The First Passover

12 While the Israelites were still in the land of Egypt, the Lord gave the following instructions to Moses and Aaron: ² “From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you. ³ Announce to the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for a sacrifice, one animal for each household. ⁴ If a family is too small to eat a whole animal, let them share with another family in the neighborhood. Divide the animal according to the size of each family and how much they can eat. ⁵ The animal you select must be a one-year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, with no defects.

⁶ “Take special care of this chosen animal until the evening of the fourteenth day of this first month. Then the whole assembly of the community of Israel must slaughter their lamb or young goat at twilight. ⁷ They are to take some of the blood and smear it on the sides and top of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the animal. ⁸ That same night they must roast the meat over a fire and eat it along with bitter salad greens and bread made without yeast. ⁹ Do not eat any of the meat raw or boiled in water. The whole animal—including the head, legs, and internal organs—must be roasted over a fire. ¹⁰ Do not leave any of it until the next morning. Burn whatever is not eaten before morning.

¹¹ “These are your instructions for eating this meal: Be fully dressed,^[a] wear your sandals, and carry your walking stick in your hand. Eat the meal with urgency, for this is the Lord’s Passover. ¹² On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn son and firstborn male animal in the land of Egypt. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord! ¹³ But the blood on your doorposts will serve as a sign, marking the houses where you are staying. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. This plague of death will not touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time. ¹⁵ For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, remove every trace of yeast from your homes. Anyone who eats bread made with yeast during the seven days of the festival will be cut off from the community of Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day of the festival and again on the seventh day, all the people must observe an official day for holy assembly. No work of any kind may be done on these days except in the preparation of food.

¹⁷ “Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent law for you; celebrate this day from generation to generation. ¹⁸ The bread you eat must be made without yeast from the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of that month. ¹⁹ During those seven days, there must be no trace of yeast in your homes. Anyone who eats anything made with yeast during this week will be cut off from the community of Israel. These regulations apply both to the foreigners living among you and to the native-born Israelites. ²⁰ During those days you must not eat anything made with yeast. Wherever you live, eat only bread made without yeast.”

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, “Go, pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. ²² Drain the blood into a basin. Then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the doorframes of your houses. And no one may go out through the door until morning. ²³ For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.

²⁴ “Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. ²⁵ When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. ²⁶ Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’ ²⁷ And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.’” When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped.

²⁸ So the people of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded through Moses and Aaron. ²⁹ And that night at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed. ³⁰ Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died.

Israel’s Exodus from Egypt

³¹ Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. “Get out!” he ordered. “Leave my people—and take the rest of the Israelites with you! Go and worship the Lord as you have requested. ³² Take your flocks and herds, as you said, and be gone. Go, but bless me as you leave.” ³³ All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, “We will all die!”

³⁴ The Israelites took their bread dough before yeast was added. They wrapped their kneading boards in their cloaks and carried them on their shoulders. ³⁵ And the people of Israel did as Moses had instructed; they asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold. ³⁶ The Lord caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth!

³⁷ That night the people of Israel left Rameses and started for Succoth. There were about 600,000 men,^[b] plus all the women and children. ³⁸ A rabble of non-Israelites went with them, along with great flocks and herds of livestock. ³⁹ For bread they baked flat cakes from the dough without yeast they had brought from Egypt. It was made without yeast because the people were driven out of Egypt in such a hurry that they had no time to prepare the bread or other food.

⁴⁰ The people of Israel had lived in Egypt^[c] for 430 years. ⁴¹ In fact, it was on the last day of the 430th year that all the Lord’s forces left the land. ⁴² On this night the Lord kept his promise to bring his people out of the land of Egypt. So this night belongs to him, and it must be commemorated every year by all the Israelites, from generation to generation.

Instructions for the Passover

⁴³ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the instructions for the festival of Passover. No outsiders are allowed to eat the Passover meal. ⁴⁴ But any slave who has been purchased may eat it if he has been circumcised. ⁴⁵ Temporary residents and hired servants may not eat it. ⁴⁶ Each Passover lamb must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of its meat outside, and do not break any of its bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Israel must celebrate this Passover festival.

⁴⁸ “If there are foreigners living among you who want to celebrate the Lord’s Passover, let all their males be circumcised. Only then may they celebrate the Passover with you like any native-born Israelite. But no uncircumcised male may ever eat the Passover meal. ⁴⁹ This instruction applies to everyone, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner living among you.”

⁵⁰ So all the people of Israel followed all the Lord’s commands to Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ On that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt like an army.

Judas Agrees to Betray Jesus

22 The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is also called Passover, was approaching. ² The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the people’s reaction.

³ Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, ⁴ and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. ⁵ They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. ⁶ So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest him when the crowds weren’t around.

The Last Supper

⁷ Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread arrived, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed. ⁸ Jesus sent Peter and John ahead and said, “Go and prepare the Passover meal, so we can eat it together.”

⁹ “Where do you want us to prepare it?” they asked him.

