Chapter 12

The Passover Lamb

1 Now 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 1lamb 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.’ ”

21 Then 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?’

27 you 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.

28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

29 Now 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.

30 Pharaoh 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.

31 Then 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

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

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

35 aNow 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;

36 and 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.

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

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

39 They 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.

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

41 And 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

42 aIt 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, 1to be observed 2by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

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

44 but 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.”

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

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