Consecration of the Firstborn

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ² Sanctify unto Me all the firstborn, the firstborn of every womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast. It is Mine.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

³ Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. Nothing leavened shall be eaten. ⁴ On this day, you are going out, in the month of Aviv. ⁵ It shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this ceremony in this month. ⁶ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. And there shall be no leavened bread seen among you, nor shall there be leaven seen among you in all your borders. ⁸ You shall declare to your son on that day, saying, ‘This is done because of that which the Lord did for me when I came forth out of Egypt.’ ⁹ It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial on your forehead, in order that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ You shall, therefore, keep this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year.

The Law of the Firstborn

¹¹ “It shall be when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, just as He swore to you and to your fathers, and shall give it you, ¹² that you shall set apart to the Lord the first offspring of every womb and the first offspring of every beast which you have. The males shall be the Lord’s. ¹³ But every first offspring of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb. And if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck, and all the firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem.

¹⁴ “It shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall say to him, ‘With a strong hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage. ¹⁵ And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, that the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man, and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ It shall be as a sign on your hand and as frontlets on your forehead, for with a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

The Route of the Exodus

¹⁷ Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them through the way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearby. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war, and they return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ Therefore, God led the people around, through the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea, and the children of Israel went up prepared for war out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the children of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely attend to you, and you shall carry my bones away from here with you.”

²⁰ They took their journey from Sukkoth and camped in Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. ²² He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.