Exodus 11–12

Death of the Firstborn Announced

11And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. ^aAfterward he will let you go from here. ^bWhen he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. ²Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, ^carticles of silver and articles of gold.” ^3dAnd the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man ^eMoses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ^f‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; ⁵and ^gall the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. ^6hThen there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, ⁱsuch as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. ^7jBut against none of the children of Israel ^kshall a dog ¹move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ ⁸And ^lall these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” ^mThen he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹But the Lord said to Moses, ⁿ“Pharaoh will not heed you, so that ^oMy wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; ^pand the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

The Passover Instituted

12Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ^2a“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the ^btenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ⁴And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵Your lamb shall be ^cwithout ¹blemish, a male ²of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶Now you shall keep it until the ^dfourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸Then they shall eat the flesh on that ^enight; ^froasted in fire, with ^gunleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but ^hroasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ¹⁰ⁱYou shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹And thus you shall eat it: ³with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. ^jIt is the Lord’s Passover.

¹²‘For I ^kwill pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and ^lagainst all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: ^mI am the Lord. ¹³Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴‘So this day shall be to you ⁿa memorial; and you shall keep it as a ^ofeast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast ^pby an everlasting ordinance. ^15qSeven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, ^rthat ⁴person shall be ⁵cut off from Israel. ¹⁶On the first day there shall be ^sa holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. ¹⁷So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^ton this same day I will have brought your ⁶armies ^uout of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. ^18vIn 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. ¹⁹For ^wseven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. ²⁰You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹Then ^xMoses called for all the ^yelders of Israel and said to them, ^z“Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. ^22aAnd you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and ^bstrike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. ^23cFor the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the ^dblood on the ⁷lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^enot allow ^fthe destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. ²⁴And you shall ^gobserve this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. ²⁵It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, ^hjust as He promised, that you shall keep this service. ²⁶ⁱAnd it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷that you shall say, ^j‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people ^kbowed their heads and worshiped. ²⁸Then the children of Israel went away and ^ldid so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

^29mAnd it came to pass at midnight that ⁿthe Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was ⁸in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of ^olivestock. ³⁰So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

The Exodus

³¹Then he ^pcalled for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, ^qboth you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have ^rsaid. ^32sAlso take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”

^33tAnd the Egyptians ^uurged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians ^varticles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ^36wAnd the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus ^xthey plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷Then ^ythe children of Israel journeyed from ^zRameses to Succoth, about ^asix hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. ³⁸A ^bmixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of ^clivestock. ³⁹And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because ^dthey were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰Now the ⁹sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in ¹Egypt was ^efour hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that ^fall the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴²It is ^ga ²night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Passover Regulations

⁴³And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is ^hthe ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. ⁴⁴But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have ⁱcircumcised him, then he may eat it. ^45jA sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. ⁴⁶In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, ^knor shall you break one of its bones. ^47lAll the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸And ^mwhen a stranger ³dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. ⁴⁹ⁿOne law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”

⁵⁰Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. ^51oAnd it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ^paccording to their armies.