And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.

This line comes from the biblical instructions for the first Passover on the eve of the Exodus from Egypt. In Exodus 12, the Israelites are commanded to slaughter a lamb, mark their doorposts with its blood, and eat the meal in haste during the night when the LORD “passes over” their houses while striking Egypt’s firstborn. The details—roasting the lamb, eating it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs—belong to a ritual meant to prepare a people for immediate departure and to memorialize deliverance. The wording given matches the traditional English of the King James Version.

The verse fuses practical instruction with symbolic memory. Roasting “with fire” emphasizes completeness and urgency, while unleavened bread signals haste—there is no time for dough to rise—anticipating the sudden flight from bondage. “Bitter herbs” evoke the bitterness of slavery and suffering, ensuring the meal is not merely celebratory but also commemorative. As part of Passover’s founding narrative, the command turns eating into an act of identity: the community rehearses its origin story through embodied ritual. The verse’s enduring significance lies in how it links liberation to remembrance, making history a recurring practice rather than a distant event.

1) “They are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast.” (NIV)
2) “They shall eat the lamb that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.” (NRSV-style rendering)
3) “And they shall eat the flesh that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.” (KJV punctuation variant)