12 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ² “From now on, this month will be the first and most important of the entire year. ^3-4 Annually, on the tenth day of this month (announce this to all the people of Israel) each family shall get a lamb^[a] (or, if a family is small, let it share the lamb with another small family in the neighborhood; whether to share in this way depends on the size of the families). ⁵ This animal shall be a year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, without any defects.

⁶ “On the evening of the fourteenth day of this month, all these lambs shall be killed, ⁷ and their blood shall be placed on the two side-frames of the door of every home and on the panel above the door. Use the blood of the lamb eaten in that home. ⁸ Everyone shall eat roast lamb that night, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ The meat must not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted, including the head, legs, heart, and liver.^{[b] 10} Don’t eat any of it the next day; if all is not eaten that night, burn what is left.

¹¹ “Eat it with your traveling clothes on, prepared for a long journey, wearing your walking shoes and carrying your walking sticks in your hands; eat it hurriedly. This observance shall be called the Lord’s Passover. ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt tonight and kill all the oldest sons and firstborn male animals in all the land of Egypt, and execute judgment upon all the gods of Egypt—for I am Jehovah. ¹³ The blood you have placed on the doorposts will be proof that you obey me, and when I see the blood I will pass over you and I will not destroy your firstborn children when I smite the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “You shall celebrate this event each year (this is a permanent law) to remind you of this fatal night. ¹⁵ The celebration shall last seven days. For that entire period you are to eat only bread made without yeast. Anyone who disobeys this rule at any time during the seven days of the celebration shall be excommunicated from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day of the celebration, and again on the seventh day, there will be special religious services for the entire congregation, and no work of any kind may be done on those days except the preparation of food.

¹⁷ “This annual ‘Celebration with Unleavened Bread’ will cause you always to remember today as the day when I brought you out of the land of Egypt; so it is a law that you must celebrate this day annually, generation after generation. ¹⁸ Only bread without yeast may be eaten from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month. ¹⁹ For these seven days there must be no trace of yeast in your homes; during that time anyone who eats anything that has yeast in it shall be excommunicated from the congregation of Israel. These same rules apply to foreigners who are living among you just as much as to those born in the land. ²⁰ Again I repeat, during those days you must not eat anything made with yeast; serve only yeastless bread.”

²¹ Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and get lambs from your flocks, a lamb for one or more families depending upon the number of persons in the families, and kill the lamb so that God will pass over you and not destroy you. ²² Drain the lamb’s blood into a basin, and then take a cluster of hyssop branches and dip them into the lamb’s blood, and strike the hyssop against the lintel above the door and against the two side panels, so that there will be blood upon them, and none of you shall go outside all night.

²³ “For Jehovah will pass through the land and kill the Egyptians; but when he sees the blood upon the panel at the top of the door and on the two side pieces, he will pass over^[c] that home and not permit the Destroyer to enter and kill your firstborn. ²⁴ And remember, this is a permanent law for you and your posterity. ²⁵ And when you come into the land that the Lord will give you, just as he promised, and when you are celebrating the Passover, ²⁶ and your children ask, ‘What does all this mean? What is this ceremony about?’ ²⁷ you will reply, ‘It is the celebration of Jehovah’s passing over us, for he passed over the homes of the people of Israel, though he killed the Egyptians; he passed over our houses and did not come in to destroy us.’” And all the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

²⁸ So the people of Israel did as Moses and Aaron had commanded. ²⁹ And that night, at midnight, Jehovah killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from Pharaoh’s oldest son to the oldest son of the captive in the dungeon; also all the firstborn of the cattle. ³⁰ Then Pharaoh and his officials and all the people of Egypt got up in the night; and there was bitter crying throughout all the land of Egypt, for there was not a house where someone had not died.

³¹ And Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Leave us; please go away, all of you; go and serve Jehovah as you said. ³² Take your flocks and herds and be gone; and oh, give me a blessing as you go.”^{[d] 33} And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people of Israel, to get them out of the land as quickly as possible. For they said, “We are as good as dead.”

