Some scholars believe that Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread existed as separate festivals, perhaps even before the time of Moses. In Exodus the two are combined, with “Passover” usually referring to the first day of the festival, when the lamb was eaten, although both names have been used for the entire festival. In some contexts “Passover” refers to the sacrificial lamb that became the Passover meal.

Since the Jewish day was calculated from sunset, the first day of Unleavened Bread would strictly speaking mean the 15th of Nisan, which would have begun at sunset on the 14th. But it may well be that the morning of the 14th is meant, for that was the time when all leaven was removed from Jewish households. Preparation for the meal would have continued throughout the day. Then the meal itself would have begun toward evening on the 14th, and it would have continued into the night, thus ending on the 15th. The festival of Unleavened Bread lasted seven days (Nisan 15-22), and it also commemorated the safe rescue of the Jewish ancestors from Egypt. During these seven days the Jewish people ate unleavened bread (bread made without yeast), to recall the day on which they had departed from Egypt in haste.

The first day of Unleavened Bread has been rendered by Good News Translation as “the first day of the Festival of Unleavened Bread.” It is not necessary in the translation to explain exactly what was involved in this festival, although the information can be put into a footnote or into the glossary. Unleavened Bread may not be known, and translators sometimes have “bread with no yeast.” For “yeast” or “leaven,” see comments on 13.33.

Came may have to be “went” or “went up to.”

Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the passover? is practically word-for-word the same as Mark 14.12 (“Where will you have us go and prepare for you to eat the passover?”). Most translators expand passover to “the Passover meal” or “the meal that celebrates the deliverance,” using, of course, whatever translation of passover they have been using elsewhere.

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Stine, Philip C. A Handbook on the Gospel of Matthew. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1988. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .