Font Size
Exodus 12
Good News Translation
Exodus 12
Good News Translation
The Passover
12 (A)The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Egypt: 2 “This month is to be the first month of the year for you. 3 Give these instructions to the whole community of Israel: On the tenth day of this month each man must choose either a lamb or a young goat for his household. 4 If his family is too small to eat a whole animal, he and his next-door neighbor may share an animal, in proportion to the number of people and the amount that each person can eat. 5 You may choose either a sheep or a goat, but it must be a one-year-old male without any defects. 6 Then, on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, the whole community of Israel will kill the animals. 7 The people are to take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and above the doors of the houses in which the animals are to be eaten. 8 That night the meat is to be roasted, and eaten with bitter herbs and with bread made without yeast. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled, but eat it roasted whole, including the head, the legs, and the internal organs. 10 You must not leave any of it until morning; if any is left over, it must be burned. 11 You are to eat it quickly, for you are to be dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. It is the Passover Festival to honor me, the Lord.
12 “On that night I will go through the land of Egypt, killing every first-born male, both human and animal, and punishing all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood on the doorposts will be a sign to mark the houses in which you live. When I see the blood, I will pass over you and will not harm you when I punish the Egyptians. 14 (B)You must celebrate this day as a religious festival to remind you of what I, the Lord, have done. Celebrate it for all time to come.”
The Festival of Unleavened Bread
15 The Lord said, “For seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast—eat only unleavened bread. On the first day you are to get rid of all the yeast in your houses, for if anyone during those seven days eats bread made with yeast, he shall no longer be considered one of my people. 16 On the first day and again on the seventh day you are to meet for worship. No work is to be done on those days, but you may prepare food. 17 Keep this festival, because it was on this day that I brought your tribes out of Egypt. For all time to come you must celebrate this day as a festival. 18 From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month to the evening of the twenty-first day, you must not eat any bread made with yeast. 19-20 For seven days no yeast must be found in your houses, for if anyone, native-born or foreign, eats bread made with yeast, he shall no longer be considered one of my people.”
The First Passover
21 Moses called for all the leaders of Israel and said to them, “Each of you is to choose a lamb or a young goat and kill it, so that your families can celebrate Passover. 22 Take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the bowl containing[a] the animal's blood, and wipe the blood on the doorposts and the beam above the door of your house. Not one of you is to leave the house until morning. 23 (C)When the Lord goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the beams and the doorposts and will not let the Angel of Death enter your houses and kill you. 24 You and your children must obey these rules forever. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord has promised to give you, you must perform this ritual. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ 27 you will answer, ‘It is the sacrifice of Passover to honor the Lord, because he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. He killed the Egyptians, but spared us.’”
The Israelites knelt down and worshiped. 28 Then they went and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
The Death of the First-Born
29 (D)At midnight the Lord killed all the first-born sons in Egypt, from the king's son, who was heir to the throne, to the son of the prisoner in the dungeon; all the first-born of the animals were also killed. 30 That night, the king, his officials, and all the other Egyptians were awakened. There was loud crying throughout Egypt, because there was not one home in which there was not a dead son. 31 That same night the king sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “Get out, you and your Israelites! Leave my country; go and worship the Lord, as you asked. 32 Take your sheep, goats, and cattle, and leave. Also pray for a blessing on me.”
33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country; they said, “We will all be dead if you don't leave.” 34 So the people filled their baking pans with unleavened dough, wrapped them in clothing, and carried them on their shoulders. 35 (E)The Israelites had done as Moses had said, and had asked the Egyptians for gold and silver jewelry and for clothes. 36 The Lord made the Egyptians respect the people and give them what they asked for. In this way the Israelites carried away the wealth of the Egyptians.
The Israelites Leave Egypt
37 The Israelites set out on foot from Rameses for Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men, not counting women and children. 38 A large number of other people and many sheep, goats, and cattle also went with them. 39 They baked unleavened bread from the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for they had been driven out of Egypt so suddenly that they did not have time to get their food ready or to prepare leavened dough.
40 (F)The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. 41 On the day the 430 years ended, all the tribes of the Lord's people left Egypt. 42 It was a night when the Lord kept watch to bring them out of Egypt; this same night is dedicated to the Lord for all time to come as a night when the Israelites must keep watch.
