²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover^(A) lamb. ²² Take a bunch of hyssop,^(B) dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood^(C) on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. ²³ When the Lord goes through the land to strike^(D) down the Egyptians, he will see the blood^(E) on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over^(F) that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer^(G) to enter your houses and strike you down.

²⁴ “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance^(H) for you and your descendants. ²⁵ When you enter the land^(I) that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. ²⁶ And when your children^(J) ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²⁷ then tell them, ‘It is the Passover^(K) sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’”^(L) Then the people bowed down and worshiped.^{(M) 28} The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded^(N) Moses and Aaron.

²⁹ At midnight^(A) the Lord^(B) struck down all the firstborn^(C) in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock^(D) as well. ³⁰ Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing^(E) in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.