Exodus 12:21–30

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.