Exodus 12:29–42

The Exodus

²⁹Now at midnight the Lord struck every firstborn male 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 every firstborn of the livestock. ⁱ³⁰During the night Pharaoh got up, he along with all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud wailing ^jthroughout Egypt because there wasn’t a house without someone dead. ³¹He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship Yahweh as you have asked. ³²Take even your flocks and your herds as you asked and leave, and also bless me.”

³³Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We’re all going to die!” ^k34So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders.

³⁵The Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ^l36And the Lord gave the people such favor in the Egyptians’ sight that they gave them what they requested. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth, ^mabout 600,000 ⁿsoldiers on foot, besides their families. ³⁸An ethnically diverse crowd also went up with them, along with a huge number of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹The people baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, since it had no yeast; for when they had been driven ^oout of Egypt they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰The time that the Israelites lived in Egypt ^pwas 430 years. ^q41At the end of 430 years, on that same day, all the Lord’s divisions went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴²It was a night of vigil in honor of the Lord, because He would bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is in honor of the Lord, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations. ^r