The Passover Lamb

12 Now Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, ² “This month will mark the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family one lamb for the household. ⁴ But if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor are to take one according to the number of the people. According to each person eating, you are to make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb is to be without blemish, a year old male.^[a] You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ You must watch over it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. ^{[b] 7} They are to take the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the crossbeam of the houses where they will eat it. ⁸ They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over a fire. With matzot and bitter herbs^[c] they are to eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but only roasted with fire—its head with its legs and its innards. ¹⁰ So let nothing of it remain until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning you are to burn with fire. ¹¹ Also you are to eat it this way: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is Adonai’s Passover.

¹² “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am Adonai. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are.^[d] When I see the blood, I will pass over you. So there will be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “This day is to be a memorial for you.^[e] You are to keep it as a feast to Adonai. Throughout your generations you are to keep it as an eternal ordinance. ¹⁵ For seven days you are to eat matzot, but on the first day you must remove hametz from your houses,^[f] for whoever eats hametz from the first day until the seventh day, that soul will be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ The first day is to be a holy assembly for you as well as the seventh day. No manner of work is to be done on those days, except what is to be eaten by every person—that alone may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ So you are to observe the Feast of Matzot, for on this very same day have I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you are to observe this day throughout your generations as an eternal ordinance.

¹⁸ During the first month in the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, you are to eat matzot, until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month. ¹⁹ For seven days no hametz is to be found in your houses, for whoever eats hametz, that soul will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an outsider or one who is born in the land. ²⁰ You are to eat no hametz; in all your houses you are to eat matzot.”

²¹ Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. ^{[g] 22} You are to take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply it to the crossbeam and two doorposts with the blood from the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. ²³ Adonai will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, but when He sees the blood on the crossbeam and the two doorposts, Adonai will pass over that door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you down. ²⁴ Also you are to observe this event as an eternal ordinance, for you and your children.

²⁵ “When you come into the land which Adonai will give you as He has promised, you are to keep this ceremony. ²⁶ Now when it happens that your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²⁷ You are to say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Adonai’s Passover, because He passed over the houses of Bnei-Yisrael in Egypt, when He struck down the Egyptians, but spared our households.’” So the people bowed their heads and worshipped.

²⁸ Then Bnei-Yisrael went and did it. They did just as Adonai had commanded Moses and Aaron. ²⁹ So it came about at midnight that Adonai struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn cattle.^[h]

³⁰ Then Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was loud wailing in Egypt. For there was not a house where someone was not dead. ³¹ So he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, go out from my people, both you and Bnei-Yisrael, go, serve Adonai as you have said. ³² Take your flocks and your herds, as you said, and be gone! But bless me, too.”

³³ Now the Egyptians urged the people, sending them out of the land quickly, for they thought, “We will all be dead!” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵ So Bnei-Yisrael acted according to the word of Moses. They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing. ³⁶ Adonai gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians and let them have what they asked for. So they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ Then Bnei-Yisrael journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot, as well as children. ³⁸ Also a mixed multitude went up with them, along with the flocks, herds and heavy livestock. ³⁹ They had baked matzot cakes from the dough that they brought out of Egypt. It had no hametz, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not delay, so they had not made provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ Now the time that Bnei-Yisrael lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹ So it happened at the end of 430 years, to the very day, that all the armies of Adonai went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It was a night of watching for Adonai to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is a night of vigil for Adonai, for all Bnei-Yisrael throughout their generations.

⁴³ Then Adonai said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner may eat it, ⁴⁴ but every man’s servant that is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it. ⁴⁵ Nor should a visitor or hired servant eat it. ⁴⁶ It is to be eaten inside a single house. You are not to carry the meat out of the house, nor are you to break any of its bones. ^{[i] 47} All the congregation of Israel must keep it. ⁴⁸ But if an outsider dwells with you, who would keep the Passover for Adonai, all his males must be circumcised. Then let him draw near and keep it. He will be like one who is native to the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat from it. ⁴⁹ The same Torah applies to the native as well as the outsider who dwells among you.”

