Exodus 12

The Passover Instituted

1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,2 This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household.4 And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each mans need you shall make your count for the lamb.5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats.6 Now you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight.7 And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.8 Then they shall eat the flesh on that night; roasted in fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it.9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fireits head with its legs and its entrails.10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.11 And thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lords Passover.12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord.13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.14 So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eatthat only may be prepared by you.17 So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. 24 And you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever.25 It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, just as He promised, that you shall keep this service.26 And it shall be, when your children say to you, What do you mean by this service?27 that you shall say, It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households. So the people bowed their heads and worshiped.28 Then the children of Israel went away and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

29 And it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

The Exodus

31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said.32 Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.33 And the Egyptians urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, We shall all be dead.34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.35 Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing.36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.37 Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children.38 A mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herdsa great deal of livestock.39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty yearson that very same dayit came to pass that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.42 It is a night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Passover Regulations

43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it.44 But every mans servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it.45 A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it.46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.48 And when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.49 One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.50 Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.51 And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt according to their armies.

EXODUS 12

The Passover

1  t Some time later the [Lord] said to Moses and Aaron:
2 This montht is to be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the people of Israel that on the tenth day of this month the head of each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for his family to eat.

4-5 If any family is too small to eat the whole animal, they must share it with their next-door neighbors. Choose either a sheep or a goat, but it must be a one-year-old male that has nothing wrong with it. And it must be large enough for everyone to have some of the meat.
6 Each family must take care of its animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, when the animals are to be killed. 7 Some of the blood must be put on the two doorposts and above the door of each house where the animals are to be eaten. 8 That night the animals are to be roasted and eaten, together with bitter herbs and thin bread made without yeast. 9 Don't eat the meat raw or boiled. The entire animal, including its head, legs, and insides, must be roasted. 10 Eat what you want that night, and the next morning burn whatever is left.

11 When you eat the meal, be dressed and ready to travel. Have your sandals on, carry your walking stick in your hand, and eat quickly. This is the Passover Festival in honor of me, your [Lord].
12 That same night I will pass through Egypt and kill the first-born son in every family and the first-born male of all animals. I am the [Lord], and I will punish the gods of Egypt.

13 The blood on the houses will show me where you live, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. Then you won't be bothered by the terrible disasters I will bring on Egypt.
14  t Remember this day and celebrate it each year as a festival in my honor. 15 For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. And on the first of these seven days, you must remove all yeast from your homes. If you eat anything made with yeast during this festival, you will no longer be part of Israel.

16 Meet together for worship on the first and seventh days of the festival. The only work you are allowed to do on either of these two days is that of preparing the bread.
17 Celebrate this Festival of Thin Bread as a way of remembering the day that I brought your families and tribes out of Egypt. And do this each year. 18 Begin on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month by eating bread made without yeast. Then continue this celebration until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 During these seven days no yeast is allowed in anyone's home, whether they are native Israelites or not. If you are caught eating anything made with yeast, you will no longer be part of Israel.

20 Stay away from yeast, no matter where you live. No one is allowed to eat anything made with yeast!

21 Moses called the leaders of Israel together and said:
Each family is to pick out a sheep and kill it for Passover.

22 Make a brush from a few small branches of a hyssop plant and dip the brush in the bowl that has the blood of the animal in it. Then brush some of the blood above the door and on the posts at each side of the door of your house. After this, everyone is to stay inside until morning.

23  t During that night the [Lord] will go through the country of Egypt and kill the first-born son in every Egyptian family. He will see where you have put the blood, and he will not come into your house. His angel that brings death will pass over and not kill your first-born sons.
24-25 After you have entered the country promised to you by the [Lord], you and your children must continue to celebrate Passover each year. 26 Your children will ask you, “What are we celebrating?”

27 And you will answer, “The Passover animal is killed to honor the [Lord]. We do these things because on that night long ago the [Lord] passed over the homes of our people in Egypt. He killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians, but he spared our children from death.”
After Moses finished speaking, the people of Israel knelt down and worshiped the [Lord].

28 Then they left and did what Moses and Aaron had told them to do.

Death for the First-Born Sons

29  t At midnight the [Lord] killed the first-born son of every Egyptian family, from the son of the kingt to the son of every prisoner in jail. He also killed the first-born male of every animal that belonged to the Egyptians.

30 That night the king, his officials, and everyone else in Egypt got up and started crying bitterly. In every Egyptian home, someone was dead.

The People of Israel //Escape from Egypt

32 Take your sheep, goats, and cattle, and get out. But ask your God to be kind to me.”
33 The Egyptians did everything they could to get the Israelites to leave their country as quickly as possible. They said, “Please hurry and leave. If you don't, we will all be dead.”

34 So the Israelites quickly made some bread dough and put it in pans. But they did not mix any yeast in the dough to make it rise. They wrapped cloth around the pans and carried them on their shoulders.
35  t The Israelites had already done what Moses had told them to do. They had gone to their Egyptian neighbors and asked for gold and silver and for clothes.

36 The [Lord] had made the Egyptians friendly toward the people of Israel, and they gave them whatever they asked for. In this way they carried away the wealth of the Egyptians when they left Egypt.
37 The Israelites walked from the city of Rameses to the city of Succoth. There were about 600,000 of them, not counting women and children. 38 Many other people went with them as well, and there were also a lot of sheep, goats, and cattle.

39 They left Egypt in such a hurry that they did not have time to prepare any food except the bread dough made without yeast. So they baked it and made thin bread.
40-41  t The [Lord]'s people left Egypt exactly 430 years after they had arrived.

42 On that night the [Lord] kept watch for them, and on this same night each year Israel will always keep watch in honor of the [Lord].

Instructions for Passover

43 The [Lord] gave Moses and Aaron the following instructions for celebrating Passover:
Only Israelites may eat the Passover meal.
44 Your slaves may eat the meal if they have been circumcised,

45 but no foreigners who work for you are allowed to have any.

46  t The entire meal must be eaten inside, and no one may leave the house during the celebration.
No bones of the Passover lamb may be broken.

47 And all Israelites must take part in the meal.
48 If anyone who isn't an Israelite wants to celebrate Passover with you, every man and boy in that family must first be circumcised. Then they may join in the meal, just like native Israelites. No uncircumcised man or boy may eat the Passover meal!

49 This law applies both to native Israelites and to those foreigners who live among you.
50 The Israelites obeyed everything the [Lord] had commanded Moses and Aaron to tell them. 51 And on that same day the [Lord] brought Israel's families and tribes out of Egypt.