Deuteronomy 16:2

Deu 16:2-3. Thou shalt sacrifice the passover — Strictly so called; which was the paschal lamb. The sheep and oxen here mentioned were additional sacrifices which were to be offered in the seven days of the paschal solemnity, Num 28:18. Indeed, the passage may be rendered, Thou shalt therefore observe the feast of the passover unto the Lord thy God with sheep and with oxen. Bread of affliction — So called, because it was not pleasant nor easily digested, and was appointed to be used to put them in mind of their afflictions and miseries in Egypt, and of their coming out from thence in haste, being allowed no time to leaven or prepare their bread.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16:2 the place . . . for his name to be honored: The Lord’s name represented the Lord himself. When he placed his name in the Tabernacle or Temple, he was effectively taking up residence there (see 12:5, 18).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Thou shalt eat the Easter lamb.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover--not the paschal lamb, which was strictly and properly the passover. The whole solemnity is here meant, as is evident from the mention of the additional victims that required to be offered on the subsequent days of the feast (Num 28:18-19; Ch2 35:8-9), and from the allusion to the continued use of unleavened bread for seven days, whereas the passover itself was to be eaten at once. The words before us are equivalent to "thou shalt observe the feast of the passover."

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

2. of the flock and the herd] Sheep, goat or ox, and doubtless as in J, a firstling. P, Exo_12:3-6, prescribes a male of the first year (see Driver’s note), but limits it to a lamb or kid; in later practice a lamb was invariably chosen.

in the place which Jehovah shall choose] To Jehovah Sam. LXX add thy God. In J, Exo_12:21-26, the service is domestic; and P, Exo_12:3 ff., also preserves its domestic character, cp. Exo_12:46.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Thou shalt therefore sacrifice the passover unto the Lord thy God,.... In the month Abib, and in the night of that month they came out of Egypt, even on the fourteenth day of it at night, between the two evenings, as the Targum of Jonathan; which was a lamb, and typical of Christ, the passover sacrificed for us, Co1 5:7.

of the flock and the herd; that is, you shall sacrifice also the offerings which were offered throughout the seven days of unleavened bread, and these were both sheep and oxen, Num 28:19 and are expressly called passover offerings and peace offerings, Ch2 30:21, for what was strictly and properly the passover was only of the flock, a lamb, and not of the herd, or a bullock; though Aben Ezra says there were some that thought that in Egypt it was only a lamb or a kid, but now it might be a bullock; which he observes is not right. It may be indeed that the word "passover" here is a general term, comprehending the whole passover solemnity, and all the sacrifices of the seven days: the Jews commonly understand this clause of the Chagigah, or feast of the fifteenth day, the first day of unleavened bread, and so the Targum of Jonathan,"and the sheep and the oxen on the morrow;''some distinguish them thus, the flock for the duty of the passover, the herd for the peace offerings, so Aben Ezra; or as Jarchi interprets it, the flock of the lambs and kids, and the herd for the Chagigah or festival; in the Talmud (m); the flock, this is the passover; the herd, this is the Chagigah, so Abendana: there was a Chagigah of the fourteenth day, which was brought with the lamb and eaten first, when the company was too large for the lamb, that their might eat with satiety (n); but this was not reckoned obligatory upon them (o), but they were bound to bring their Chagigah on the fifteenth day:

in the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there; that is, at Jerusalem, as the event has shown; hence we read of the parents of our Lord going up to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the passover, Luk 2:41.

(m) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 70. 2. (n) Jarchi in loc. Maimon. Hilchot Corban Pesach, c. 8. l. 3. (o) T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 71. 1, 2. Maimon. ut supra, (n)) c. 10. sect. 13. Aruch in voc. fol. 58. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Phase. Hebrew and Septuagint, "the Phase (or lamb) to the Lord thy God, sheep and oxen," or "of the flock and the herd," (Protestant) offered on the same festival, (Haydock) or victims proper for the solemnity, besides the paschal lamb, Numbers xxviii. 19., and 2 Paralipomenon xxx. 15. Peace-offerings were also made; (Leviticus vi. 12., and 2 Paralipomenon xxxv. 7,) and of these free offerings some explain the words of the Jews, (John xviii. 28,) as they suppose the lamb had been eaten the night before. (Menochius; Bochart; Tirinus) --- They might, however, have refrained from eating of these on that day. (Calmet) --- But they perhaps did not choose to be debarred of that privilege. --- There. The place peculiarly consecrated to the worship of God, for length of days. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

The passover, i.e. either,

1. Properly and strictly so called, which was the paschal lamb, and so the sheep and oxen, which here follow, are mentioned only as additional sacrifices, which were to be offered in the seven days of the paschal solemnity, Num 28:18,19, &c. Or,

2. Largely, to wit, for the passover-offerings, to wit, which were offered after the lamb in the seven days, and so this very word is used 2Ch 35:8,9. And this signification seems necessary here, partly because it is here said to consist

of the flock and of the herd, or of sheep and oxen, and partly because it follows, Deu 16:3, Thou shalt eat no leavened bread with it, seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread therewith, i.e. with the passover, which could not be done with the passover strictly so called, which was to be wholly spent in one day. Or,

3. The feast of the passover, and so the place may be rendered, Thou shalt therefore observe or keep the feast of the passover (as those same Hebrew words are taken, Num 9:5; Jos 5:10; 2Ch 35:1,17,18,19) unto the Lord thy God, with sheep and with oxen, as is prescribed, Num 28:18, &c.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Thou shalt… sacrifice the passover — The term passover, in its primary meaning, is applied to the lamb or kid; but the word was also used in an extended meaning for all the offerings of the feast.

