Exodus 11–12

Chapter 11

The Last Plague

¹Now the Lord said to Moses, “One more plague I will bring on Pharaoh and on Egypt; ^aafter that he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out from here completely.

²“Speak now in the ¹hearing of the people that ^aeach man ask from his neighbor and each woman from her neighbor for articles of silver and articles of gold.”

^3aThe Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. ^bFurthermore, the man Moses himself was ¹greatly esteemed in the land of Egypt, both in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴Moses said, “Thus says the Lord, ‘About ^amidnight I am going out into the midst of Egypt,

⁵and ^aall the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of the Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; all the firstborn of the cattle as well.

⁶‘Moreover, there shall be ^aa great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been before and such as shall never be again.

⁷‘^aBut against any of the sons of Israel a dog will not even ¹bark, whether against man or beast, that you may ²understand how the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.’

⁸“^aAll these your servants will come down to me and bow themselves ¹before me, saying, ‘Go out, you and all the people who ²follow you,’ and after that I will go out.” ^bAnd he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

⁹Then the Lord said to Moses, “^aPharaoh will not listen to you, so ^bthat My wonders will be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”

^10aMoses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh; yet ^bthe Lord ¹hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go out of his land.

Chapter 12

The Passover Lamb

¹Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of ¹Egypt,

²“^aThis month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you.

³“Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a ¹lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a lamb for ²each household.

⁴‘Now if the household is too small for a ¹lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the ²number of persons in them; according to ³what each man should eat, you are to ⁴divide the lamb.

⁵‘Your ¹lamb shall be ^aan unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.

⁶‘¹You shall keep it until the ^afourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it ^2bat twilight.

⁷‘^aMoreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel ¹of the houses in which they eat it.

⁸‘They shall eat the flesh ^athat same night, ^broasted with fire, and they shall eat it with ^cunleavened bread ^1dand bitter herbs.

⁹‘Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather ^aroasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with ^bits entrails.

¹⁰‘^aAnd you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire.

¹¹‘Now you shall eat it in this manner: with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste—it is ^athe Lord’s Passover.

¹²‘For ^aI will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and ^bagainst all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—^cI am the Lord.

¹³‘^aThe blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you ¹live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you ²to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

¹⁴‘Now ^athis day will be ^ba memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as ^1ca permanent ordinance.

¹⁵‘^aSeven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall ¹remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, ^bthat ²person shall be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶‘^aOn 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 what must be eaten ¹by every person, that alone may be ²prepared by you.

¹⁷‘You shall also observe ^athe Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this ^bvery day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as ^ca ¹permanent ordinance.

¹⁸‘^aIn 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.

¹⁹‘^aSeven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that ^1bperson shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land.

²⁰‘You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹Then ^aMoses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “¹Go and ^btake for yourselves ²lambs according to your families, and slay ^cthe Passover lamb.

²²“^aYou shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and ¹apply 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

²³“For ^athe Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will ^bnot allow the ^cdestroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.

²⁴“And ^ayou shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever.

²⁵“When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has ¹promised, you shall observe this ²rite.

²⁶“^aAnd when your children say to you, ‘¹What does this rite mean to you?’

²⁷you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to ^athe Lord ¹who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but ²spared our homes.’ ” ^bAnd 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 ^amidnight that ^bthe Lord struck all ^cthe 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 ^dcattle.

³⁰Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was ^aa great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.

³¹Then ^ahe called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, ^bget out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, ¹worship the Lord, as you have said.

³²“Take ^aboth your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”

Exodus of Israel

^33aThe Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We will all be dead.”

³⁴So the people took ^atheir dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.

^35aNow 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. Thus they ^aplundered the Egyptians.

³⁷Now the ^asons of Israel journeyed from ^bRameses to Succoth, about ^csix hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children.

³⁸A ^amixed multitude also went up with them, ¹along with flocks and herds, a ^bvery large number of livestock.

³⁹They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were ^adriven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they ¹prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰Now the time ¹that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was ^afour hundred and thirty years.

⁴¹And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, ¹to ^athe very day, ^ball the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

Ordinance of the Passover

^42aIt is a night ¹to be observed for the Lord for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, to be observed ²by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

⁴³The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of ^athe Passover: no ^1bforeigner is to eat of it;

⁴⁴but every man’s ^aslave purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it.

⁴⁵“^aA sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat of it.

⁴⁶“It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, ^anor are you to break any bone of it.

⁴⁷“^aAll the congregation of Israel are to ¹celebrate this.

⁴⁸“But ^aif a ¹stranger sojourns with you, and ²celebrates the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to ³celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it.

⁴⁹“^1aThe same law shall ²apply to the native as to the ³stranger who sojourns among you.”

⁵⁰Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

⁵¹And on that same day ^athe Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt ^1bby their hosts.