Exodus 12:10

Summary

Exodus 12:10 gives an instruction concerning what remains of the Passover meal: nothing is to be left over until morning, and whatever does remain must be burned with fire. The verse is structured as a prohibition followed by a corrective command for the case in which the prohibition is not fully met.

Key words

• toTiru ("you will leave over", H3498) — hiphil (causative) imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural: the causative form indicates the subjects actively causing something to remain, not merely something remaining on its own.
• noTar ("is left over", H3498) — niphal participle, masculine singular: from the same root as toTiru, but in the niphal (passive/reflexive) stem, describing the state of "being left" as a result rather than an action; used substantively with the article ha- ("the") as "that which is left."
• 'ad ("until", H5704) — preposition marking the temporal boundary "morning," repeated twice in the verse, framing both the prohibition and the remedy within the same time limit.
• 'esh ("fire", H0784) — common gender singular noun, object of the instrumental phrase ba'esh ("with the fire"), specifying the means by which leftover material is to be destroyed.
• tisrofu ("you will burn", H8313) — qal imperfect, 2nd person masculine plural: a simple (non-causative) active verb, contrasting with the hiphil toTiru, showing a plain direct action of burning as opposed to the causative "leaving."

What the text says

The verse divides into two parallel clauses, each ending with 'ad boker ("until morning", H5704 + H1242). The first clause, velo'-toTiru mimenu 'ad-boker ("and you will not leave over from it until morning"), uses the hiphil imperfect toTiru, which grammatically frames the action as something the addressees cause to happen — the leaving-over is treated as an act performed by the group, not a passive occurrence. The negation lo' ("not", H3808) governs this hiphil form directly.

The second clause shifts grammatical voice: vehanoTar mimenu 'ad-boker ("and what is left over from it until morning") uses the niphal participle noTar, from the identical root yatar (H3498) as toTiru, but here nominalized with the article ha- to designate "the remainder" as a category, independent of who caused it. This remainder is the direct object of the final instruction, ba'esh tisrofu ("with the fire you will burn"), where the qal imperfect tisrofu denotes the straightforward act of burning, contrasted grammatically with the causative stem used earlier.

Differences between versions

The LXX (Swete) includes an additional clause not present in the Hebrew word list given: καὶ ὀστοῦν οὐ συντρίψεται ἀπ' αὐτοῦ ("and no bone of it shall be broken"), which has no corresponding Hebrew word in the data provided for this verse. The Vulgate (si quid residuum fuerit, "if anything shall remain") renders the niphal participle noTar as a conditional clause rather than as a substantive "the remainder," differing structurally from the Hebrew's participial construction.