The Passover Lamb

12 Now Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in the land of ^[a]Egypt, ² “^(A)This 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 ^[b]lamb for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, a ^[c]lamb for ^[d]each household. ⁴ Now if the household is too small for a ^[e]lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the ^[f]number of persons in them; according to ^[g]what each man should eat, you are to ^[h]apportion the lamb. ⁵ Your ^[i]lamb shall be ^(B)a male, without blemish, a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ^6 [j]And you shall keep it until the ^(C)fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it ^[k](D)at twilight. ^7 (E)Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel ^[l]of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸ And they shall eat the flesh ^(F)that night, ^(G)roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with ^(H)unleavened bread ^[m](I)and bitter herbs. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather ^(J)roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with ^(K)its entrails. ^10 (L)And 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 ^(M)the Passover of Yahweh. ¹² And ^(N)I 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 ^(O)against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—^(P)I am Yahweh. ^13 (Q)And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and I will see the blood, and I will pass over you, and there shall be no plague among you ^[n]to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

¹⁴ ‘Now ^(R)this day will be ^(S)a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as ^[o](T)a perpetual statute. ^15 (U)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall ^[p]remove leaven from your houses; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, ^(V)that ^[q]person shall be cut off from Israel. ^16 (W)Now on the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten ^[r]by every person, that alone may be done by you. ¹⁷ You shall also keep ^(X)the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this ^(Y)very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as ^[s](Z)a perpetual statute. ^18 (AA)In 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 (AB)Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats what is leavened, that ^[t](AC)person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall not eat anything leavened; in all your places of habitation you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

²¹ Then ^(AD)Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “^[u]Bring out and ^(AE)take for yourselves ^[v]lambs according to your families and slaughter ^(AF)the Passover lamb. ^22 (AG)And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and ^[w]touch some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the doorway of his house until morning. ²³ And ^(AH)Yahweh will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and He will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will ^(AI)not allow the ^(AJ)destroyer to come into your houses to smite you. ²⁴ And ^(AK)you shall keep this event as a statute for you and your children forever. ²⁵ And it will be, when you enter the land which Yahweh will give you, as He has ^[x]promised, you shall keep this new ^[y]slavery. ^26 (AL)And it will be when your children say to you, ‘^[z]What is the meaning of this new slavery to you?’ ²⁷ that you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to ^(AM)Yahweh who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but delivered our homes.’” ^(AN)And the people bowed low and worshiped.

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

Death of the Firstborn of Egypt

²⁹ Now it happened at ^(AO)midnight that ^(AP)Yahweh struck all ^(AQ)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 ^[aa]dungeon, and all the firstborn of ^(AR)cattle. ³⁰ Then Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was ^(AS)a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. ³¹ Then ^(AT)he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, ^(AU)get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, ^[ab]serve Yahweh, as you have spoken. ³² Take ^(AV)both your flocks and your herds, as you have spoken, and go, and bless me also.”

Israel Goes Out from Egypt

^33 (AW)And the Egyptians strongly pressed the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We will all be dead.” ³⁴ So the people took up ^(AX)their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.

^35 (AY)Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses—they had asked from the Egyptians for articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; ³⁶ and Yahweh had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they ^(AZ)plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ And the ^(BA)sons of Israel journeyed from ^(BB)Rameses to Succoth, about ^(BC)six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from the little ones. ³⁸ A ^[ac](BD)foreign multitude also went up with them, ^[ad]along with flocks and herds, a ^(BE)very ^[ae]large number of livestock. ³⁹ And 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 ^(BF)driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they ^[af]prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ Now the time ^[ag]that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was ^(BG)430 years. ⁴¹ And it happened at the end of 430 years, ^[ah]to ^(BH)the very day, that ^(BI)all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt. ^42 (BJ)It is a night to be kept for Yahweh for having brought them out from the land of Egypt; this night is for Yahweh, to be kept ^[ai]by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

The Statute of the Passover

⁴³ And Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of ^(BK)the Passover: no ^[aj](BL)foreigner shall eat of it; ⁴⁴ but every man’s ^(BM)slave purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it. ^45 (BN)A foreign resident or a hired person shall not eat of it. ⁴⁶ It shall be eaten in a single house; you shall not bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, ^(BO)and you shall not break any bone of it. ^47 (BP)All the congregation of Israel shall ^[ak]celebrate this. ⁴⁸ But ^(BQ)if a sojourner sojourns with you and ^[al]celebrates the Passover to Yahweh, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to ^[am]celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. ^49 [an](BR)The same law shall ^[ao]apply to the native as to the sojourner who sojourns among you.”

⁵⁰ So all the sons of Israel did; as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, thus they did. ⁵¹ And on that same day ^(BS)Yahweh brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt ^[ap](BT)by their hosts.