To SEPARATE, set apart, make a distinction — and it belongs to the same family as PELE, 'a wonder,' so the word carries a hint of something marvellously singled out. It is the technical term for the dividing line the plagues draw: 'I will SET APART the land of Goshen' at the swarms (Exodus 8:18), 'Jehovah will make a DIVISION between the livestock of Israel and the livestock of Egypt' (9:4), and, on the last night, 'that you may know that Jehovah makes a DISTINCTION between Egypt and Israel' (11:7). ⚠️ The distinction is announced three times before it is ever sealed in blood on a doorframe — the mechanism of Passover is the last form of a line already being drawn. → first discussed at Exod 11:7