In the place which the Lord shall choose — The observance of these festivals was to become connected with their national life, and for that reason a central sanctuary would be desirable. Here all the tribes could meet to commemorate the great events connected with their providential history.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The passover - That is, the feast of the passover, and so the place may be rendered, thou shalt therefore observe the feast of the passover unto the Lord thy God, with sheep, and with oxen, as is prescribed, Num. xxviii, 18, &c.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

וזבחת פסח לה' אלהיך צאן THOU SHALT THEREFORE SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER UNTO THE LORD THY GOD OF SHEEP, as it is said of the Passover offering, (Exodus 12:5) “Ye shall take it from the sheep or from the goats”,

— ובקר AND OXEN thou shalt slaughter as the חגיגה (the festival offering sacrificed on the fourteenth of Nisan in addition to the Passover offering); for if they have counted themselves (formed themselves) into too large a company for the Passover offering (so that one lamb will not suffice for them) they bring together with it a festival offering and this is eaten first, in order that it (the Passover sacrifice) can be eaten in satiety (i.e. after the appetite is satisfied; cf. Pesachim 69b, 70a). — And besides this our Rabbis derived many Halachic matters from this verse (cf. Sifrei Devarim 129; Berakhot 9a).

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

AND THOU SHALT SACRIFICE THE PASSOVER-OFFERING UNTO THE ETERNAL THY G-D THE FLOCK AND THE HERD. Its purport by way of the plain meaning of Scripture is similar to the expressions: the ox, the sheep, and the goats [which means: “the ox, ‘and’ the sheep … “]; Reuben, Simeon, Levi [which means: “Reuben, ‘and’ Simeon, ‘and’ Levi”], And here it means: “and thou shalt sacrifice the Passover-offering unto the Eternal thy G-d, ‘and’ the flock and the herd [thou shalt bring for the Festal-offering,” as will be explained]. Therefore, [because the flock and the herd are not used for the Passover-offering], he does not say “and thou shalt sacrifice the Passover-offering unto the Eternal thy G-d, ‘of’ the flock and ‘of’ the herd,” as He says in all places: ye shall bring your offering ‘of’ the cattle, ‘of’ the herd, or ‘of’ the flock; and if his offering be ‘of’ the flock;, Verse 10. if he offer ‘of’ the herd., 3:1. But here he commands concerning the Passover-offering, which is the sheep as He has previously mentioned; and sheep and herd, rams and goats and calves, to celebrate the Festal-offering on that day, just as he commanded concerning the Festivals of Weeks and Tabernacles, saying, And thou shalt keep the Festival of Weeks unto the Eternal thy G-d after the measure of the freewill offering of thy hand, meaning that he shall bring herd and sheep as peace-offerings in accordance with his means. So also he said with reference to Tabernacles, Seven days shalt thou keep a feast unto the Eternal thy G-d etc., Verse 15. and at the end he included all three [festivals] together., Verse 16. Similar to this [where the connecting letter vav — “and” is missing] is the verse: 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, which means “‘and’ a feast of seven days.” We find this also in the Passover celebrated by King Josiah where it says, of the flock, lambs, and kids, all of them for the Passover-offerings … and three thousand bullocks, and afterwards it says, And they roasted the Passover [-offering] with fire according to the ordinance, and the holy offerings they boiled in pots, and in cauldrons, and in pans, and carried them quickly to all the children of the people., Verse 13. Thus Scripture explained there that the lambs and kids were all for the Passover-offerings, not the goats themselves [that were older than a year] nor the herd, as it is written, Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it from the sheep or from the goats. And Scripture explains that the herd that he mentioned were three thousand, and they were holy offerings which were boiled in pots to be carried quickly to the people to eat their fill, as our Rabbis have received by tradition concerning the Festal-offering. And Onkelos connected here [in the verse before us] the word flock with the Passover-offering [for he translated as follows: “and thou shalt sacrifice the Passover-offering from the young lambs, and holy offerings from the herd”]. But in that case the vav in the word u’bakar (“and” the herd) does not connect itself well [with the word tzon — “flock,” since the connecting letter, vav, indicates that the herd and the flock were used for the same offerings, while Onkelos says that the flock was for the Passover-offering and the herd was for other types of offerings.] in the word u’bakar (‘and’ the herd). Moreover, the flock is not valid for the Passover-offering, [but only males less than a year old, so it is not correct to explain as Onkelos did that the flock was used for the Passover-offering]. The correct explanation is what we have said.Now he explained here many things. Thus he mentioned concerning the unleavened bread that it be bread of affliction, teaching that he commanded to remember that they left [Egypt] in haste, and this [bread of] affliction is a remembrance that they were living in Egypt with sparing bread and scant water. Thus he alludes to two things [that they eat unleavened bread in order to remember that they went out in haste and there was no time for their dough to rise, and that they remember that they ate there “bread of affliction”]. And thus the Rabbis also said [in the Passover Hagadah]: “This is the bread of affliction that our fathers ate in the land of Egypt.” Or it may be that he is saying that the unleavened bread be made like bread of poverty [flour and water] and not like rich bread [kneaded with wine, oil or honey] as our Rabbis stated. And he also explained in the commandment pertaining to leaven that it shall not ‘be seen’ with thee in ‘all thy borders’ [seven days], for at first He said, [seven days] shall there be no leaven “‘found’ in your houses. ”, 13:7 where it already states, Neither shall there be leaven seen with thee in all thy borders! But Ramban’s point is that here it adds seven days to the earlier prohibition of leaven not being “seen” in all “the borders,” thus making it parallel to the prohibition of leaven not being “found” in “the houses” where, in Exodus, it states seven days. See my Hebrew commentary p. 415.

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.