Exodus 13:1–16

Dedication of the First-Born

13The Lord said to Moses, ^2*“Dedicate all the firstborn males to me, for every firstborn male Israelite and every firstborn male animal belongs to me.”

The Festival of Unleavened Bread

³Moses said to the people, “Remember this day—the day on which you left Egypt, the place where you were slaves. This is the day the Lord brought you out by his great power. No leavened bread is to be eaten. ⁴You are leaving Egypt on this day in the first month, the month of Abib. ⁵The Lord solemnly promised your ancestors to give you the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. When he brings you into that rich and fertile land, you must celebrate this festival in the first month of every year. ⁶For seven days you must eat unleavened bread and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to honour the Lord. ⁷For seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast; there must be no yeast or leavened bread anywhere in your land. ⁸When the festival begins, explain to your sons that you do all this because of what the Lord did for you when you left Egypt. ⁹This observance will be a reminder, like something tied on your hand or on your forehead; it will remind you to continue to recite and study the Law of the Lord, because the Lord brought you out of Egypt by his great power. ¹⁰Celebrate this festival at the appointed time each year.

The First-Born

¹¹“The Lord will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, which he solemnly promised to you and your ancestors. When he gives it to you, ^12*you must offer every firstborn male to the Lord. Every firstborn male of your animals belongs to the Lord, ¹³but you must buy back from him every firstborn male donkey by offering a lamb in its place. If you do not want to buy back the donkey, break its neck. You must buy back every firstborn male child of yours. ¹⁴In the future, when your son asks what this observance means, you will answer him, ‘By using great power the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place where we were slaves. ¹⁵When the king of Egypt was stubborn and refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. That is why we sacrifice every firstborn male animal to the Lord, but buy back our firstborn sons. ¹⁶This observance will be a reminder, like something tied on our hands or on our foreheads; it will remind us that the Lord brought us out of Egypt by his great power.’ ”