Exodus 12-16

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

12 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

² This month shall be to you the beginning of months, the first month of the year to you.

³ Tell all the congregation of Israel, On the tenth day of this month they shall take every man a lamb or kid, according to [the size of] the family of which he is the father, a lamb or kid for each house.

⁴ And if the household is too small to consume the lamb, let him and his next door neighbor take it according to the number of persons, every man according to what each can eat shall make your count for the lamb.

⁵ Your lamb or kid shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; you shall take it from the sheep or the goats.^(A)

⁶ And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall [each] kill [his] lamb in the evening.

⁷ They shall take of the blood and put it on the two side posts and on the lintel [above the door space] of the houses in which they shall eat [the Passover lamb].^(B)

⁸ They shall eat the flesh that night roasted; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.

⁹ Eat not of it raw nor boiled at all with water, but roasted—its head, its legs, and its inner parts.

¹⁰ You shall let nothing of the meat remain until the morning; and the bones and unedible bits which remain of it until morning you shall burn with fire.

¹¹ And you shall eat it thus: [as fully prepared for a journey] your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment [proving their helplessness]. I am the Lord.

¹³ The blood shall be for a token or sign to you upon [the doorposts of] the houses where you are, [that] when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague shall be upon you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.^(C)

¹⁴ And this day shall be to you for a memorial. You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations, keep it as an ordinance forever.

¹⁵ [In celebration of the Passover in future years] seven days shall you eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away leaven [symbolic of corruption] out of your houses; for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a solemn and holy assembly, and on the seventh day there shall be a solemn and holy assembly; no kind of work shall be done in them, save [preparation of] that which every person must eat—that only may be done by you.

¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore shall you observe this day throughout your generations as an ordinance forever.

¹⁸ In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread [and continue] until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

¹⁹ Seven days no leaven [symbolic of corruption] shall be found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened shall be excluded from the congregation of Israel, whether a stranger or native-born.^(D)

²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread [during that week].

²¹ Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Go forth, select and take a lamb according to your families and kill the Passover [lamb].

²² And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood in the basin, and touch the lintel above the door and the two side posts with the blood; and none of you shall go out of his house until morning.

²³ For the Lord will pass through to slay the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood upon the lintel and the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to slay you.

²⁴ You shall observe this rite for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever.

²⁵ When you come to the land which the Lord will give you, as He has promised, you shall keep this service.

²⁶ When your children shall say to you, What do you mean by this service?

²⁷ You shall say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He slew the Egyptians but spared our houses. And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

²⁸ The Israelites went and, as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

²⁹ At midnight the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.

³⁰ Pharaoh rose up 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.

³¹ He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the Israelites; and go, serve the Lord, as you said.

³² Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone! And [ask your God to] bless me also.

³³ The Egyptians were urgent with the people to depart, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We are all dead men.

³⁴ The people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.

³⁵ The Israelites did according to the word of Moses; and they [urgently] asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver and of gold, and clothing.

³⁶ The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they gave them what they asked. And they stripped the Egyptians [of those things].

³⁷ The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.

³⁸ And a mixed multitude went also with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.

³⁹ They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought from Egypt; it was not leavened because they were driven from Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared for themselves any food.

⁴⁰ Now the time the Israelites dwelt in Egypt was 430 years.^(E)

⁴¹ At the end of the 430 years, even that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out of Egypt.

⁴² It was a night of watching unto the Lord and to be much observed for bringing them out of Egypt; this same night of watching unto the Lord is to be observed by all the Israelites throughout their generations.

⁴³ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: No foreigner shall eat of it;

⁴⁴ But every man’s servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then may he eat of it.

⁴⁵ A foreigner or hired servant shall not eat of it.

⁴⁶ In one house shall it be eaten [by one company]; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house; neither shall you break a bone of it.^(F)

⁴⁷ All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

⁴⁸ When a stranger sojourning with you wishes 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 one that is born in the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

⁴⁹ There shall be one law for the native-born and for the stranger or foreigner who sojourns among you.

⁵⁰ Thus did all the Israelites; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

⁵¹ And on that very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.

13 The Lord said to Moses,

² Sanctify (consecrate, set apart) to Me all the firstborn [males]; whatever is first to open the womb among the Israelites, both of man and of beast, is Mine.

