Exodus 13:13-22

New American Standard Bible

¹³ But ^(A)every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and ^(B)every ^[a]firstborn among your sons you shall redeem. ^14 (C)And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘^(D)With ^[b]a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of ^[c]slavery. ¹⁵ And it came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the ^(E)Lord put to death every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborns to animal firstborns. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, every firstborn of a womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ So ^(F)it shall ^[d]serve as a sign on your hand and as ^[e]phylacteries ^[f]on your forehead, for with ^[g]a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

God Leads the People

¹⁷ Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “^(G)The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ Therefore God led the people around by way of the wilderness to the ^[h]Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up ^(H)in battle formation from the land of Egypt. ¹⁹ And Moses took ^(I)the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will certainly ^[i]take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.” ²⁰ Then they set out from ^(J)Succoth and camped in Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ And ^(K)the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they might ^[j]travel by day and by night. ^22 [k]He ^(L)did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from the presence of the people.