The Institution of the Passover
12:11 The Lord said2 to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,3 12:2 “This month is to be4 the beginning of months for you; it is to be for you the first month of the year.5 12:3 Tell all the congregation of Israel, ‘In the tenth day of this month they each6 must take a lamb7 for themselves according to the house of their fathers—a lamb for a house.8 12:4 And if any household9 is too small10 for the lamb,11 the man12 and his neighbor who lives nearby13 are to take14 a lamb according to the number of people—you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat.15 12:5 You must take16 a perfect17 animal, a male that is one year old;18 you may take19 it from the sheep or from the goats. 12:6 And you must care for it20 until the fourteenth day of the same month,21 and then all the congregation of the assembly22 will kill them23 between the evenings.24 12:7 Then they will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel of the houses in which they will eat it. 12:8 And they will eat the meat the same night;25 they will eat it roasted with fire, with unleavened cakes,26 and with bitter herbs. 12:9 Do not eat it raw27 or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire, its head, its legs, and its inner parts. 12:10 And you must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn28 with fire whatever remains of it until morning. 12:11 And this is how you are to eat it—dressed to travel,29 your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you are to eat it in haste.30 It is the Passover31 of the Lord.32
12:12 And I will pass through33 the land of Egypt in the same34 night, and I will kill35 all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals,36 and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment.37 I am the Lord. 12:13 The blood will be38 a sign for you on your houses where you are: when I see39 the blood I will pass over you,40 and the plague41 will not be on you for destruction42 when I strike43 the land of Egypt.44
12:14 This day will become45 a memorial46 for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival47 to the Lord—you will celebrate the feast perpetually as a lasting ordinance.48 12:15 For seven days49 you must eat50 bread made without yeast.51 Surely52 on the first day you must put away the yeast from your houses, because anyone who eats leavened bread53 from the first day to the seventh day may be cut off54 from Israel.
12:16 And on the first day there will be a holy convocation,55 and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind56 on them, only what every person must eat—that alone may be prepared for you. 12:17 And you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this same57 day I brought your multitudes58 out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance.59 12:18 In the first month,60 on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. 12:19 For seven days61 leaven must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is leavened—that person62 will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a foreigner63 or one born64 in the land. 12:20 You will not eat anything leavened; in all the places where you live you must eat unleavened bread.”
12:21 Then Moses summoned the elders of Israel, and said to them, “Draw out65 and take small animals66 for yourselves according to your families; and kill the Passover. 12:22 And you must take a bunch of hyssop,67 and dip it in the blood that is in the basin,68 and strike the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you will go out69 the door of his house until morning. 12:23 For the Lord will pass through to strike Egypt; and when he sees70 the blood on the lintel and the two side posts, then the Lord will pass over the door, and he will not permit the destroyer71 to enter into your houses to strike you.72 12:24 And you will observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever. 12:25 And when you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, then you must observe73 this service. 12:26 And when your children say to you, “What does this service mean74 to you?”— 12:27 then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice75 of the Lord’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he destroyed76 Egypt and delivered our households.’” And the people bowed down low77 to the ground. 12:28 And then the Israelites went away and did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.78
The Deliverance from Egypt
12:2979 It happened80 at midnight—the Lord struck81 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 in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 12:30 And Pharaoh got up82 in the night,83 along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house84 in which there was not someone dead. 12:31 And he summoned Moses and Aaron in the night, and said, “Get up, get out85 from among my people, both you and your children! Go and serve the Lord as you have spoken!86 12:32 Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have spoken, and leave. But bless me also.”87
12:33 And the Egyptians were urging88 on the people, in order to send them out of the land quickly,89 for they were saying, “We are all dead people!” 12:34 And the people took their dough before it was leavened,90 with their kneading troughs bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. 12:35 And the Israelites had done91 according to the word of Moses—they had asked from the Egyptians92 articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing. 12:36 The Lord93 gave favor to the people94 in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they gave them whatever they wanted,95 and so they plundered Egypt.96
12:37 The Israelites journeyed97 from Rameses98 and Sukkoth. There were about six hundred thousand men99 on foot, besides women and children.100 12:38 And a mixed multitude101 also went up with them, and flocks and herds—a very large number of cattle.102 12:39 And they baked cakes of unleavened bread with the dough they had brought from Egypt, for it was not leavened—because they were thrust out103 of Egypt and were not able to delay, they104 could not prepare105 food for themselves either.
12:40 Now the length of time the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years.106 12:41 And at the end of the four hundred thirty years, on the same day, all the divisions of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt. 12:42 It was a night of watching for the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt;107 and so108 on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil109 to the Lord for generations to come.
Participation in the Passover
12:43110 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner may111 share in eating it.112 12:44 But everyone’s servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it. 12:45 A foreigner and a hired worker must not eat it. 12:46 It must be eaten in one house; you must not carry it around outside from one house to another. And you must not break a bone of it. 12:47 The congregation of Israel must observe it.
12:48 And when a foreigner lives113 with you, and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised,114 and then he may come near and observe it, and he will be as one who is born in the land115—for no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 12:49 The same law will apply116 to the person who is native-born and to the foreigner who lives among you.
12:50 So all the Israelites did exactly as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.117 12:51 And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.