Exodus 12:1–20

Instructions for the Passover

12The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ²“This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is the first month of your year. ^k3Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month they must each select an animal of the flock according to their fathers’ households, one animal per household. ⁴If the household is too small for a whole animal, that person and the neighbor nearest his house are to select one based on the combined number of people; you should apportion the animal according to what each person ^lwill eat. ⁵You must have an unblemished ^manimal, a year-old male; you may take it from either the sheep or the goats. ⁶You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembly of the community of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight. ⁿ⁷They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat them. ⁸They are to eat the meat that night; they should eat it, roasted over the fire along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ^o9Do not eat any of it raw or cooked in boiling ^pwater, but only roasted ^qover fire—its head as well as its legs and inner organs. ¹⁰Do not let any of it remain until morning; ^ryou must burn up any part of it that does remain before morning. ¹¹Here is how you must eat it: you must be dressed for travel, ^syour sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in a hurry; it is the Lord’s Passover. ^t

¹²“I will pass through ^uthe land of Egypt on that night and strike every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. I am Yahweh; I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. ^v13The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a distinguishing mark for you; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will be among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute. ^w15You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast ^xfrom your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off ^yfrom Israel. ¹⁶You are to hold a sacred assembly ^zon the first day and another sacred assembly on the seventh day. No work may be done on those days except for preparing what people need to eat—you may do only that.

¹⁷“You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. ^aYou must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute. ¹⁸You are to eat unleavened bread in the first month, ^bfrom the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreign resident or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel. ²⁰Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.” ^c