Regulations about Passover
43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the Passover regulations: No foreigner shall eat the Passover meal, 44 but any slave that you have bought may eat it if you circumcise him first. 45 No temporary resident or hired worker may eat it. 46 (G)The whole meal must be eaten in the house in which it was prepared; it must not be taken outside. And do not break any of the animal's bones. 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate this festival, 48 but no uncircumcised man may eat it. If a foreigner has settled among you and wants to celebrate Passover to honor the Lord, you must first circumcise all the males of his household. He is then to be treated like a native-born Israelite and may join in the festival. 49 The same regulations apply to native-born Israelites and to foreigners who settle among you.” 50 All the Israelites obeyed and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 On that day the Lord brought the Israelite tribes out of Egypt.
Footnotes
- Exodus 12:22 dip it in the bowl containing; or put it on the threshold covered with.
Exodus 12
New International Version
Exodus 12
New International Version
The Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread(A)
12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt, 2 “This month is to be for you the first month,(B) 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](C) for his family, one for each household.(D) 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,(E) and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,(F) when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.(G) 7 Then they are to take some of the blood(H) and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night(I) they are to eat the meat roasted(J) over the fire, along with bitter herbs,(K) and bread made without yeast.(L) 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.(M) 10 Do not leave any of it till morning;(N) 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;(O) it is the Lord’s Passover.(P)
12 “On that same night I will pass through(Q) Egypt and strike down(R) every firstborn(S) of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods(T) of Egypt. I am the Lord.(U) 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(V) you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.(W)
14 “This is a day you are to commemorate;(X) for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.(Y) 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast.(Z) On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off(AA) from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work(AB) at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread,(AC) because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt.(AD) Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.(AE) 18 In the first month(AF) you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner(AG) or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off(AH) from the community of Israel. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live,(AI) you must eat unleavened bread.”(AJ)
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover(AK) lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop,(AL) dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood(AM) on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike(AN) down the Egyptians, he will see the blood(AO) on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over(AP) that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer(AQ) to enter your houses and strike you down.
24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance(AR) for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land(AS) that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children(AT) ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover(AU) sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’”(AV) Then the people bowed down and worshiped.(AW) 28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded(AX) Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight(AY) the Lord(AZ) struck down all the firstborn(BA) in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock(BB) as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing(BC) in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
The Exodus
31 During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship(BD) the Lord as you have requested. 32 Take your flocks and herds,(BE) as you have said, and go. And also bless(BF) me.”
33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry(BG) and leave(BH) the country. “For otherwise,” they said, “we will all die!”(BI) 34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading troughs(BJ) wrapped in clothing. 35 The Israelites did as Moses instructed and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold(BK) and for clothing.(BL) 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians favorably disposed(BM) toward the people, and they gave them what they asked for; so they plundered(BN) the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses(BO) to Sukkoth.(BP) There were about six hundred thousand men(BQ) on foot, besides women and children. 38 Many other people(BR) went up with them, and also large droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 With the dough the Israelites had brought from Egypt, they baked loaves of unleavened bread. The dough was without yeast because they had been driven out(BS) of Egypt and did not have time to prepare food for themselves.
40 Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt[b] was 430 years.(BT) 41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the Lord’s divisions(BU) left Egypt.(BV) 42 Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lord for the generations to come.(BW)
Passover Restrictions
43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the regulations for the Passover meal:(BX)
“No foreigner(BY) may eat it. 44 Any slave you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised(BZ) him, 45 but a temporary resident or a hired worker(CA) may not eat it.
46 “It must be eaten inside the house; take none of the meat outside the house. Do not break any of the bones.(CB) 47 The whole community of Israel must celebrate it.
48 “A foreigner residing among you who wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover must have all the males in his household circumcised; then he may take part like one born in the land.(CC) No uncircumcised(CD) male may eat it. 49 The same law applies both to the native-born and to the foreigner(CE) residing among you.”
50 All the Israelites did just what the Lord had commanded(CF) Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt(CG) by their divisions.(CH)
Footnotes
- Exodus 12:3 The Hebrew word can mean lamb or kid; also in verse 4.
