^11 (A)In the second month on the fourteenth day at twilight they shall keep it. ^(B)They shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

² For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover ^(A)in the second month— ³ for they could not keep it ^(B)at that time ^(C)because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— ⁴ and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. ⁵ So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, ^(D)from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. ^6 (E)So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, ^(F)return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of ^(G)the kings of Assyria. ^7 (H)Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. ^8 (I)Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, ^(J)that his fierce anger may turn away from you. ⁹ For ^(K)if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children ^(L)will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For ^(M)the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, ^(N)if you return to him.”

^10 (O)So the couriers went from city to city through the country of ^(P)Ephraim and Manasseh, and as far as Zebulun, but ^(Q)they laughed them to scorn and mocked them. ¹¹ However, ^(R)some men of Asher, of Manasseh, and of Zebulun humbled themselves and came to Jerusalem. ¹² The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded ^(S)by the word of the Lord.

¹³ And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread ^(T)in the second month, a very great assembly. ¹⁴ They set to work and removed ^(U)the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for burning incense they took away ^(V)and threw into the brook Kidron. ^15 (W)And they slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month. ^(X)And the priests and the Levites were ashamed, ^(Y)so that they consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings into the house of the Lord.

^36 (A)For these things took place that the Scripture might be fulfilled: ^(B)“Not one of his bones ^(C)will be broken.”

³ You shall eat no leavened bread with it. ^(A)Seven days you shall eat it with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt ^(B)in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt.

^3 (A)On the fourteenth day of this month, at twilight, you shall keep it at its appointed time; according to all its statutes and all its rules you shall keep it.”

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^[a] that is ^(A)bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. ^45 (B)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 ^(C)you shall not break any of its bones. ^47 (D)All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ^48 (E)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 ^(F)shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. ⁴⁹ There shall be ^(G)one law for the native and for the ^(H)stranger who sojourns among you.”

^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.