⁵⁰ So all Bnei-Yisrael did so. They did just as Adonai commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ It was on that very day that Adonai brought Bnei-Yisrael out of the land of Egypt as armies.

34 Adonai said to Moses, “Carve for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write upon them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ² Be ready by the morning, come up to Mount Sinai, and present yourself to Me there on the top of the mountain. ³ No one is to come up with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout the entire mountain. Even the flocks and herds must not graze in front of that mountain.”

⁴ So he carved two tablets of stone like the first. Then Moses rose up early in the morning, went up onto Mount Sinai as Adonai had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. ⁵ Then Adonai descended in the cloud, stood with him there, as he called on the Name of Adonai.

Thirteen Attributes of God

⁶ Then Adonai passed before him, and proclaimed, “Adonai, Adonai, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, ⁷ showing mercy to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means leaving the guilty unpunished, but bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Then Moses quickly bowed his head down to the earth and worshipped. ⁹ He said, “If now I have found grace in Your eyes, my Lord, let my Lord please go within our midst, even though this is a stiff-necked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own inheritance.”

Exclusive Covenant

¹⁰ Then He said, “I am cutting a covenant. Before all your people I will do wonders, such as have not been done in all the earth, or in any nation. All the people you are among will see the work of Adonai—for what I am going to do with you will be awesome! ¹¹ Obey what I am commanding you today. Behold, I am going to drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites before you. ¹² Watch yourself, and make no covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, or they will become a snare among you. ¹³ Instead you must break down their altars, smash their pillars and cut down their Asherah poles. ¹⁴ For you are to bow down to no other god, because Adonai is jealous for His Name—He is a jealous God.

¹⁵ “See that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land. Otherwise when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone will invite you, and you will eat from their sacrifice. ¹⁶ Do not take their daughters for your sons, for their daughters will prostitute themselves with their own gods, and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.

¹⁷ “You are not to make for yourselves metal gods.

¹⁸ “You are to keep the Feast of Matzot. For seven days you are eat matzot, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Aviv, for in the month Aviv you came out from Egypt.

¹⁹ “Every firstborn of the womb is Mine, and from all your cattle you are to sanctify the males, the firstborn of the ox and sheep. ²⁰ A firstborn donkey you are to redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you are to break its neck. You must redeem all your firstborn sons. No one should appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹ “For six days you will work, but on the seventh day you will rest. During plowing time and harvest you must rest.

²² “You are to observe the Feast of Shavuot, which is the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, as well as the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. ²³ Three times during the year all your males are to appear before Adonai Elohim, God of Israel. ²⁴ For I am going to cast out nations before you, then enlarge your territory. So no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before Adonai your God three times in the year.

²⁵ “You are not to offer the blood of My sacrifice with hametz, nor should the sacrifice of the Passover Festival remain until morning.

²⁶ “You are to bring the choicest firstfruits of your land to the House of Adonai your God.

“You must not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ Then Adonai said to Moses, “Write these words, for based on these words I have cut a covenant with you and with Israel.” ²⁸ So he stayed there with Adonai for 40 days and 40 nights, and he did not eat bread or drink water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant: the Ten Words.^[a]

²⁹ Now it happened, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand when he came down from the mountain, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face was radiant, because God had spoken with him. ³⁰ When Aaron and all Bnei-Yisrael saw Moses, the skin of his face shone in rays, so they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³² Afterward all Bnei-Yisrael came near, and he gave them all the mitzvot that Adonai had spoken to him in Mount Sinai.

³³ When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But when Moses went before Adonai, so that He could speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out. When he came out and spoke to Bnei-Yisrael what he was commanded, ³⁵ Bnei-Yisrael saw the face of Moses and that the skin of his face glistened. So Moses put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.

Biblical Feasts

23 Then Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ² “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, and tell them: These are the appointed moadim of Adonai, which you are to proclaim to be holy convocations—My moadim.

³ “Work may be done for six days, but the seventh day is a Shabbat of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You are to do no work—it is a Shabbat to Adonai in all your dwellings.

