Editing Passover (section)

===In extra-biblical sources===
Some of these details can be corroborated, and to some extent amplified, in extrabiblical sources. The removal (or "sealing up") of the leaven is referred to in the [[Elephantine papyri and ostraca]] in an [[Imperial Aramaic]] papyrus letter from the [[5th century BCE]] from [[Elephantine]], Egypt.<ref>James B. Prichard, ed., ''The Ancient Near East – An Anthology of Texts and Pictures'', Volume 1, Princeton University Press, 1958, p. 278.</ref> The slaughter of the lambs on the 14th is mentioned in [[Jubilees]], a Jewish work of the [[Ptolemaic period]], and by the [[Herodian kingdom|Herodian-era]] writers [[Josephus]] and [[Philo]]. These sources also indicate that "between the two evenings" was taken to mean the afternoon.<ref>"On the feast called Passover...they sacrifice from the ninth to the eleventh hour", Josephus, ''Jewish War'' 6.423–428, in ''Josephus III, The Jewish War, Book IV–VII'', Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1979. Philo in one place (''Special Laws'' 2.148) states that the victims are sacrificed "from noon till eventide", and in another place (''Questions on Exodus'' 1.11) that the sacrifices begin at the ninth hour. According to Jubilees 49.12, "it is not fitting to sacrifice [the Passover] during any time of light except during the time of the border of evening."</ref> Jubilees states the sacrifice was eaten that night,<ref>Jubilees 49.1.</ref> and together with Josephus states that nothing of the sacrifice was allowed to remain until morning.<ref>"And what is left of its flesh from the third of the night and beyond, they shall burn with fire," ''Jubilees'' 49.12. "We celebrate [the Passover] by fraternities, nothing of the sacrificial victims being kept for the morrow," Josephus, ''Antiquities'' 3.248.</ref> Philo states that the banquet included hymns and prayers.<ref>"The guests assembled for the banquet have been cleansed by purificatory lustrations, and are there...to fulfill with prayers and hymns the custom handed down by their fathers." Philo, Special Laws 2.148, in ''Philo VII: On the Decalog; On the Special Laws I–III'', Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1937.</ref>