What Does Exodus 12:23 Mean in the King James?
For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
At the blood-marked doorway, the LORD’s “passing over” is an act of protection that keeps the destroyer from crossing in.
THE MEANING
The verse holds judgment and shelter at one threshold: the LORD passes through to strike the Egyptians, sees the blood on the lintel and side posts, then passes over the door and restrains the destroyer from entering. Protection appears here while danger is still present, at the very boundary where it might cross in.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that protection means danger is absent: the destroyer is named, but the LORD prevents it from entering.
THE ROOT
וּפָסַח
u-pāsaḥ
GROWS FROM
פסח
p-s-ḥ
Pass over; spare or protect.
“pass over” in this verse is u-pāsaḥ. The verb is more than movement past a door: elsewhere, the same root appears in a line about the LORD preserving Jerusalem. Here, the LORD’s passing over the blood-marked entrance is an act that shields the household from the destroyer.
ALSO GROWS
pesaḥ: Passover, the name of the observance tied to this deliverance.
פֶּסַח
The observance takes its name from the LORD’s act of passing over the marked doorway.
pāsoach: Passing over; the form used in Isaiah 31:5 as the LORD preserves Jerusalem.
פָּסֹחַ
This branch shows the same verb carrying a protective sense beyond the doorway in Exodus.
מַשְׁחִית
mashḥit
GROWS FROM
שחת
sh-ḥ-t
Ruin, corrupt, destroy.
“Destroyer” is formed from a verb meaning to ruin or destroy: it names an agent by the ruin it brings. The verse distinguishes that destructive entry from the LORD’s action, which keeps the destroyer outside the houses.
ALSO GROWS
shāḥat: To ruin, corrupt, or destroy.
שָׁחַת
The root verb makes clear what the destroyer brings: ruin.
mashḥit: One who brings destruction.
מַשְׁחִית
The agent form names the threat the LORD prevents from entering.
THE PATTERN
At a threatened boundary, the LORD’s passing over becomes protection that keeps destruction from crossing in.
And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.THE THREAD
As birds flying, so will the LORD of hosts defend Jerusalem; defending also he will deliver it; and passing over he will preserve it.Isaiah uses the same root, פסח (p-s-ḥ, pass over), as Exodus 12:23, and pairs that passing over with preserving Jerusalem. The shared verb reveals the protective force in the LORD’s movement over the blood-marked doorway.
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