Pesach and Feast of Matzot

⁴ “These are the appointed feasts of Adonai, holy convocations which you are to proclaim in their appointed season. ⁵ During the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, is Adonai’s Passover. ⁶ On the fifteenth day of the same month is the Feast of Matzot to Adonai. For seven days you are to eat matzah. ⁷ On the first day you are to have a holy convocation and you should do no regular work. ⁸ Instead you are to present an offering made by fire to Adonai for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation, when you are to do no regular work.”

Bikkurim and Shavuot

⁹ Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ¹⁰ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael and tell them: When you have come into the land which I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you are to bring the omer^[a] of the firstfruits of your harvest to the kohen. ¹¹ He is to wave the omer before Adonai, to be accepted for you. On the morrow after the Shabbat, the kohen is to wave it. ¹² On the day when you wave the omer you are to offer a male lamb without blemish, one year old, as a burnt offering to Adonai. ¹³ The grain offering with it should be two tenths of an ephah of fine flour mixed with oil—an offering made by fire to Adonai for a soothing aroma. Its drink offering with it should be a quarter of a gallon^[b] of wine. ¹⁴ You are not to eat bread, roasted grain, or fresh grain until this same day—until you have brought the offering of your God. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings.

¹⁵ “Then you are to count from the morrow after the Shabbat, from the day that you brought the omer^[c] of the wave offering, seven complete Shabbatot. ¹⁶ Until the morrow after the seventh Shabbat you are to count fifty days,^[d] and then present a new grain offering to Adonai. ¹⁷ You are to bring out of your houses two loaves of bread for a wave offering, made of two tenths of an ephah of fine flour. They are to be baked with hametz as firstfruits to Adonai. ¹⁸ You are to present, along with the bread, seven one-year-old lambs without blemish, one young bull, and two rams. They will become a burnt offering to Adonai, with their meal offering, and their drink offerings, an offering made by fire, a sweet aroma to Adonai. ¹⁹ Also you are to offer one male goat for a sin offering and a pair of year-old male lambs for a sacrifice of fellowship offerings. ²⁰ The kohen is to wave them with the bread of the firstfruits as a wave offering before Adonai, with the two lambs. They shall be holy to Adonai for the kohen. ²¹ You are to make a proclamation on the same day that there is to be a holy convocation, and you should do no regular work. This is a statute forever in all your dwellings throughout your generations.

²² “Now when you reap the harvest of your land, you are not to reap to the furthest corners of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Rather you are to leave them for the poor and for the outsider. I am Adonai your God.”

Fall Festivals

²³ Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ²⁴ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, saying: In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you are to have a Shabbat rest, a memorial of blowing (shofarot),^[e] a holy convocation. ²⁵ You are to do no regular work, and you are to present an offering made by fire to Adonai.”

²⁶ Adonai spoke to Moses, saying: ²⁷ “However, the tenth day of this seventh month is Yom Kippur,^[f] a holy convocation to you, so you are to afflict yourselves. You are to bring an offering made by fire to Adonai. ²⁸ You are not to do any kind of work on that set day, for it is Yom Kippur, to make atonement for you before Adonai your God. ²⁹ For anyone who does not deny himself on that day must be cut off from his people. ³⁰ Anyone who does any kind of work on that day, that person I will destroy from among his people. ³¹ You should do no kind of work. It is a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. ³² It is to be a Shabbat of solemn rest for you, and you are to humble your souls. On the ninth day of the month in the evening—from evening until evening—you are to keep your Shabbat.”

³³ Adonai spoke to Moses saying: ³⁴ “Speak to Bnei-Yisrael, and say, On the fifteenth day of this seventh month is the Feast of Sukkot, for seven days to Adonai. ^{[g] 35} On the first day there is to be a holy convocation—you are to do no laborious work. ³⁶ For seven days you are to bring an offering by fire to Adonai. The eighth day will be a holy convocation to you, and you are to bring an offering by fire to Adonai. It is a solemn assembly—you should do no laborious work.

³⁷ “These are the moadim of Adonai, which you are to proclaim to be holy convocations, to present an offering by fire to Adonai—a burnt offering, a grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, each on its own day, ³⁸ besides those of the Shabbatot of Adonai and besides your gifts, all your vows and all your freewill offerings which you give to Adonai.

