Exodus 12:48

Summary

The verse sets the condition under which a ger ("sojourner", H1616) living among the Israelites may participate in the Passover offering to Yehovah: all males in his household must first undergo circumcision. Once circumcised, he is treated like a native-born Israelite; conversely, an uncircumcised man is explicitly barred from eating the Passover.

Key words

• ger ("a sojourner", H1616) — the noun naming the subject of the condition, a resident foreigner distinct from a native.
• himmol ("he will be circumcised", H4135A) — niphal form (passive/reflexive), functioning as a command; it does not name an agent, framing circumcision as something undergone rather than performed by another explicitly stated subject.
• az ("then", H0227A) — adverb marking the temporal hinge of the sentence: participation in the Passover follows after the circumcision, not simultaneously with it.
• 'ezrach ("native-born of", H0249) — construct noun used in a comparison, placing the circumcised sojourner on equal footing with the 'ezrach ha'aretz ("native of the land").
• 'arel ("uncircumcised [man]", H6189) — adjective used substantively to designate the excluded category, paired with the negation lo' ("not", H3808) before the verb yokhal ("he will eat", H0398).

What the text says

The verse opens with the conditional particle khi ("if", H3588A) governing an imperfect verb, yagur ("he will sojourn", H1481A), setting up a hypothetical scenario about a ger. The apodosis unfolds through a chain of sequential perfects ('asah "he will observe", H6213A; hayah "he will be", H1961) linked by the narrative vav (H9001), which carries the sentence forward as a series of consequences rather than isolated clauses. The niphal himmol interrupts this chain as a command form, requiring circumcision of "every male" (khol zakhar, H3605 + H2145) before the sojourner's household can proceed. The adverb az explicitly delays permission to "draw near" (yiqrav, H7126G) to observe the Passover until after this requirement is met. The final clause reverses the polarity: khol 'arel ("any uncircumcised", H3605 + H6189) is the subject of a negated imperfect, lo' yokhal, closing the verse with the counter-case to the opening condition.

Differences between versions

The LXX text supplied is fragmentary and appears corrupted (e.g., προσήλντος, προσελεύιματιοις σεται), making a clean comparison difficult; it does render yagur with προσέλθῃ ("should approach") rather than a verb of dwelling. The Vulgate adds prius ("first"), making explicit the temporal priority that the Hebrew conveys through az ("then") rather than through a separate adverb of priority.