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Exodus 12
English Standard Version

The Passover

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 (A)“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb (B)according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be (C)without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the (D)fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.[a]

7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the (E)two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with (F)unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but (G)roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And (H)you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with (I)your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. (J)It is the Lord's Passover. 12 For (K)I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on (L)all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: (M)I am the Lord. 13 (N)The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

14 “This day shall be (O)for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a (P)statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 (Q)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, (R)that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a (S)holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for (T)on this very day I brought your (U)hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 (V)In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 (W)For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, (X)that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, (Y)whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves (Z)according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of (AA)hyssop and (AB)dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch (AC)the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. (AD)None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 (AE)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on (AF)the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and (AG)will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, (AH)as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And (AI)when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, (AJ)‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people (AK)bowed their heads and worshiped.

28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

29 (AL)At midnight the (AM)Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, (AN)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 the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was (AO)a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, (AP)both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. 32 (AQ)Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

The Exodus

33 (AR)The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had (AS)asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 (AT)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that (AU)they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

37 And the (AV)people of Israel journeyed from (AW)Rameses to Succoth, (AX)about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 A (AY)mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because (AZ)they were thrust out of Egypt and (BA)could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of (BB)430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a (BC)night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

Institution of the Passover

43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, 44 but every slave[b] that is (BD)bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. 45 (BE)No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. 46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and (BF)you shall not break any of its bones. 47 (BG)All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48 (BH)If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he (BI)shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be (BJ)one law for the native and for the (BK)stranger who sojourns among you.”

50 All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the (BL)Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their (BM)hosts.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 12:6 Hebrew between the two evenings
  2. Exodus 12:44 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles (see Preface)
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Exodus 12
New American Standard Bible

The Passover Lamb

12 Now the Lord 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 for 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 the 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; in proportion to [g]what each one should eat, you are to [h]divide the lamb. 5 Your [i]lamb shall be (B)an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 [j]You shall keep it until the (C)fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to 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 They shall eat the flesh (F)that same 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 completely burn with fire. 11 Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment [n]belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry—it is (M)the Lord’s Passover. 12 For (N)I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and (O)against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—(P)I am the Lord. 13 (Q)The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you [o]live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you [p]to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

14 ‘Now (R)this day shall be (S)a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as [q](T)a permanent ordinance. 15 For (U)seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, (V)that [r]person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 And (W)on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person—that alone may be [s]prepared by you. 17 You shall also keep (X)the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this (Y)very day I brought your [t]multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as (Z)a [u]permanent ordinance. 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 For (AB)seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that [v](AC)person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20 You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”

21 Then (AD)Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and (AE)take for yourselves [w]lambs according to your families, and slaughter (AF)the Passover lamb. 22 And (AG)you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and [x]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 (AH)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 (AI)not allow the (AJ)destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. 24 And (AK)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 [y]promised, you shall keep this [z]rite. 26 (AL)And when your children say to you, ‘[aa]What does this rite mean to you?’ 27 then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to (AM)the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but [ab]spared our homes.’” (AN)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 (AO)midnight that (AP)the Lord 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 dungeon, and all the firstborn of (AR)cattle. 30 And Pharaoh got up 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, [ac]worship the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take (AV)both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”

Exodus of Israel

33 (AW)The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry, for they said, “We will all be dead.” 34 So the people took (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, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; 36 and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Therefore they (AZ)plundered the Egyptians.

37 Now the (BA)sons of Israel journeyed from (BB)Rameses to Succoth, about (BC)six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38 A (BD)mixed multitude also went up with them, [ad]along with flocks and herds, a (BE)very 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 no yeast, since they were (BF)driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they [ae]prepared any provisions for themselves.

40 Now the time [af]that the sons of Israel had lived in Egypt was (BG)430 years. 41 And at the end of 430 years, on (BH)this very day, (BI)all the [ag]multitudes of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt.

Ordinance of the Passover

42 (BJ)It is a night [ah]to be observed for the Lord, for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, [ai]to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of (BK)the Passover: no [aj](BL)foreigner is to eat it; 44 but as for every (BM)slave [ak]that someone has purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. 45 (BN)A stranger or a hired worker shall not eat it. 46 It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring any of the meat outside of the house, (BO)nor are you to break any bone of it. 47 (BP)All the congregation of Israel are to [al]celebrate this. 48 But (BQ)if a stranger resides with you and [am]celebrates the Passover to the Lord, all of his males are to be circumcised, and then he shall come near to [an]celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised male may eat it. 49 [ao](BR)The same law shall [ap]apply to the native as to the stranger who resides among you.”

50 Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day (BS)the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt (BT)according to their [aq]multitudes.

Footnotes

  1. Exodus 12:1 Lit Egypt, saying
  2. Exodus 12:3 Or kid
  3. Exodus 12:3 Or kid
  4. Exodus 12:3 Lit the
  5. Exodus 12:4 Or kid
  6. Exodus 12:4 Or amount
  7. Exodus 12:4 Lit each man’s eating
  8. Exodus 12:4 Lit compute for
  9. Exodus 12:5 Or kid
  10. Exodus 12:6 Lit It shall be to you for a guarding
  11. Exodus 12:6 Lit between the two evenings
  12. Exodus 12:7 Lit upon
  13. Exodus 12:8 Lit in addition to
  14. Exodus 12:11 I.e., for travel
  15. Exodus 12:13 Lit are
  16. Exodus 12:13 Lit for destruction
  17. Exodus 12:14 Or an eternal
  18. Exodus 12:15 Lit soul
  19. Exodus 12:16 Lit done
  20. Exodus 12:17 Lit armies
  21. Exodus 12:17 Or eternal
  22. Exodus 12:19 Lit soul
  23. Exodus 12:21 Lit sheep
  24. Exodus 12:22 Lit cause to touch
  25. Exodus 12:25 Lit spoken
  26. Exodus 12:25 Lit service
  27. Exodus 12:26 Lit What is this service to you?
  28. Exodus 12:27 Lit delivered
  29. Exodus 12:31 Or serve
  30. Exodus 12:38 Lit and
  31. Exodus 12:39 Lit made
  32. Exodus 12:40 Or of the sons of Israel who lived
  33. Exodus 12:41 Lit armies
  34. Exodus 12:42 Or of vigil
  35. Exodus 12:42 Or of vigil
  36. Exodus 12:43 Lit son of a stranger
  37. Exodus 12:44 Lit of a man, an acquisition of money
  38. Exodus 12:47 Lit perform
  39. Exodus 12:48 Lit performs
  40. Exodus 12:48 Lit perform
  41. Exodus 12:49 Lit One law
  42. Exodus 12:49 Lit be
  43. Exodus 12:51 I.e., multitudes in battle formation
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