³⁹ “So on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruits of the land, you are to keep the Feast of Adonai for seven days. The first day is to be a Shabbat rest, and the eighth day will also be a Shabbat rest. ⁴⁰ On the first day you are to take choice fruit of trees, branches of palm trees,^[h] boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and rejoice before Adonai your God for seven days. ⁴¹ You are to celebrate it as a festival to Adonai for seven days in the year. It is a statute forever throughout your generations—you are to celebrate it in the seventh month. ⁴² You are to live in sukkot for seven days. All the native-born in Israel are to live in sukkot, ⁴³ so that your generations may know that I had Bnei-Yisrael to dwell in sukkot when I brought them out of the land of Egypt. I am Adonai your God.”

⁴⁴ So Moses declared to Bnei-Yisrael the moadim of Adonai.

Second Month Passover

9 Adonai spoke to Moses in the Sinai wilderness in the first month of the second year after they had come out of the land of Egypt saying, ² “Bnei-Yisrael is to observe Passover at its appointed time. ³ You are to celebrate it at its appointed time, at twilight on the fourteenth day of this month, with all its rules and regulations.”

⁴ So Moses told Bnei-Yisrael to observe Passover. ⁵ They celebrated Passover at twilight on the fourteenth day of the first month in the Sinai wilderness. In accordance with all that Adonai commanded Moses, so Bnei-Yisrael did.^[a]

⁶ However, there were some men who could not celebrate Passover because of being defiled by a dead body. So they came to Moses and Aaron on that same day, ⁷ and these men said to him, “We have become unclean because of a dead man’s body. Why should we be kept from presenting the offering of Adonai at the appointed time with the rest of Bnei-Yisrael?” ⁸ Moses answered them, “Wait, and I will inquire what Adonai commands concerning you.”

⁹ Then Adonai spoke to Moses saying, ¹⁰ “Say to Bnei-Yisrael saying: If any man, whether you or your descendants, becomes unclean because of a dead body, or is away on a long journey, he may yet observe Adonai’s Passover. ¹¹ They are to celebrate it at twilight on the fourteenth day of the second month. With matzot and bitter herbs they are to eat it. ¹² They are not to leave any of it until morning, or break any bones. When they celebrate Passover they are to observe all its regulations.

¹³ “But the person who is clean and not away on a journey, yet neglects to celebrate Passover, that soul shall be cut off from his people because that person did not present Adonai’s offering at the appointed time. That man will bear his sin.

¹⁴ “If an outsider living among you would celebrate Passover to Adonai according to the requirement, so he should do. There will be for you the same regulation for the outsider and the native of the land.’”

The Cloud as the Guide

¹⁵ On the day the Tabernacle was erected, the cloud covered the Tabernacle. By evening until morning, the cloud above the Tent of Testimony had an appearance like fire. ¹⁶ It was that way continually. The cloud covered it, and by night it appeared like fire. ¹⁷ Whenever the cloud lifted up from above the Tent, then Bnei-Yisrael would set out, and at the place where the cloud settled, there Bnei-Yisrael would encamp. ¹⁸ At the mouth of Adonai, Bnei-Yisrael would set out, and at the mouth of Adonai they would encamp. All the days that the cloud remained over the Tabernacle, they would remain in camp.

¹⁹ When the cloud would remain over the Tabernacle many days, Bnei-Yisrael would obey the command of Adonai and not set out. ²⁰ At times the cloud stayed over the Tabernacle only a few days. At Adonai’s word they would encamp, and at Adonai’s word they would set out.

²¹ At times the cloud remained only from evening until morning. When the cloud would lift, they would set out. Whether by day or by night, when the cloud lifted, they would set out. ²² Whether for two days or a month or a year, while the cloud remained over the Tabernacle, Bnei-Yisrael remained camped and would not set out. But when it would lift, they would set out. ²³ At Adonai’s word they would encamp, and at the mouth of Adonai they set out. They obeyed Adonai’s order by Moses’s hand.