πάσχα

τό (Chaldean פִּסְחָא, Hebrew פֶּסַח, from פָּסַח, to pass over, to pass over by sparing; the Sept. also constantly use the Chaldean form πάσχα, except in 2 Chron. (and Jer 38:8) where it is φασεκ; Josephus has φασκα, Antiquities 5, 1, 4; 14, 2, 1; 17, 9, 13; b. j. 2, 1, 3), an indeclinable noun (Winers Grammar, § 10, 2); properly, a passing over;
1. the paschal sacrifice (which was accustomed to be offered for the people's deliverance of old from Egypt), or
2. the paschal lamb, i. e. the lamb which the Israelites were accustomed to slay and eat on the fourteenth day of the month Nisan (the first month of their year) in memory of that day on which their fathers, preparing to depart from Egypt, were bidden by God to slay and eat a lamb, and to sprinkle their door-posts with its blood, that the destroying angel, seeing the blood, might pass over their dwellings (Exodus 12; Numbers 9; Deuteronomy 16): θύειν τό πάσχα (הַפֶסַח שָׁחַט), Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7, (Ex 12:21); Christ crucified is likened to the slain paschal lamb, 1 Cor 5:7; φαγεῖν τό πάσχα, Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12, Mk 14:14; Lk 22:11, Lk 22:15; Jn 18:28; הָפֶסַח אָכַל, 2 Chr 30:17f.
3. the paschal supper: ἑτοιμάζειν τό πάσχα, Mt 26:19; Mk 14:16; Lk 22:8, Lk 22:13; ποιεῖν τό πάσχα to celebrate the paschal meal, Mt 26:18.
4. the paschal festival, the feast of Passover, extending from the fourteenth to the twentieth day of the month Nisan: Mt 26:2; Mk 14:1; Lk 2:41; Lk 22:1; Jn 2:13, Jn 2:23; Jn 6:4; Jn 11:55; Jn 12:1; Jn 13:1; Jn 18:39; Jn 19:14; Acts 12:4; πεποίηκε τό πάσχα he instituted the Passover (of Moses), Heb 11:28 (cf. Winers Grammar, 272 (256); Buttmann, 197 (170)); γίνεται τό πάσχα the Passover is celebrated (R. V. cometh), Mt 26:2. (See BB. DD. under the word ; Dillmann in Schenkel iv., p. 392ff; and on the question of the relation of the Last Supper to the Jewish Passover, see (in addition to references in BB. DD. as above) Kirchner, die Jüdische Passahfeier u. Jesu letztes Mahl. Gotha, 1870; Keil, Com. über Matth., pp. 513-528; J. B. McClellan, The N. T. etc. i., pp. 473-494; but especially Schürer, Ueber φαγεῖν τό πάσχα, akademische Festschrift (Giessen, 1883).)