³ And Moses said to the people, [Earnestly] remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage and bondmen, for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place; no leavened bread shall be eaten.

⁴ This day you go forth in the month Abib.

⁵ And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which He promised and swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty], you shall keep this service in this month.

⁶ Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread and the seventh day shall be a feast to the Lord.

⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, neither shall there be leaven in all your territory.

⁸ You shall explain to your son on that day, This is done because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.

⁹ It shall be as a sign to you upon your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt.

¹⁰ You shall therefore keep this ordinance at this time from year to year.

¹¹ And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He promised and swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you,

¹² You shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstlings of your livestock that are males shall be the Lord’s.

¹³ Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem by [substituting for it] a lamb, or if you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and every firstborn among your sons shall you redeem.

¹⁴ And when, in time to come, your son asks you, What does this mean? You shall say to him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage and bondmen.

¹⁵ For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord slew all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and of livestock. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb; but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.

¹⁶ And it shall be as a reminder upon your hand or as frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God led them not by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God said, Lest the people change their purpose when they see war and return to Egypt.

¹⁸ But God led the people around by way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the Israelites went up marshaled [in ranks] out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁹ And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for [Joseph] had strictly sworn the Israelites, saying, Surely God will be with you, and you must carry my bones away from here with you.^(G)

²⁰ They journeyed from Succoth and encamped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness.

²¹ The Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.

²² The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

14 And the Lord said to Moses,

² Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the [Red] Sea, before ^[a]Baal-zephon. You shall encamp opposite it by the sea.

³ For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, They are entangled in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.

⁴ I will harden (make stubborn, strong) Pharaoh’s heart, that he will pursue them, and I will gain honor and glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so.

⁵ It was told the king of Egypt that the people had fled; and the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, What is this we have done? We have let Israel go from serving us!

⁶ And he made ready his chariots and took his army,

⁷ And took 600 chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.

⁸ The Lord made hard and strong the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, for [they] left proudly and defiantly.^(H)

⁹ The Egyptians pursued them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the [Red] Sea by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ When Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked up, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them; and the Israelites were exceedingly frightened and cried out to the Lord.

¹¹ And they said to Moses, Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way and brought us out of Egypt?

¹² Did we not tell you in Egypt, Let us alone; let us serve the Egyptians? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.

¹³ Moses told the people, Fear not; stand still (firm, confident, undismayed) and see the salvation of the Lord which He will work for you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today you shall never see again.

¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace and remain at rest.

¹⁵ The Lord said to Moses, Why do you cry to Me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward!

¹⁶ Lift up your rod and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the Israelites shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

¹⁷ And I, behold, I will harden (make stubborn and strong) the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go [into the sea] after them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and horsemen.

¹⁸ The Egyptians shall know and realize that I am the Lord when I have gained honor and glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

¹⁹ And the ^[b]Angel of God Who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before them and stood behind them,

²⁰ Coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. It was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but it gave light by night to the Israelites; and the one host did not come near the other all night.

²¹ Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night and made the sea dry land; and the waters were divided.

²² And the Israelites went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

²³ The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

²⁴ And in the morning watch the Lord through the pillar of fire and cloud looked down on the host of the Egyptians and discomfited [them],

²⁵ And bound (clogged, took off) their chariot wheels, making them drive heavily; and the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians!

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen.

²⁷ So Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its strength and normal flow when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled into it [being met by it]; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians and shook them off into the midst of the sea.

²⁸ The waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that pursued them; not even one of them remained.

²⁹ But the Israelites walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰ Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore.

³¹ And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did against the Egyptians, and the people [reverently] feared the Lord and trusted in (relied on, remained steadfast to) the Lord and to His servant Moses.

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord, saying, I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider or its chariot has He thrown into the sea.

² The Lord is my Strength and my Song, and He has become my Salvation; this is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

³ The Lord is a Man of War; the Lord is His name.

⁴ Pharaoh’s chariots and his host has He cast into the sea; his chosen captains also are sunk in the Red Sea.

⁵ The floods cover them; they sank in the depths [clad in mail] like a stone.

⁶ Your right hand, O Lord, is glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

⁷ In the greatness of Your majesty You overthrow those rising against You. You send forth Your fury; it consumes them like stubble.

