Exodus 13

Unleavened Bread and Dedication of Firstborn to Commemorate the Rescue from Egypt

13And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²“Consecrate to me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the Israelites,^a among humans^b and among domestic animals;^c it belongs to me.”^{d 3}And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day when you went out from Egypt, from a house of slaves, because with strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from here, and food with yeast will not be eaten. ⁴Today you are going out in the month of Abib. ⁵And when Yahweh brings you to the land of the Canaanites^e and the Hittites^f and the Amorites^g and the Hivites^h and the Jebusitesⁱ—which he swore to your ancestors^j to give to you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you will perform this service in this month. ⁶Seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day will be a feast for Yahweh. ⁷Unleavened bread will be eaten the seven days; food with yeast will not be seen for you; and yeast will not be seen for you in all your territory. ⁸And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘This is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out from Egypt.’ ⁹And it will be as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes so that the law of Yahweh will be in your mouth, that with a strong hand Yahweh brought you out from Egypt. ¹⁰And you will keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.^k

¹¹“And when Yahweh brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your ancestors,^l and he gives it to you, ¹²you will hand over every first offspring of a womb to Yahweh, and every first offspring dropped by a domestic animal that will belong to you, the males will be for Yahweh. ¹³And every first offspring of a donkey you will redeem with small livestock, and if you will not redeem it, then you will break its neck, and every firstborn human among your sons you will redeem. ¹⁴And when your son asks you in the future,^m saying, ‘What is this?’ you will say to him, ‘With strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from a house of slaves. ¹⁵And when Pharaoh was stubborn to release us, Yahweh killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from firstborn human to firstborn domestic animal. Therefore I am sacrificing to Yahweh every first offspring of a womb, the males, and every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶And it will be as a sign on your hand and as symbolic ornaments between your eyes that with strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt.”

Summary of Travel

¹⁷And when Pharaoh released the people, God did not lead them the way of the land of the Philistines, though it was nearer, because God said, “Lest the people change their mind when they see war and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸So God led the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea,ⁿ and the Israelites^o went up in battle array from the land of Egypt. ¹⁹And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph^p had made the Israelites^q solemnly swear an oath, saying, “God will surely attend to you, and you will take up my bones from here with you.” ²⁰And they set out from Succoth, and they encamped at Etham on the edge of the desert. ²¹And Yahweh was going before them by day in a column of cloud to lead them on the way and by night in a column of fire to give light to them to go by day and night. ²²The column of cloud by day and the column of fire by night did not depart from before the people.