Exodus 12–13

The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread

12:14–20pp—Lev 23:4–8; Nu 28:16–25; Dt 16:1–8

12The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ²“This month is to be for you the first month,^s the first month of your year. ³Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb^at for his family, one for each household.^{u 4}If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,^v and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,^w when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.^{x 7}Then they are to take some of the blood^y and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸That same night^z they are to eat the meat roasted^a over the fire, along with bitter herbs,^b and bread made without yeast.^{c 9}Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.^{d 10}Do not leave any of it till morning;^e if some is left till morning, you must burn it. ¹¹This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste;^f it is the Lord’s Passover.^g

¹²“On that same night I will pass through^h Egypt and strike downⁱ every firstborn^j of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods^k of Egypt. I am the Lord.^{l 13}The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over^m you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.ⁿ

¹⁴“This is a day you are to commemorate;^o for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.^{p 15}For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast.^q On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off^r from Israel. ¹⁶On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work^s at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.

¹⁷“Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread,^t because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt.^u Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.^{v 18}In the first month^w you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner^x or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off^y from the community of Israel. ²⁰Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live,^z you must eat unleavened bread.”^a

²¹Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover^b lamb. ²²Take a bunch of hyssop,^c dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood^d on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. ²³When the Lord goes through the land to strike^e down the Egyptians, he will see the blood^f on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over^g that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer^h to enter your houses and strike you down.

²⁴“Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinanceⁱ for you and your descendants. ²⁵When you enter the land^j that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. ²⁶And when your children^k ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²⁷then tell them, ‘It is the Passover^l sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’ ”^m Then the people bowed down and worshiped.^{n 28}The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded^o Moses and Aaron.

²⁹At midnight^p the Lord^q struck down all the firstborn^r in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock^s as well. ³⁰Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing^t in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.

The Exodus

³¹During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship^u the Lord as you have requested. ³²Take your flocks and herds,^v as you have said, and go. And also bless^w me.”

³³The Egyptians urged the people to hurry^x and leave^y the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!”^{z 34}So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs^a wrapped in clothing. ³⁵The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold^b and for clothing.^{c 36}The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed^d toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered^e the Egyptians.

³⁷The Israelites journeyed from Rameses^f to Sukkoth.^g There were about six hundred thousand men^h on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸Many other peopleⁱ went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out^j of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.

⁴⁰Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt^b was 430 years.^{k 41}At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions^l left Egypt.^{m 42}Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.ⁿ

Passover Restrictions

⁴³The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal:^o

“No foreigner^p may eat it. ⁴⁴Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised^q him, ⁴⁵but a temporary resident or a hired worker^r may not eat it.

⁴⁶“It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.^{s 47}The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.

⁴⁸“A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land.^t No uncircumcised^u male may eat it. ⁴⁹The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner^v residing among you.”

⁵⁰All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded^w Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt^x by their divisions.^y

Consecration of the Firstborn

13The Lord said to Moses, ²“Consecrate to me every firstborn male.^z The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

³Then Moses said to the people, “Commemorate this day, the day you came out of Egypt,^a out of the land of slavery, because the Lord brought you out of it with a mighty hand.^b Eat nothing containing yeast.^{c 4}Today, in the month of Aviv,^d you are leaving. ⁵When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites,^e Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites^f—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey^g—you are to observe this ceremony^h in this month: ⁶For seven days eat bread made without yeast and on the seventh day hold a festivalⁱ to the Lord. ⁷Eat unleavened bread during those seven days; nothing with yeast in it is to be seen among you, nor shall any yeast be seen anywhere within your borders. ⁸On that day tell your son,^j ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand^k and a reminder on your forehead^l that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.^{m 10}You must keep this ordinanceⁿ at the appointed time^o year after year.

¹¹“After the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites^p and gives it to you, as he promised on oath^q to you and your ancestors,^{r 12}you are to give over to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the Lord.^{s 13}Redeem with a lamb every firstborn donkey,^t but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.^u Redeem^v every firstborn among your sons.^w

¹⁴“In days to come, when your son^x asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.^{y 15}When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed the firstborn of both people and animals in Egypt. This is why I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb and redeem each of my firstborn sons.’^{z 16}And it will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead^a that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

Crossing the Sea

¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, though that was shorter. For God said, “If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.”^{b 18}So God led^c the people around by the desert road toward the Red Sea.^a The Israelites went up out of Egypt ready for battle.^d

¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph^e with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”^bf

²⁰After leaving Sukkoth^g they camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.^{h 21}By day the Lord went aheadⁱ of them in a pillar of cloud^j to guide…