Exodus 12:29-13:16

Complete Jewish Bible

(vi) ²⁹At midnight Adonai killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock. ³⁰Pharaoh got up in the night, he, all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was horrendous wailing in Egypt; for there wasn’t a single house without someone dead in it. ³¹He summoned Moshe and Aharon by night and said, “Up and leave my people, both you and the people of Isra’el; and go, serve Adonai as you said. ³²Take both your flocks and your herds, as you said; and get out of here! But bless me, too.” ³³The Egyptians pressed to send the people out of the land quickly, because they said, “Otherwise we’ll all be dead!”

³⁴The people took their dough before it had become leavened and wrapped their kneading bowls in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵The people of Isra’el had done what Moshe had said — they had asked the Egyptians to give them silver and gold jewelry and clothing; ³⁶and Adonai had made the Egyptians so favorably disposed toward the people that they had let them have whatever they requested. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷The people of Isra’el traveled from Ra‘amses to Sukkot, some six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting children. ³⁸A mixed crowd also went up with them, as well as livestock in large numbers, both flocks and herds. ³⁹They baked matzah loaves from the dough they had brought out of Egypt, since it was unleavened; because they had been driven out of Egypt without time to prepare supplies for themselves.

⁴⁰The time the people of Isra’el lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹At the end of 430 years to the day, all the divisions of Adonai left the land of Egypt. ⁴²This was a night when Adonai kept vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt, and this same night continues to be a night when Adonai keeps vigil for all the people of Isra’el through all their generations.

⁴³Adonai said to Moshe and Aharon, “This is the regulation for the Pesach lamb: no foreigner is to eat it. ⁴⁴But if anyone has a slave he bought for money, when you have circumcised him, he may eat it. ⁴⁵Neither a traveler nor a hired servant may eat it. ⁴⁶It is to be eaten in one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you are not to break any of its bones. ⁴⁷The whole community of Isra’el is to keep it. ⁴⁸If a foreigner staying with you wants to observe Adonai’s Pesach, all his males must be circumcised. Then he may take part and observe it; he will be like a citizen of the land. But no uncircumcised person is to eat it. ⁴⁹The same teaching is to apply equally to the citizen and to the foreigner living among you.”

⁵⁰All the people of Isra’el did just as Adonai had ordered Moshe and Aharon. ⁵¹On that very day, Adonai brought the people of Isra’el out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.

13 (vii) Adonai said to Moshe, ²“Set aside for me all the firstborn. Whatever is first from the womb among the people of Isra’el, both of humans and of animals, belongs to me.” ³Moshe said to the people, “Remember this day, on which you left Egypt, the abode of slavery; because Adonai, by the strength of his hand, has brought you out of this place. Do not eat hametz. ⁴You are leaving today, in the month of Aviv. ⁵When Adonai brings you into the land of the Kena‘ani, Hitti, Emori, Hivi and Y’vusi, which he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you are to observe this ceremony in this month. ⁶For seven days you are to eat matzah, and the seventh day is to be a festival for Adonai. ⁷Matzah is to be eaten throughout the seven days; neither hametz nor leavening agents are to be seen with you throughout your territory. ⁸On that day you are to tell your son, ‘It is because of what Adonai did for me when I left Egypt.’

⁹“Moreover, it will serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes, so that Adonai’s Torah may be on your lips; because with a strong hand Adonai brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰Therefore you are to observe this regulation at its proper time, year after year. ¹¹When Adonai brings you into the land of the Kena‘ani, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and gives it to you, ¹²you are to set apart for Adonai everything that is first from the womb. Every firstborn male animal will belong to Adonai. ¹³Every firstborn from a donkey, you are to redeem with a lamb; but if you choose not to redeem it, you must break its neck. But from people, you are to redeem every firstborn son. (Maftir) ¹⁴When, at some future time, your son asks you, ‘What is this?’ then say to him, ‘With a strong hand Adonai brought us out of Egypt, out of the abode of slavery. ¹⁵When Pharaoh was unwilling to let us go, Adonai killed all the firstborn males in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of humans and the firstborn of animals. This is why I sacrifice to Adonai any male that is first from the womb of an animal, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶This will serve as a sign on your hand and at the front of a headband around your forehead that with a strong hand Adonai brought us out of Egypt.”