⁸ With the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up, the floods stood fixed in a heap, the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹ The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

¹⁰ You [Lord] blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; [clad in mail] they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹ Who is like You, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in splendor, doing wonders?

¹² You stretched out Your right hand, the earth’s [sea] swallowed them.

¹³ You in Your mercy and loving-kindness have led forth the people whom You have redeemed; You have guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.

¹⁴ The peoples have heard of it; they tremble; pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.

¹⁵ Now the chiefs of Edom are dismayed; the mighty men of Moab [renowned for strength], trembling takes hold of them; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away—little by little.

¹⁶ Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of Your arm they are as still as a stone—till Your people pass by and over [into Canaan], O Lord, till the people pass by whom You have purchased.

¹⁷ You will bring them in [to the land] and plant them on Your own mountain, the place, O Lord, You have made for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.

¹⁸ The Lord will reign forever and ever.

¹⁹ For the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the Israelites walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.

²⁰ Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing.

²¹ And Miriam responded to them, Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously and is highly exalted; the horse and his rider He has thrown into the sea.

²² Then Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea and they went into the Wilderness of Shur; they went three days [thirty-three miles] in the wilderness and found no water.

²³ When they came to Marah, they could not drink its waters for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah [bitterness].

²⁴ The people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

²⁵ And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree which he cast into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There [the Lord] made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He proved them,

²⁶ Saying, If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord your God and will do what is right in His sight, and will listen to and obey His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon you which I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord Who heals you.

²⁷ And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters.

16 They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of Israel came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they left the land of Egypt.

² And the whole congregation of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness,

³ And said to them, Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from the heavens for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in My law or not.

⁵ On the sixth day they shall prepare to bring in twice as much as they gather daily.

⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all Israel, At evening you shall know that the Lord has brought you out from the land of Egypt,

⁷ And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord, for He hears your murmurings against the Lord. For what are we, that you murmur against us?

⁸ And Moses said, [This will happen] when the Lord gives you in the evening flesh to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumblings which you murmur against Him; what are we? Your murmurings are not against us, but against the Lord.

⁹ And Moses said to Aaron, Say to all the congregation of Israel, Come near before the Lord, for He has heard your murmurings.

¹⁰ And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud!

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses,

¹² I have heard the murmurings of the Israelites; speak to them, saying, At twilight you shall eat meat, and between the two evenings you shall be filled with bread; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God.

¹³ In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning the dew lay round about the camp.

¹⁴ And when the dew had gone, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a fine, round and flakelike thing, as fine as hoarfrost on the ground.

¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they said one to another, Manna [What is it?]. For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat.^(I)

¹⁶ This is what the Lord has commanded: Let every man gather of it as much as he will need, an omer for each person, according to the number of your persons; take it, every man for those in his tent.

¹⁷ The [people] did so, and gathered, some more, some less.

¹⁸ When they measured it with an omer, he who gathered much had nothing over, and he who gathered little had no lack; each gathered according to his need.

¹⁹ Moses said, Let none of it be left until morning.

²⁰ But they did not listen to Moses; some of them left of it until morning, and it bred worms, became foul, and stank; and Moses was angry with them.

²¹ They gathered it every morning, each as much as he needed, for when the sun became hot it melted.

²² And on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each person; and all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses.

²³ He said to them, The Lord has said, Tomorrow is a solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake and boil what you will bake and boil today; and all that remains over put aside for you to keep until morning.

²⁴ They laid it aside till morning, as Moses told them; and it did not become foul, neither was it wormy.

²⁵ Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you shall find none in the field.

²⁶ Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there shall be none.

²⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none.

²⁸ The Lord said to Moses, How long do you [people] refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?

²⁹ See, the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day the bread for two days; let every man remain in his place; let no man leave his place on the seventh day.

³⁰ So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹ The house of Israel called the bread manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers made with honey.

³² Moses said, This is what the Lord commands, Take an omer of it to be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.

³³ And Moses said to Aaron, Take a pot and put an omer of manna in it, and lay it up before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations.

³⁴ As the Lord commanded Moses, Aaron laid it up before the Testimony to be kept [in the ark].^(J)

³⁵ And the Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

³⁶ (Now an omer is the tenth of an ephah.)