^15 (A)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, ^(B)that ^[a]person shall be ^[b]cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day there shall be ^(C)a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^(D)on this same day I will have brought your ^[c]armies ^(E)out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. ^18 (F)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 ^(G)seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹ Then ^(H)Moses called for all the ^(I)elders of Israel and said to them, ^(J)“Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. ^22 (K)And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and ^(L)strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. ^23 (M)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the ^(N)blood on the ^[d]lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^(O)not allow ^(P)the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. ²⁴ And you shall ^(Q)observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. ²⁵ It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, ^(R)just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. ^26 (S)And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ that you shall say, ^(T)‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people ^(U)bowed their heads and worshiped. ²⁸ Then the children of Israel went away and ^(V)did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn^(W)

^29 (X)And it came to pass at midnight that ^(Y)the Lord struck all 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 ^[e]in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of ^(Z)livestock. ³⁰ So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.

The Exodus

³¹ Then he ^(AA)called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, ^(AB)both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have ^(AC)said. ^32 (AD)Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”

^33 (AE)And the Egyptians ^(AF)urged the people, that they might 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, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵ Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians ^(AG)articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ^36 (AH)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus ^(AI)they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ Then ^(AJ)the children of Israel journeyed from ^(AK)Rameses to Succoth, about ^(AL)six hundred thousand men on foot, besides children. ³⁸ A ^(AM)mixed multitude went up with them also, and flocks and herds—a great deal of ^(AN)livestock. ³⁹ And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because ^(AO)they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ Now the ^[f]sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in ^[g]Egypt was ^(AP)four hundred and thirty years. ⁴¹ And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years—on that very same day—it came to pass that ^(AQ)all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It is ^(AR)a ^[h]night of solemn observance to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, a solemn observance for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

Passover Regulations^(AS)

⁴³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is ^(AT)the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat it. ⁴⁴ But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have ^(AU)circumcised him, then he may eat it. ^45 (AV)A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. ⁴⁶ In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, ^(AW)nor shall you break one of its bones. ^47 (AX)All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸ And ^(AY)when a stranger ^[i]dwells with you and wants to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. ^49 (AZ)One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”

⁵⁰ Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. ^51 (BA)And it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt ^(BB)according to their armies.

¹⁸ And the child grew. Now it happened one day that he went out to his father, to the reapers. ¹⁹ And he said to his father, “My head, my head!”

So he said to a servant, “Carry him to his mother.” ²⁰ When he had taken him and brought him to his mother, he sat on her knees till noon, and then died. ²¹ And she went up and laid him on the bed of the man of God, shut the door upon him, and went out. ²² Then she called to her husband, and said, “Please send me one of the young men and one of the donkeys, that I may run to the man of God and come back.”

²³ So he said, “Why are you going to him today? It is neither the ^(A)New Moon nor the Sabbath.”

And she said, ^[a]“It is well.” ²⁴ Then she saddled a donkey, and said to her servant, “Drive, and go forward; do not slacken the pace for me unless I tell you.” ²⁵ And so she departed, and went to the man of God ^(B)at Mount Carmel.

So it was, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to his servant Gehazi, “Look, the Shunammite woman! ²⁶ Please run now to meet her, and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ ”

And she answered, “It is well.” ²⁷ Now when she came to the man of God at the hill, she caught him by the feet, but Gehazi came near to push her away. But the man of God said, “Let her alone; for her soul is in deep distress, and the Lord has hidden it from me, and has not told me.”

²⁸ So she said, “Did I ask a son of my lord? ^(C)Did I not say, ‘Do not deceive me’?”

²⁹ Then he said to Gehazi, ^(D)“Get^[b] yourself ready, and take my staff in your hand, and be on your way. If you meet anyone, ^(E)do not greet him; and if anyone greets you, do not answer him; but ^(F)lay my staff on the face of the child.”

³⁰ And the mother of the child said, ^(G)“As the Lord lives, and as your soul lives, I will not ^(H)leave you.” So he arose and followed her. ³¹ Now Gehazi went on ahead of them, and laid the staff on the face of the child; but there was neither voice nor hearing. Therefore he went back to meet him, and told him, saying, “The child has ^(I)not awakened.”

³² When Elisha came into the house, there was the child, lying dead on his bed. ³³ He ^(J)went in therefore, shut the door behind the two of them, ^(K)and prayed to the Lord. ³⁴ And he went up and lay on the child, and put his mouth on his mouth, his eyes on his eyes, and his hands on his hands; and ^(L)he stretched himself out on the child, and the flesh of the child became warm. ³⁵ He returned and walked back and forth in the house, and again went up ^(M)and stretched himself out on him; then ^(N)the child sneezed seven times, and the child opened his eyes. ³⁶ And he called Gehazi and said, “Call this Shunammite woman.” So he called her. And when she came in to him, he said, “Pick up your son.” ³⁷ So she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed to the ground; then she ^(O)picked up her son and went out.

The Empty Tomb^(A)

20 Now the ^(B)first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the ^(C)stone had been taken away from the tomb. ² Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the ^(D)other disciple, ^(E)whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him.”

^3 (F)Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. ⁴ So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. ⁵ And he, stooping down and looking in, saw ^(G)the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, ⁷ and ^(H)the ^[a]handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. ⁸ Then the ^(I)other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. ⁹ For as yet they did not ^[b]know the ^(J)Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. ¹⁰ Then the disciples went away again to their own homes.

Mary Magdalene Sees the Risen Lord

^11 (K)But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb.