Exodus 12:23-30

23For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel [above the entry way] and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to slay you.

24You shall observe this event [concerning Passover] as an ordinance for you and for your children forever.

25When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep and observe this service.

26When your children say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’

27you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but spared our houses.’ ” And the people bowed [their heads] low and worshiped [God].

28Then the Israelites went and did [as they had been told]: just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

29Now it happened at midnight that the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the cattle.

30Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry [of heartache and sorrow] in Egypt, for there was no house where there was not someone dead.