¹⁰ Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart,^(A) and he would not let the Israelites go out of his country.

The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread^(B)

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, ² “This month is to be for you the first month,^(C) the first month of your year. ³ Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb^[a](D) for his family, one for each household.^{(E) 4} If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. ⁵ The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,^(F) and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. ⁶ Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,^(G) when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.^{(H) 7} Then they are to take some of the blood^(I) and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸ That same night^(J) they are to eat the meat roasted^(K) over the fire, along with bitter herbs,^(L) and bread made without yeast.^{(M) 9} Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.^{(N) 10} Do not leave any of it till morning;^(O) if some is left till morning, you must burn it. ¹¹ This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste;^(P) it is the Lord’s Passover.^(Q)

¹² “On that same night I will pass through^(R) Egypt and strike down^(S) every firstborn^(T) of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods^(U) of Egypt. I am the Lord.^{(V) 13} The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over^(W) you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.^(X)

¹⁴ “This is a day you are to commemorate;^(Y) for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.^(Z)

Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath^(A)(B)

12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain^(C) and eat them. ² When the Pharisees saw this, they said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”^(D)

³ He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?^{(E) 4} He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests.^{(F) 5} Or haven’t you read in the Law that the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath^(G) and yet are innocent? ⁶ I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.^{(H) 7} If you had known what these words mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’^[a](I) you would not have condemned the innocent. ⁸ For the Son of Man^(J) is Lord of the Sabbath.”