Exodus 12:3-15

3Tell all the Israelite people to do this on the tenth day of this month: Each man must choose a lamb to kill as a sacrifice for his family. That will be one lamb for each home.

4But the family may be too small to eat a whole lamb. Then they must share a lamb with another family that lives near. You must decide how much each person can eat and then count the number of people.

5The lamb that you choose must have nothing wrong with it. It must be a male lamb that is one year old. It can be either a young sheep or a young goat.

6Keep the lamb safe until the 14th day of this month. Then every Israelite family must kill their lamb in the evening.

7They must take some of its blood. They must put the blood on the wood that is round the door of their house. They must put it on each side of the door and above the door. They must do this in every house where they will eat a lamb.

8That night, they must cook the meat over the fire. They must eat it immediately, with bitter herbs and with bread that has no yeast in it.

9You must cook the meat before you eat it. Cook it over the fire. Do not cook it in water. Cook the whole lamb, with its head, its legs and the inside parts of its body.

10You must eat all the meat before morning arrives. If some of it still remains in the morning, then you must burn it.

11This is how you must eat the lamb: Dress yourselves so that you are ready to travel. Put your shoes on your feet. Take your stick in your hand. Then eat the food quickly. This is the Passover meal which shows that you obey me, the Lord.

12On the night that you eat the Passover meal, I will travel through the country of Egypt. I will kill every firstborn son and every firstborn male animal. I will punish all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.

13When you put the blood round the doors of your houses, that will be a sign to show that you live there. When I see the blood on your house, I will pass over you. No trouble will hurt you, when I attack the people of Egypt.

14In future years, you must remember this day as a special day every year. It will be a festival when you worship me, the Lord. You and your descendants must do this every year, for all time.

15For seven days, you must eat flat bread that has no yeast in it. On the first day of the Passover festival, you must take all the yeast out of your houses. During those seven days, if anyone eats bread with yeast in it, he will no longer belong to my people, the Israelites.