- Exodus 12:40 Masoretic Text; Samaritan Pentateuch and Septuagint Egypt and Canaan
Shemot 12
Orthodox Jewish Bible
Shemot 12
Orthodox Jewish Bible
12 And Hashem spoke unto Moshe and Aharon in Eretz Mitzrayim saying,
2 Hachodesh hazeh (this month) shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 Speak ye unto kol Adat Yisroel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a seh (lamb [see Yeshayah 53:7]), according to the bais avot, a seh for each bais;
4 And if the household be too small for the seh (lamb [see Yeshayah 53:7]), let him and his neighbor next unto his bais take according to the number of the nefashot; every ish according to what he eats shall make up your count for the seh.
5 Your seh (lamb [see Yeshayah 53:7]) shall be tamim (without blemish), a zachar (male) within its first year; ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats;
6 And it will be with you for mishmeret (examination, checking for blemishes) up until the fourteenth day of the same month; and kol Kehal Adat Yisroel shall slaughter (shachat) it in the afternoon [before dark].
7 And they shall take of the dahm, and strike it upon the two mezuzot (doorposts) and on the mashkof (lintel) of the batim (houses), wherein they shall eat it.
8 And they shall eat the basar in that night, roasted over eish, and matzot; and with maror they shall eat it. [See Yochanan 6:53-54 where Moshiach alludes to this verse and Isaiah 53:7.]
9 Eat not of it raw, nor soaked or boiled in mayim, but roasted over eish; this includes its rosh with its legs, and with the inner parts thereof.
10 And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the boker; and that which remaineth of it until the boker ye shall burn with eish.
11 And thus shall ye eat it; with your robe girded up [i.e., pulled up and tucked in under the belt, for travel], your sandals on your feet, and your walking staff in your yad; and ye shall eat it with urgent haste; it is Hashem’s Pesach.
12 For I will pass through Eretz Mitzrayim balailah hazeh, and will strike fatally kol bechor Eretz Mitzrayim, both adam and behemah; and against all the elohei Mitzrayim I will execute judgment; I am Hashem.
13 And the dahm shall be for you, an ot (sign) upon the batim (houses) where ye are; and when I see the dahm, oofasachti (then I will pass over, skip, spare) you [plural], and the negef (plague, blow, striking, i.e., death of firstborn) shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I strike fatally with a blow against Eretz Mitzrayim.
14 And hayom hazeh shall be unto you for zikaron (remembrance, remembering); and ye shall keep it a Chag (Feast) to Hashem throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a Chag (Feast) by a chukkat olam.
15 Shivat yamim shall ye eat matzot; but the first day ye shall put away se’or (yeast, leaven) out of your batim (houses); for whosoever eateth chametz from the first day until the seventh day, that nefesh shall be cut off from Yisroel.
16 And in the yom harishon there shall be a mikra kodesh, and in the yom hashevi’i there shall be a mikra kodesh to you; no manner of melachah shall be done in them, except that which every nefesh must eat [i.e., activity necessary for the preparation of food], that only may be done of you.
17 And ye shall be shomer to safeguard the matzot; for on this very day I brought your tzva’os out of Eretz Mitzrayim; therefore shall ye be shomer over this day in your generations by a chukkat olam.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at erev, ye shall eat matzot, until the one and twentieth day of the month at erev.
19 Shivat yamim shall there be no se’or (yeast, leaven) found in your batim (houses); whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that nefesh shall be cut off from Adat Yisroel, whether he be a ger, or native born in ha’aretz.
20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellingplaces shall ye eat matzot.
21 Then Moshe called for all the Ziknei Yisroel, and said unto them, Draw out as separate and take for yourselves a lamb according to your mishpokhot, and slaughter (shachat) the Pesach [offering, i.e., Pesach lamb (see Yeshayah 53:7)].
22 And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the dahm that is in the basin, and strike the mashkof (lintel) and the two mezuzot (door sideposts) with the dahm that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out the door of his bais until boker.