³⁴ The Israelis took with them their bread dough without yeast, and bound their kneading troughs into their spare clothes, and carried them on their shoulders. ³⁵ And the people of Israel did as Moses said and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ³⁶ And the Lord gave the Israelis favor with the Egyptians, so that they gave them whatever they wanted. And the Egyptians were practically stripped of everything they owned!

³⁷ That night the people of Israel left Rameses and started for Succoth; there were six hundred thousand of them, besides all the women and children, going on foot. ³⁸ People of various sorts^[e] went with them; and there were flocks and herds—a vast exodus of cattle. ³⁹ When they stopped to eat, they baked bread from the yeastless dough they had brought along. It was yeastless because the people were pushed out of Egypt and didn’t have time to wait for bread to rise to take with them on the trip.

^40-41 The sons of Jacob and their descendants had lived in Egypt 430 years, and it was on the last day of the 430th year that all of Jehovah’s people left the land. ⁴² This night was selected by the Lord to bring his people out from the land of Egypt; so the same night was selected as the date of the annual celebration of God’s deliverance.

⁴³ Then Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the rules concerning the observance of the Passover. No foreigners shall eat the lamb, ⁴⁴ but any slave who has been purchased may eat it if he has been circumcised. ⁴⁵ A hired servant or a visiting foreigner may not eat of it. ⁴⁶ You shall, all of you who eat each lamb, eat it together in one house, and not carry it outside; and you shall not break any of its bones. ⁴⁷ All the congregation of Israel shall observe this memorial at the same time.

⁴⁸ “As to foreigners, if they are living with you and want to observe the Passover with you, let all the males be circumcised, and then they may come and celebrate with you—then they shall be just as though they had been born among you; but no uncircumcised person shall ever eat the lamb. ⁴⁹ The same law applies to those born in Israel and to foreigners living among you.”

⁵⁰ So the people of Israel followed all of Jehovah’s instructions to Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ That very day the Lord brought out the people of Israel from the land of Egypt, wave after wave of them crossing the border.^[f]

13 ^1-2 The Lord instructed Moses, “Dedicate to me all of the firstborn sons^[g] of Israel, and every firstborn male animal; they are mine!”

³ Then Moses said to the people, “This is a day to remember forever—the day of leaving Egypt and your slavery; for the Lord has brought you out with mighty miracles. Now remember, during the annual celebration of this event you are to use no yeast; don’t even have any in your homes. ^4-5 Celebrate this day of your exodus, at the end of March^[h] each year, when Jehovah brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land he promised your fathers, a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ ^6-7 For seven days you shall eat only bread without yeast, and there must be no yeast in your homes or anywhere within the borders of your land! Then, on the seventh day, a great feast to the Lord shall be held.

⁸ “During those celebration days each year you must explain to your children why you are celebrating—it is a celebration of what the Lord did for you when you left Egypt. ⁹ This annual memorial week will brand you as his own unique people, just as though he had branded his mark of ownership upon your hands or your forehead.

¹⁰ “So celebrate the event annually in late March.^{[i] 11} And remember, when the Lord brings you into the land he promised to your ancestors long ago, where the Canaanites are now living, ¹² all firstborn sons and firstborn male animals belong to the Lord, and you shall give them to him. ¹³ A firstborn donkey may be purchased back from the Lord in exchange for a lamb or baby goat; but if you decide not to trade, the donkey shall be killed. However, you must buy back your firstborn sons.

¹⁴ “And in the future, when your children ask you, ‘What is this all about?’ you shall tell them, ‘With mighty miracles Jehovah brought us out of Egypt from our slavery. ¹⁵ Pharaoh wouldn’t let us go, so Jehovah killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both of men and animals; that is why we now give all the firstborn males to the Lord—except that all the eldest sons are always bought back.’ ¹⁶ Again I say, this celebration shall identify you as God’s people, just as much as if his brand of ownership were placed upon your foreheads. It is a reminder that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with great power.”

^17-18 So at last Pharaoh let the people go.

God did not lead them through the land of the Philistines, although that was the most direct route from Egypt to the Promised Land. The reason was that God felt the people might become discouraged by having to fight their way through, even though they had left Egypt armed; he thought they might return to Egypt. Instead, God led them along a route through the Red Sea wilderness.

¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with them, for Joseph had made the sons of Israel vow before God that they would take his bones with them when God led them out of Egypt—as he was sure God would.

²⁰ Leaving Succoth, they camped in Etham at the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ The Lord guided them by a pillar of cloud during the daytime and by a pillar of fire at night. So they could travel either by day or night. ²² The cloud and fire were never out of sight.

14 Jehovah now instructed Moses, ² “Tell the people to turn toward Piha-hiroth between Migdol and the sea, opposite Baal-zephon, and to camp there along the shore. ³ For Pharaoh will think, ‘Those Israelites are trapped now, between the desert and the sea!’ ⁴ And once again I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and he will chase after you. I have planned this to gain great honor and glory over Pharaoh and all his armies, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.”

So they camped where they were told.

⁵ When word reached the king of Egypt that the Israelis were not planning to return to Egypt after three days, but to keep on going, Pharaoh and his staff became bold again. “What is this we have done, letting all these slaves get away?” they asked. ⁶ So Pharaoh led the chase in his chariot, ⁷ followed by the pick of Egypt’s chariot corps—600 chariots in all—and other chariots driven by Egyptian officers. ⁸ He pursued the people of Israel, for they had taken much of the wealth of Egypt with them. ⁹ Pharaoh’s entire cavalry—horses, chariots, and charioteers—was used in the chase; and the Egyptian army overtook the people of Israel as they were camped beside the shore near Piha-hiroth, across from Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ As the Egyptian army approached, the people of Israel saw them far in the distance, speeding after them, and they were terribly frightened and cried out to the Lord to help them.

¹¹ And they turned against Moses, whining, “Have you brought us out here to die in the desert because there were not enough graves for us in Egypt? Why did you make us leave Egypt? ¹² Isn’t this what we told you, while we were slaves, to leave us alone? We said it would be better to be slaves to the Egyptians than dead in the wilderness.”

¹³ But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch, and you will see the wonderful way the Lord will rescue you today. The Egyptians you are looking at—you will never see them again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and you won’t need to lift a finger!”^[j]

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Quit praying and get the people moving! Forward, march! ¹⁶ Use your rod—hold it out over the water, and the sea will open up a path before you, and all the people of Israel shall walk through on dry ground! ¹⁷ I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they will go in after you and you will see the honor I will get in defeating Pharaoh and all his armies, chariots, and horsemen. ¹⁸ And all Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah.”

¹⁹ Then the Angel of God, who was leading the people of Israel, moved the cloud around behind them, ²⁰ and it stood between the people of Israel and the Egyptians. And that night, as it changed to a pillar of fire, it gave darkness to the Egyptians but light to the people of Israel! So the Egyptians couldn’t find the Israelis!

²¹ Meanwhile, Moses stretched his rod over the sea, and the Lord opened up a path through the sea, with walls of water on each side; and a strong east wind blew all that night, drying the sea bottom. ²² So the people of Israel walked through the sea on dry ground! ²³ Then the Egyptians followed them between the walls of water along the bottom of the sea—all of Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen. ²⁴ But in the early morning Jehovah looked down from the cloud of fire upon the array of the Egyptians, and began to harass them. ²⁵ Their chariot wheels began coming off, so that their chariots scraped along the dry ground. “Let’s get out of here,” the Egyptians yelled. “Jehovah is fighting for them and against us.”

²⁶ When all the Israelites were on the other side,^[k] the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand again over the sea, so that the waters will come back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷ Moses did, and the sea returned to normal beneath the morning light. The Egyptians tried to flee, but the Lord drowned them in the sea. ²⁸ The water covered the path and the chariots and horsemen. And of all the army of Pharaoh that chased after Israel through the sea, not one remained alive.

²⁹ The people of Israel had walked through on dry land, and the waters had been walled up on either side of them. ³⁰ Thus Jehovah saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and the people of Israel saw the Egyptians dead, washed up on the seashore. ³¹ When the people of Israel saw the mighty miracle the Lord had done for them against the Egyptians, they were afraid and revered the Lord, and believed in him and in his servant Moses.