucan quotation is a composite of Exodus 13:2, 12, 15 in their LXX form — pan arsen dianoigon mētran hagion tō kyriō klēthēsetai.
The prōtotokos vocabulary carries the full Christological weight that Paul develops at Romans 8:29 and Colossians 1:15–18. Jesus as 'firstborn of every creature' is read typologically through Exodus 13's firstborn-consecration.
The LXX's prōtogenes ('first-produced') alongside prōtotokos ('first-born') is an unusual doubled rendering that emphasizes the first-of-a-kind status.
Moses said to the people, "Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten.
The commemoration of the exit ('by strength of hand the LORD brought you out') tracks MT. The 'house of slavery' (oikos douleias) is the LXX's standard formulation that recurs in Deuteronomy.
Today you are going out, in the month of Aviv.
The month of Aviv (LXX mēni tōn neōn, 'the month of the new [crops]') is the Hebrew name for the spring month later called Nisan. The LXX renders the meaning of Aviv ('fresh green ears of grain') rather than transliterating.
When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you — a land flowing with milk and honey — you shall keep this service in this month.
The land-of-the-Canaanites formulation tracks MT. 'A land flowing with milk and honey' (gē rheousa gala kai meli) is the LXX's standard rendering that recurs throughout the Torah and is cited at Acts 7:5, 45 in Stephen's speech.
For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day hold a festival to the LORD.
The seven-day Feast of Unleavened Bread tracks MT.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days. No leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory.
The total prohibition of leavened bread tracks MT.
You shall tell your son on that day, 'It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.'
The catechetical transmission — 'you shall tell your son' (anaggeleis) — tracks MT. The verb anangellō is the NT's word for gospel-proclamation (1 John 1:5, 3:11).
It shall be as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, so that the instruction of the LORD may be in your mouth, for with a strong hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
Masoretic (WLC)
וְהָיָה לְךָ לְאוֹת עַל־יָדְךָ וּלְזִכָּרוֹן בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ
It shall be as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ἔσται σοι σημεῖον ἐπὶ τῆς χειρός σου καὶ μνημόσυνον πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν σου
It shall be for you a sign on your hand and a memorial before your eyes
The 'sign on your hand and frontlets between your eyes' formula — repeated at 13:16, Deuteronomy 6:8, 11:18 — becomes the scriptural foundation for tefillin (phylacteries), the leather cases worn on the hand and head during Jewish prayer.
Matthew 23:5 ('they make their phylacteries wide,' platynousi ta phylaktēria autōn) uses the Greek phylaktērion vocabulary for this practice. The Greek word phylaktērion means 'amulet, protective charm' — reflecting the LXX-influenced understanding of tefillin as apotropaic objects.
You shall keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
The annual-observance requirement tracks MT.
"When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you,
The promised-land framing of firstborn consecration tracks MT.
you shall set apart to the LORD every firstborn that opens the womb. Every firstborn male of your livestock belongs to the LORD.
The setting-apart of every firstborn opens to the LORD tracks MT.
Every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn among your sons you shall redeem.
The donkey-to-lamb redemption provision and the firstborn-son redemption tracks MT. The provision that every firstborn male must be redeemed, not sacrificed, is the Pentateuchal limitation on first-born-sacrifice practice.
When your son asks you in time to come, 'What does this mean?' you shall say to him, 'By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
The second 'when your son asks' catechism (paralleling 12:26) tracks MT. The repetition at 12:26 and 13:14 establishes the two moments of Passover and Unleavened-Bread-plus-Firstborn-Consecration catechesis.
When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every male that first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.'
The historical justification for firstborn sacrifice and redemption tracks MT.
It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes, for by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt."
Masoretic (WLC)
וְהָיָה לְאוֹת עַל־יָדְכָה וּלְטוֹטָפֹת בֵּין עֵינֶיךָ
It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets between your eyes
Septuagint (LXX)
καὶ ἔσται εἰς σημεῖον ἐπὶ τῆς χειρός σου καὶ ἀσάλευτον πρὸ ὀφθαλμῶν σου
It shall be as a sign on your hand, and unshaken before your eyes
The Hebrew totafot ('frontlets, phylacteries') is a rare word (only 4 occurrences in MT). The LXX renders here as asaleutos ('unshaken, immovable') — an abstract paraphrase rather than a concrete object.
The rabbinic tradition read totafot as the head-phylactery; the LXX's interpretive choice suggests the translator did not know the specific cultic object and rendered by meaning ('the commandment is an unshaken memorial before your eyes').
When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, "The people might change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt."
God's choice to avoid the Philistine-way route tracks MT. The theological note — 'lest the people change their minds' — is preserved.
So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Sea of Reeds. The sons of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.
Masoretic (WLC)
וַחֲמֻשִׁים עָלוּ בְנֵי־יִשְׂרָאֵל
The sons of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle
Septuagint (LXX)
πέμπτῃ δὲ γενεᾷ ἀνέβησαν οἱ υἱοὶ Ισραηλ
And the sons of Israel went up in the fifth generation
The Hebrew chamushim is debated: 'equipped/armed' (derived from chomesh, 'loin' or 'armament'), 'in ranks of fifty,' or 'in the fifth generation' (derived from chamesh, 'five'). TCR follows the 'equipped for battle' reading.
The LXX reads the word as pemptē genea ('in the fifth generation'), connecting to Genesis 15:16's prophecy that 'in the fourth generation they shall return here.' The LXX's chronological reading aligns with the Gen 15 promise — though not without interpretive strain.
This is one of the puzzles of LXX Exodus: a single Hebrew word consistently rendered with a divergent interpretive meaning (here and at Josh 4:12).
Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you."
Moses' fulfillment of the Joseph-bones oath (Gen 50:25) tracks MT. The detail ties the Exodus back to Genesis's patriarchal promises and is significant for LXX readers who could see the thread across the books. Acts 7:16 (Stephen's speech) mentions Joseph's burial at Shechem.
They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.
The itinerary notation (Succoth to Etham) tracks MT.
The LORD went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day and by night.
Masoretic (WLC)
בְּעַמּוּד עָנָן … בְּעַמּוּד אֵשׁ
by day in a pillar of cloud … by night in a pillar of fire
Septuagint (LXX)
ἐν στύλῳ νεφέλης … ἐν στύλῳ πυρός
in a pillar of cloud … in a pillar of fire
1 Corinthians 10:1–2 ('our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea') reads the pillar of cloud as the instrument of Israel's corporate baptism. Paul's typology requires both the cloud-pillar (10:1) and the sea-crossing (10:2) — a composite LXX-Exodus baptismal reading.
The pillar of fire at night and cloud by day — stylos pyros and stylos nephelēs — becomes a stock LXX phrase for divine presence-manifestation (Num 14:14, Neh 9:12, 19, Ps 105:39). The NT's 'glory cloud' theology (Matt 17:5 Transfiguration, Acts 1:9 ascension cloud) draws on this LXX Exodus imagery.
The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
The perpetual-presence of cloud and fire pillars tracks MT. The theme of continuous divine guidance prepares for chapter 14.