¹⁰ He replied, “As soon as you enter Jerusalem, a man carrying a pitcher of water will meet you. Follow him. At the house he enters, ¹¹ say to the owner, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room where I can eat the Passover meal with my disciples?’ ¹² He will take you upstairs to a large room that is already set up. That is where you should prepare our meal.” ¹³ They went off to the city and found everything just as Jesus had said, and they prepared the Passover meal there.

¹⁴ When the time came, Jesus and the apostles sat down together at the table.^{[a] 15} Jesus said, “I have been very eager to eat this Passover meal with you before my suffering begins. ¹⁶ For I tell you now that I won’t eat this meal again until its meaning is fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.”

¹⁷ Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it. Then he said, “Take this and share it among yourselves. ¹⁸ For I will not drink wine again until the Kingdom of God has come.”

¹⁹ He took some bread and gave thanks to God for it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”

²⁰ After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you.^[b]

²¹ “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. ²² For it has been determined that the Son of Man^[c] must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him.” ²³ The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.

²⁴ Then they began to argue among themselves about who would be the greatest among them. ²⁵ Jesus told them, “In this world the kings and great men lord it over their people, yet they are called ‘friends of the people.’ ²⁶ But among you it will be different. Those who are the greatest among you should take the lowest rank, and the leader should be like a servant. ²⁷ Who is more important, the one who sits at the table or the one who serves? The one who sits at the table, of course. But not here! For I am among you as one who serves.

²⁸ “You have stayed with me in my time of trial. ²⁹ And just as my Father has granted me a Kingdom, I now grant you the right ³⁰ to eat and drink at my table in my Kingdom. And you will sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

³¹ “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat. ³² But I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail. So when you have repented and turned to me again, strengthen your brothers.”

³³ Peter said, “Lord, I am ready to go to prison with you, and even to die with you.”

³⁴ But Jesus said, “Peter, let me tell you something. Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.”

³⁵ Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out to preach the Good News and you did not have money, a traveler’s bag, or an extra pair of sandals, did you need anything?”

“No,” they replied.

³⁶ “But now,” he said, “take your money and a traveler’s bag. And if you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one! ³⁷ For the time has come for this prophecy about me to be fulfilled: ‘He was counted among the rebels.’^[d] Yes, everything written about me by the prophets will come true.”

³⁸ “Look, Lord,” they replied, “we have two swords among us.”

“That’s enough,” he said.

Jesus Prays on the Mount of Olives

³⁹ Then, accompanied by the disciples, Jesus left the upstairs room and went as usual to the Mount of Olives. ⁴⁰ There he told them, “Pray that you will not give in to temptation.”

⁴¹ He walked away, about a stone’s throw, and knelt down and prayed, ⁴² “Father, if you are willing, please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.” ⁴³ Then an angel from heaven appeared and strengthened him. ⁴⁴ He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.^[e]

⁴⁵ At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. ⁴⁶ “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.”

Jesus Is Betrayed and Arrested

⁴⁷ But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of the twelve disciples. Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss. ⁴⁸ But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?”

⁴⁹ When the other disciples saw what was about to happen, they exclaimed, “Lord, should we fight? We brought the swords!” ⁵⁰ And one of them struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his right ear.

⁵¹ But Jesus said, “No more of this.” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.

⁵² Then Jesus spoke to the leading priests, the captains of the Temple guard, and the elders who had come for him. “Am I some dangerous revolutionary,” he asked, “that you come with swords and clubs to arrest me? ⁵³ Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there every day. But this is your moment, the time when the power of darkness reigns.”

Peter Denies Jesus

⁵⁴ So they arrested him and led him to the high priest’s home. And Peter followed at a distance. ⁵⁵ The guards lit a fire in the middle of the courtyard and sat around it, and Peter joined them there. ⁵⁶ A servant girl noticed him in the firelight and began staring at him. Finally she said, “This man was one of Jesus’ followers!”

⁵⁷ But Peter denied it. “Woman,” he said, “I don’t even know him!”

⁵⁸ After a while someone else looked at him and said, “You must be one of them!”

“No, man, I’m not!” Peter retorted.

⁵⁹ About an hour later someone else insisted, “This must be one of them, because he is a Galilean, too.”

⁶⁰ But Peter said, “Man, I don’t know what you are talking about.” And immediately, while he was still speaking, the rooster crowed.

⁶¹ At that moment the Lord turned and looked at Peter. Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” ⁶² And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.

⁶³ The guards in charge of Jesus began mocking and beating him. ⁶⁴ They blindfolded him and said, “Prophesy to us! Who hit you that time?” ⁶⁵ And they hurled all sorts of terrible insults at him.

Jesus before the Council

⁶⁶ At daybreak all the elders of the people assembled, including the leading priests and the teachers of religious law. Jesus was led before this high council,^{[f] 67} and they said, “Tell us, are you the Messiah?”

But he replied, “If I tell you, you won’t believe me. ⁶⁸ And if I ask you a question, you won’t answer. ⁶⁹ But from now on the Son of Man will be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand.^[g]”

⁷⁰ They all shouted, “So, are you claiming to be the Son of God?”

And he replied, “You say that I am.”

⁷¹ “Why do we need other witnesses?” they said. “We ourselves heard him say it.”