Exodus 13:9
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It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
In this chapter we have, I. The commands God gave to Israel, 1. To sanctify all their firstborn to him (Exo 13:1, Exo 13:2). 2. To be sure to remember their deliverance out of Egypt (Exo 13:3, Exo 13:4), and, in remembrance of it, to keep the feast of unleavened bread (Exo 13:5-7). 3. To transmit the knowledge of it with all possible care to their children (Exo 13:8-10). 4. To set apart unto God the firstlings of their cattle (Exo 13:11-13), and to explain that also to their children (Exo 13:14-16). II. The care God took of Israel, when he had brought them out of Egypt. I. Choosing their way for them (Exo 13:17, Exo 13:18). 2. Guiding them in the way (Exo 13:20-22). And III. Their care of Joseph's bones (Exo 13:19).
Open source ↗13:9 The annual celebration of the Passover was a visible sign to identify oneself as the Lord’s possession. It was a mark of his ownership, the physical reinforcement of a spiritual reality. • Let it remind you always to recite this teaching of the Lord: The second part of the verse may be interpreted either as a statement to be recited (as in the NLT text) or simply as a description of the Lord’s work.
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Tie them as reminders on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
These will serve as tassels for you to look at, so that you may remember all the commandments of the LORD, that you may obey them and not prostitute yourselves by following your own heart and your own eyes.
So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”
And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
“As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the LORD. “My Spirit will not depart from you, and My words that I have put in your mouth will not depart from your mouth or from the mouths of your children and grandchildren, from now on and forevermore,” says the LORD.
All their deeds are done for men to see. They broaden their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.
But the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you may obey it.
So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten.
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the dragon?