Exodus 12

The Passover Lamb

1Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of 1Egypt, 2“2This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. 3Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a 3lamb for themselves, according to the fathers’ households, a 4lamb for 5each household. 4Now if the household is too small for a 6lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the 7number of persons in them; in proportion to 8what each one should eat, you are to 9divide the lamb. 5Your 10lamb shall be 11an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 612You shall keep it until the 13fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it 1415at twilight. 716Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel 17of the houses in which they eat it. 8They shall eat the flesh 18that same night, 19roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with 20unleavened bread 2122and bitter herbs. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather 23roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with 24its entrails. 1025And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall completely burn with fire. 11Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment 26belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry--it is 27the Lord’s Passover. 12For 28I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and 29against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments--30I am the Lord. 1331The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you 32live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you 33to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

14‘Now 34this day shall be 35a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as 3637a permanent ordinance. 15For 38seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, 39that 40person shall be cut off from Israel. 16And 41on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person--that alone may be 42prepared by you. 17You shall also keep 43the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this 44very day I brought your 45multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as 46a 47permanent ordinance. 1848In 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. 19For 49seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that 5051person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

21Then 52Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and 53take for yourselves 54lambs according to your families, and slaughter 55the Passover lamb. 22And 56you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and 57apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.

A Memorial of Redemption

23For 58the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will 59not allow the 60destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. 24And 61you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has 62promised, you shall keep this 63rite. 2664And when your children say to you, ‘65What does this rite mean to you?’ 27then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to 66the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but 67spared our homes.’” 68And the people bowed low and worshiped.

28Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

29Now it came about at 69midnight that 70the Lord struck all 71the 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 72cattle. 30And Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was 73a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. 31Then 74he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, 75get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, 76worship the Lord, as you have said. 32Take 77both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”

Exodus of Israel

3378The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry, for they said, “We will all be dead.” 34So the people took 79their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.

3580Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; 36and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Therefore they 81plundered the Egyptians.

37Now the 82sons of Israel journeyed from 83Rameses to Succoth, about 84six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38A 85mixed multitude also went up with them, 86along with flocks and herds, a 87very large number of livestock. 39And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had no yeast, since they were 88driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they 89prepared any provisions for themselves.

40Now the time 90that the sons of Israel had lived in Egypt was 91430 years. 41And at the end of 430 years, on 92this very day, 93all the 94multitudes of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt.

Ordinance of the Passover

4295It is a night 96to be observed for the Lord, for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, 97to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

43And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of 98the Passover: no 99100foreigner is to eat it; 44but as for every 101slave 102that someone has purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. 45103A stranger or a hired worker shall not eat it. 46It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring any of the meat outside of the house, 104nor are you to break any bone of it. 47105All the congregation of Israel are to 106celebrate this. 48But 107if a stranger resides with you and 108celebrates the Passover to the Lord, all of his males are to be circumcised, and then he shall come near to 109celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised male may eat it. 49110111The same law shall 112apply to the native as to the stranger who resides among you.”

50Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51And on that very day 113the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt 114according to their 115multitudes.