⁸ Now a new ^(A)king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. ⁹ And ^(B)he said to his people, “Behold, the people of the sons of Israel are ^[a]too many and too mighty for us. ¹⁰ Come, let us ^(C)deal ^[b]shrewdly with them, otherwise they will multiply, and ^[c]in the event of war, they will also join those who hate us, and fight against us and ^[d]depart from the land.” ¹¹ So they appointed ^(D)taskmasters over them to oppress them with ^[e](E)hard labor. And they built for Pharaoh ^(F)storage cities, Pithom and ^(G)Raamses. ¹² But the more they oppressed them, ^(H)the more they multiplied and the more they ^[f]spread out, so that they dreaded the sons of Israel. ¹³ The Egyptians ^[g]used violence to compel the sons of Israel ^(I)to labor; ¹⁴ and they made ^(J)their lives bitter with hard labor in mortar and bricks and at all kinds of labor in the field, all their labors which they violently had them perform as slaves.

⁷ And the Lord said, “I have certainly ^(A)seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their outcry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings. ⁸ So I have come down ^(B)to rescue them from the ^[a]power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a ^(C)good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of ^(D)the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ⁹ And now, behold, ^(E)the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.

The Mission of Moses

¹⁰ And now come, and I will send you to Pharaoh, ^(F)so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.”

²¹ Then ^(A)Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and ^(B)take for yourselves ^[a]lambs according to your families, and slaughter ^(C)the Passover lamb. ²² And ^(D)you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and ^[b]apply 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 ^(E)the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will ^(F)not allow the ^(G)destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. ²⁴ And ^(H)you shall keep 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 ^[c]promised, you shall keep this ^[d]rite. ^26 (I)And when your children say to you, ‘^[e]What does this rite mean to you?’ ²⁷ then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to ^(J)the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but ^[f]spared our homes.’” ^(K)And 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 ^(L)midnight that ^(M)the Lord struck all ^(N)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 dungeon, and all the firstborn of ^(O)cattle. ³⁰ And Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was ^(P)a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. ³¹ Then ^(Q)he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, ^(R)get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, ^[g]worship the Lord, as you have said. ³² Take ^(S)both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”

Exodus of Israel

^33 (T)The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry, for they said, “We will all be dead.”