Exodus 12:47

Summary

Exodus 12:47 states that the entire assembly of Israel must perform "it" — referring, in its immediate context, to the Passover ritual described in the preceding verses. The sentence is a short, general legal instruction using collective and singular grammatical forms to indicate a communal, uniform obligation.

Key words

• kol ("all", H3605) — construct noun meaning "all of / the whole of," binding to the following noun to form "the whole of the congregation."
• 'adat ("[the] congregation of", H5712) — feminine singular construct noun; despite referring to a plural body of people, it is grammatically singular, treating Israel as one unified entity.
• Yisra'el ("Israel", H3478) — proper name, functioning as the noun completing the construct chain "congregation of Israel."
• ya'asu ("they will do/must do", H6213A) — Qal imperfect, third person masculine plural; the imperfect aspect conveys an action not yet completed, here functioning as a directive for ongoing or required future practice rather than a simple prediction.
• 'oto ("it", H0853 + H9033) — the direct object marker 'et fused with a third person masculine singular suffix ("him/it"), pointing back to a previously named object (the Passover offering/rite mentioned earlier in the chapter), not introducing a new noun here.

What the text says

The Hebrew clause is compact: a construct chain (kol 'adat Yisra'el) serves as the subject, followed by a verb (ya'asu) and an object marker with suffix ('oto). Grammatically, the subject "congregation of Israel" is singular in form even though it denotes a multitude — this is common in Biblical Hebrew for collective nouns, and it allows the verb that follows to shift to plural (ya'asu, "they will do") to reflect the many individuals who compose that singular body. This grammatical tension between a singular head noun and a plural verb reflects how Hebrew balances collective identity with individual participation.

The verb form ya'asu is an imperfect, which in Biblical Hebrew frequently expresses obligation, futurity, or habitual/repeated action depending on context. Here, following ritual instructions in the chapter, it functions less as a simple future ("they will do") and more as a directive expectation ("they are to do" or "must do").

The object 'oto does not name what is to be done within this verse; it relies on the prior context (the Passover rite) for its referent, making this verse a closing or summarizing statement rather than a self-contained instruction.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew verb ya'asu ("they will do/must do", H6213A) is broad and unspecified in action. The LXX renders it with ποιήσει ("will do/perform"), matching the general sense. The Vulgate uses faciet ("will do"), also general. Some modern translations (BSB "must celebrate," SBLIBRE "debe celebrar") narrow the broad verb "to do" into the more specific "to celebrate," a interpretive specification not explicit in the Hebrew verb itself. The RV1909 renders it as "sacrificará" ("will sacrifice"), further narrowing the action beyond what the Hebrew 'asah ("to do") states.