Exodus Chapter 12 verse 4 Holy Bible
and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbor next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb.
read chapter 12 in ASV
And if the lamb is more than enough for the family, let that family and its nearest neighbour have a lamb between them, taking into account the number of persons and how much food is needed for every man.
read chapter 12 in BBE
And if the household be too small for a lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; each according to [the measure] of his eating shall ye count for the lamb.
read chapter 12 in DARBY
And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
read chapter 12 in KJV
And if the household shall be too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.
read chapter 12 in WBT
and if the household be too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls; according to what everyone can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
read chapter 12 in WEB
`(And if the household be too few for a lamb, then hath he taken, he and his neighbour who is near unto his house, for the number of persons, each according to his eating ye do count for the lamb,)
read chapter 12 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 4. - If the household be too little for the lamb - i.e., "too few to consume it at a sitting." Usage in course of time fixed the minimum number at ten. (Joseph. Bell. Jud. 6:9, ยง 3.) The whole family, men, women and children participated. The lamb was generally slain between the ninth hour (3 p.m.) and the eleventh (5 p.m.). Let him and his neighbour take it according to the number of the souls. If there were a household of only five, which could not possibly consume the lamb, any large neighbouring family was to send five or six of its number, to make up the deficiency. Every man according to his eating, etc. It is difficult to see what sense our translators intended. The real direction is that, in providing a proper number of guests, consideration should be had of the amount which they would be likely to eat. Children and the very aged were not to be reckoned as if they were men in the vigour of life. Translate - "Each man according to his eating shall ye count towards the lamb."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(4) If the household be too little for the lamb.--There would be cases where the family would not be large enough to consume an entire lamb at a sitting. Where this was so, men were to club with their neighbours, either two small families joining together, or a large family drafting off some of its members to bring up the numbers of a small one. According to Josephus (Bell. Jud., vi. 9, ? 3), ten was the least number regarded as sufficient, while twenty was not considered too many.Every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb.--Rather, shall ye count. In determining the number for any given Paschal meal, ye shall "count men according to their eating," admitting more or fewer, as they are likely to consume less or more.
