Exodus 12
English Standard Version
The Passover
12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 (A)“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb (B)according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be (C)without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and you shall keep it until the (D)fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.[a]
7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the (E)two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with (F)unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but (G)roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And (H)you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with (I)your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. (J)It is the Lord's Passover. 12 For (K)I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on (L)all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: (M)I am the Lord. 13 (N)The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This day shall be (O)for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a (P)statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 (Q)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, (R)that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold a (S)holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for (T)on this very day I brought your (U)hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 (V)In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 (W)For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, (X)that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, (Y)whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves (Z)according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of (AA)hyssop and (AB)dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch (AC)the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. (AD)None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 (AE)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on (AF)the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and (AG)will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, (AH)as he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And (AI)when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 you shall say, (AJ)‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people (AK)bowed their heads and worshiped.
28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
29 (AL)At midnight the (AM)Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, (AN)from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was (AO)a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, (AP)both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. 32 (AQ)Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
The Exodus
33 (AR)The Egyptians were urgent with the people to 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, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had (AS)asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 (AT)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that (AU)they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37 And the (AV)people of Israel journeyed from (AW)Rameses to Succoth, (AX)about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 A (AY)mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because (AZ)they were thrust out of Egypt and (BA)could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. 41 At the end of (BB)430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a (BC)night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Institution of the Passover
43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, 44 but every slave[b] that is (BD)bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. 45 (BE)No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. 46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and (BF)you shall not break any of its bones. 47 (BG)All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48 (BH)If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he (BI)shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be (BJ)one law for the native and for the (BK)stranger who sojourns among you.”
50 All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the (BL)Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their (BM)hosts.
Footnotes
- Exodus 12:6 Hebrew between the two evenings
- Exodus 12:44 Or servant; the Hebrew term ‘ebed designates a range of social and economic roles (see Preface)
Exodus 12
New American Standard Bible
The Passover Lamb
12 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of [a]Egypt, 2 “(A)This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. 3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month they are, each one, to take a [b]lamb for themselves, according to the fathers’ households, a [c]lamb for [d]each household. 4 Now if the household is too small for a [e]lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the [f]number of persons in them; in proportion to [g]what each one should eat, you are to [h]divide the lamb. 5 Your [i]lamb shall be (B)an unblemished male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 [j]You shall keep it until the (C)fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it [k](D)at twilight. 7 (E)Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel [l]of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh (F)that same night, (G)roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with (H)unleavened bread [m](I)and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather (J)roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with (K)its entrails. 10 (L)And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall completely burn with fire. 11 Now you shall eat it in this way: with your garment [n]belted around your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in a hurry—it is (M)the Lord’s Passover. 12 For (N)I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and fatally strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the human firstborn to animals; and (O)against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—(P)I am the Lord. 13 (Q)The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you [o]live; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will come upon you [p]to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Feast of Unleavened Bread
14 ‘Now (R)this day shall be (S)a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as [q](T)a permanent ordinance. 15 For (U)seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall remove dough with yeast from your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, (V)that [r]person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 And (W)on the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them, except for what must be eaten by every person—that alone may be [s]prepared by you. 17 You shall also keep (X)the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this (Y)very day I brought your [t]multitudes out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall keep this day throughout your generations as (Z)a [u]permanent ordinance. 18 (AA)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 (AB)seven days there shall be no dough with yeast found in your houses; for whoever eats anything with yeast, that [v](AC)person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. 20 You shall not eat anything with yeast; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’”
21 Then (AD)Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and (AE)take for yourselves [w]lambs according to your families, and slaughter (AF)the Passover lamb. 22 And (AG)you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and [x]apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.
A Memorial of Redemption
23 For (AH)the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; but when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and will (AI)not allow the (AJ)destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you. 24 And (AK)you shall keep this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever. 25 When you enter the land which the Lord will give you, as He has [y]promised, you shall keep this [z]rite. 26 (AL)And when your children say to you, ‘[aa]What does this rite mean to you?’ 27 then you shall say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to (AM)the Lord because He passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians, but [ab]spared our homes.’” (AN)And the people bowed low and worshiped.
28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
29 Now it came about at (AO)midnight that (AP)the Lord struck all (AQ)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 in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of (AR)cattle. 30 And Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was (AS)a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. 31 Then (AT)he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, “Rise up, (AU)get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, [ac]worship the Lord, as you have said. 32 Take (AV)both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also.”
Exodus of Israel
33 (AW)The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in a hurry, for they said, “We will all be dead.” 34 So the people took (AX)their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders.
35 (AY)Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; 36 and the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Therefore they (AZ)plundered the Egyptians.
37 Now the (BA)sons of Israel journeyed from (BB)Rameses to Succoth, about (BC)six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38 A (BD)mixed multitude also went up with them, [ad]along with flocks and herds, a (BE)very large number of livestock. 39 And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had no yeast, since they were (BF)driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they [ae]prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 Now the time [af]that the sons of Israel had lived in Egypt was (BG)430 years. 41 And at the end of 430 years, on (BH)this very day, (BI)all the [ag]multitudes of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt.