23 For Hashem will pass through to strike the Mitzrayim; and when He seeth the dahm upon the mashkof, and on the two mezuzot, Hashem will pasach (pass over, spare, skip) the entrance, and will not permit the Mashkhit (Destroyer, i.e., Hashem’s emissary of judgment, [see Num 22:31 on the Malach Hashem]) to enter unto your batim to strike.
24 And ye shall be shomer over this word as a chok (ordinance) to thee and your children ad olam (forever).
25 And it shall come to pass, when ye come to ha’aretz which Hashem will give to you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall be shomer over this avodah.
26 And it shall come to pass, when your banim shall say unto you, Mah haavodah hazot lachem (What is this avodah to you)?
27 That ye shall say, It is the zevach of Hashem’s Pesach, who pasach (passed over, skipped, spared) the batim (households) of the Bnei Yisroel in Mitzrayim, when He struck down the Egyptians, and spared bateinu (our houses). And the people bowed down and worshiped.
28 And the Bnei Yisroel went away, and did as Hashem had commanded Moshe and Aharon, so did they.
29 And it came to pass, that at midnight Hashem struck down kol bechor in Eretz Mitzrayim, from the bechor of Pharaoh sitting on his throne unto the bechor of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the bechor behemah.
30 And Pharaoh rose up in the lailah, he, and all his avadim, and kol Mitzrayim; and there was a tze’akah gedolah (great wail) in Mitzrayim; for there was not a bais where there was not one dead.
31 And he called for Moshe and Aharon by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth, leave from among my people, both ye and the Bnei Yisroel; and go, serve Hashem, as ye have said.
32 Also take your tzon and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.
33 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of ha’aretz in haste; for they said, Kullanu mesim (We are all dead ones).
34 And the people took their batzek (deaf dough, having no indication of fermentation [see 1C 5:7 OJBC]) before it was leavened, their kneading pans being wrapped up in their clothes [and carried] upon their shoulders.
35 And the Bnei Yisroel did according to the devar Moshe; they requested of the Egyptians k’lei kesef, and k’lei zahav, and garments;
36 And Hashem gave the people favor in the sight of the Mitzrayim, so that they granted their request. So they plundered the Egyptians.
37 And the Bnei Yisroel journeyed from Rameses towards Sukkot, about 600,000 gevarim on foot, not counting women and children.
38 And an erev rav (mixed multitude, a mixed company that was large) went along also with them; and tzon, and herds, even very many domestic animals.
39 And they baked the batzek (deaf dough) which they brought forth out of Mitzrayim, into round flat cakes of matzot; ki lo chametz, because they were thrust out of Mitzrayim, and could not tarry (linger), neither had they prepared for tzeidah (supply of food, provision).
40 Now the moshav (time period of residence) of the Bnei Yisroel dwelling in Mitzrayim was four hundred and thirty shanah.
41 And it came to pass at the ketz (end) of the four hundred and thirty shanah, even the exact day it came to pass, that kol Tzivos Hashem went out from Eretz Mitzrayim.
42 It is a night of shimmurim (keepings, watchings, vigils) for Hashem to keep watch to bring them out from Eretz Mitzrayim; this is halailah hazeh unto Hashem; shimmurim (watchings, vigils) for kol Bnei Yisroel in their dorot.
43 And Hashem said unto Moshe and Aharon, This is the Chukkat HaPesach: there shall no ben nekhar eat thereof;
44 But every man’s eved that is bought for kesef, when thou hast given him bris milah, then shall he eat thereof.
45 A toshav and a sachir shall not eat thereof.
46 In bais echad shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth any of the basar outside the bais; neither shall ye break a bone thereof [see Yochanan 19:36 OJBC].
47 Kol Adat Yisroel shall celebrate it.
48 And when a ger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Pesach unto Hashem, let all his zachar receive bris milah, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is native born in ha’aretz; for no arel (uncircumcised person) shall eat thereof.
49 Torah echad shall be to him that is native-born, and unto the ger that sojourneth among you.
50 Thus did kol Bnei Yisroel; as Hashem commanded Moshe and Aharon, so did they.
51 And it came to pass the very same day, that Hashem did bring the Bnei Yisroel out of Eretz Mitzrayim by their tzivos.
Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.
Orthodox Jewish Bible (OJB)
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International