Exodus 13:1–10

The Law of the Firstborn

13Then the Lord said to Moses, ²“Give every firstborn male to me. Every firstborn male among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

³Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, the day you left Egypt. You were slaves in that land, but the Lord with his great power brought you out of it. You must not eat bread made with yeast. ⁴Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving Egypt. ⁵The Lord will lead you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. This is the land he promised your ancestors he would give you, a fertile land. There you must celebrate this feast during the first month of every year. ⁶For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there will be a feast to honor the Lord. ⁷So for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast. There must be no bread made with yeast anywhere in your land. ⁸On that day you should tell your son: ‘We are having this feast because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹This feast will help you remember, like a mark on your hand or a reminder on your forehead. This feast will remind you to speak the Lord’s teachings, because the Lord used his great power to bring you out of Egypt. ¹⁰So celebrate this feast every year at the right time.