Ordinance of the Passover
42 (BJ)It is a night [ah]to be observed for the Lord, for having brought them out of the land of Egypt; this night is for the Lord, [ai]to be observed by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of (BK)the Passover: no [aj](BL)foreigner is to eat it; 44 but as for every (BM)slave [ak]that someone has purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. 45 (BN)A stranger or a hired worker shall not eat it. 46 It is to be eaten in a single house; you are not to bring any of the meat outside of the house, (BO)nor are you to break any bone of it. 47 (BP)All the congregation of Israel are to [al]celebrate this. 48 But (BQ)if a stranger resides with you and [am]celebrates the Passover to the Lord, all of his males are to be circumcised, and then he shall come near to [an]celebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised male may eat it. 49 [ao](BR)The same law shall [ap]apply to the native as to the stranger who resides among you.”
50 Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day (BS)the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt (BT)according to their [aq]multitudes.
Footnotes
- Exodus 12:1 Lit Egypt, saying
- Exodus 12:3 Or kid
- Exodus 12:3 Or kid
- Exodus 12:3 Lit the
- Exodus 12:4 Or kid
- Exodus 12:4 Or amount
- Exodus 12:4 Lit each man’s eating
- Exodus 12:4 Lit compute for
- Exodus 12:5 Or kid
- Exodus 12:6 Lit It shall be to you for a guarding
- Exodus 12:6 Lit between the two evenings
- Exodus 12:7 Lit upon
- Exodus 12:8 Lit in addition to
- Exodus 12:11 I.e., for travel
- Exodus 12:13 Lit are
- Exodus 12:13 Lit for destruction
- Exodus 12:14 Or an eternal
- Exodus 12:15 Lit soul
- Exodus 12:16 Lit done
- Exodus 12:17 Lit armies
- Exodus 12:17 Or eternal
- Exodus 12:19 Lit soul
- Exodus 12:21 Lit sheep
- Exodus 12:22 Lit cause to touch
- Exodus 12:25 Lit spoken
- Exodus 12:25 Lit service
- Exodus 12:26 Lit What is this service to you?
- Exodus 12:27 Lit delivered
- Exodus 12:31 Or serve
- Exodus 12:38 Lit and
- Exodus 12:39 Lit made
- Exodus 12:40 Or of the sons of Israel who lived
- Exodus 12:41 Lit armies
- Exodus 12:42 Or of vigil
- Exodus 12:42 Or of vigil
- Exodus 12:43 Lit son of a stranger
- Exodus 12:44 Lit of a man, an acquisition of money
- Exodus 12:47 Lit perform
- Exodus 12:48 Lit performs
- Exodus 12:48 Lit perform
- Exodus 12:49 Lit One law
- Exodus 12:49 Lit be
- Exodus 12:51 I.e., multitudes in battle formation
Exodus 12
EasyEnglish Bible
The first Passover meal
12 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the country of Egypt. 2 He said, ‘This month will be the first month of each year for you. 3 Tell all the Israelite people to do this on the tenth day of this month: Each man must choose a lamb to kill as a sacrifice for his family. That will be one lamb for each home. 4 But the family may be too small to eat a whole lamb. Then they must share a lamb with another family that lives near. You must decide how much each person can eat and then count the number of people. 5 The lamb that you choose must have nothing wrong with it. It must be a male lamb that is one year old. It can be either a young sheep or a young goat.
6 Keep the lamb safe until the 14th day of this month. Then every Israelite family must kill their lamb in the evening. 7 They must take some of its blood. They must put the blood on the wood that is round the door of their house. They must put it on each side of the door and above the door. They must do this in every house where they will eat a lamb. 8 That night, they must cook the meat over the fire. They must eat it immediately, with bitter herbs and with bread that has no yeast in it. 9 You must cook the meat before you eat it. Cook it over the fire. Do not cook it in water. Cook the whole lamb, with its head, its legs and the inside parts of its body. 10 You must eat all the meat before morning arrives. If some of it still remains in the morning, then you must burn it. 11 This is how you must eat the lamb: Dress yourselves so that you are ready to travel. Put your shoes on your feet. Take your stick in your hand. Then eat the food quickly. This is the Passover meal which shows that you obey me, the Lord.
12 On the night that you eat the Passover meal, I will travel through the country of Egypt. I will kill every firstborn son and every firstborn male animal. I will punish all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 When you put the blood round the doors of your houses, that will be a sign to show that you live there. When I see the blood on your house, I will pass over you.[a] No trouble will hurt you, when I attack the people of Egypt.
14 In future years, you must remember this day as a special day every year. It will be a festival when you worship me, the Lord. You and your descendants must do this every year, for all time. 15 For seven days, you must eat flat bread that has no yeast in it. On the first day of the Passover festival, you must take all the yeast out of your houses. During those seven days, if anyone eats bread with yeast in it, he will no longer belong to my people, the Israelites.
16 On the first day of the festival, you must bring together all the people to a special meeting. And you must do the same thing on the seventh day. On these special days, you must not do your usual work. You may prepare the food that you need to eat on those days. That is the only work that you may do.
17 This will be the Feast of Flat Bread, when you eat bread with no yeast in it. You will remember that I brought you all out of the country of Egypt on this day. You marched out like an army, family by family! That is why you must enjoy this day as a special day, for all time. This is a rule that you must always obey. 18 In the first month of each year, you must eat bread without yeast in it. Do this from the evening of the 14th day until the evening of the 21st day. 19 For those seven days, you must not have any yeast in your houses. Whoever eats anything with yeast in it will no longer belong to my people, the Israelites. Everyone must obey these rules, those who live among you as strangers, as well as those who have been born in your land. 20 Eat nothing that has yeast in it. Whatever country you live in, you must eat bread without yeast in it.’
21 Then Moses called the leaders of the Israelites to come to him. He said to them, ‘Go immediately and choose a lamb for each of your families. Then kill the animals for the Passover feast. 22 Put the blood into a dish. Then take a branch of hyssop.[b] Make it wet with the blood that is in the dish. Then put some of the blood on the wood that is round your door. Nobody must go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 The Lord will pass through the country and he will kill the Egyptians. But when the Lord sees the blood on the wood round the door, he will pass over that house. He will not let the death angel come into your houses. The Lord will not let him kill you.
24 You must obey these rules always, both you and your descendants, for all time. 25 You will go into the land that the Lord promised to give you. Then you must continue to obey these rules. 26 Your children may say to you, “What does this feast mean?” 27 Then you must say to them, “It is the Lord's Passover sacrifice. The Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites when they were in Egypt. He killed the Egyptians but he saved our families.” ’ Then the people bent their heads down to the ground and they worshipped God.
28 The Israelites did everything that the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight, the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt. The firstborn son of Pharaoh, the king, died. But also, the firstborn son of any man who was in prison died. Every firstborn son in Egypt died. All the firstborn animals also died. 30 Pharaoh and all his officers woke up in the middle of the night. All the Egyptians also woke up in the middle of the night. Everyone was crying loudly everywhere in Egypt. In every home, somebody had died that night.
The Israelites leave Egypt
31 During the night, Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said, ‘Get out of here! Take all the Israelites with you and go away from my people! Go and worship the Lord, as you asked me before. 32 Take all your animals with you, as you have said. Just go away! But also pray that God will bless me.’
33 The Egyptians were telling the Israelites to leave quickly. They wanted them to go out of the country immediately. The Egyptians said, ‘If we do not send them away immediately, we will all die!’
34 So the Israelites took their bread before they had cooked it. They had not even put the yeast into it. They put the bread in dishes and they put clothes round the dishes. Then they carried the dishes on their shoulders. 35 The Israelites obeyed Moses. They asked the Egyptians for silver and gold. They also asked them for clothes. 36 The Lord had caused the Egyptians to be kind to the Israelites. Because of this, the Egyptians gave the Israelites everything that they asked for. In that way, the Israelites took away all the valuable things that belonged to the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites travelled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men who walked. There were also many women and children. 38 Many other people also travelled with them. They had a very large number of sheep, goats and cows. 39 The Israelites cooked the bread that they had brought with them from Egypt. It had no yeast in it, because they had to leave Egypt quickly. The Egyptians did not let them wait. So the Israelites did not have time to prepare any food for themselves.[c]
40 The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. 41 It was on the last day of the 430 years that all the Lord's people left Egypt. They left in family groups, like an army. 42 The Lord carefully watched his people all that night, when he brought them out of Egypt. Because of that, all Israelites must watch carefully during this special night. They and their descendants must do this every year, to thank the Lord.
Rules for the Passover festival
43 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘These are the rules for the Passover festival:
No foreign person may eat the Passover meal. 44 If you buy a foreign slave, you must first circumcise him. Then he may eat the food. 45 But if you pay him money for his work, he must not eat the food. A visitor also must not eat the food.
46 You must eat the meal in one house. You must not take any of the meat outside the house. You must not break any of the bones in the meat. 47 All the Israelites must enjoy the feast together.
48 There may be a foreign person who lives among you. He may want to join you to eat the Lord's Passover meal. But he must first be circumcised as well as all the men in his house. Then he can join with you and eat the Passover meal. He will be like a man who has been born in Israel. But no male person without circumcision can join the Passover feast. 49 Both the people who were born as Israelites and the foreign people who live among you must obey this rule.’
50 All the Israelites did everything that the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 On that same day, the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt, in family groups, like an army.
Footnotes
- 12:13 I will pass over you is where the English word ‘Passover’ comes from. God made a promise. He would not kill anyone in a house that had blood on the door. He would ‘pass over’ that house.
- 12:22 ‘Hyssop’ is a plant with lots of leaves. They held the hyssop in the hand and they used it like a paint brush. They painted some of the blood on the pieces of wood round the doors.
- 12:39 When you make bread with yeast in it, you must wait for the bread to become light and full of air. Then you can cook it. This takes some time. The Israelites were in a hurry. They did not have time for this.
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