The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁴ “This day is to be a memorial for you, and you must celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. You are to celebrate it throughout your generations as a permanent statute.^{(A) 15} You must eat unleavened bread for seven days. On the first day you must remove yeast^(B) from your houses. Whoever eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day must be cut off^(C) from Israel. ¹⁶ You are to hold a sacred assembly^(D) on the first day and another sacred assembly on the seventh day. No work may be done on those days except for preparing what people need to eat—you may do only that.

¹⁷ “You are to observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt.^(E) You must observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent statute. ¹⁸ You are to eat unleavened bread in the first month,^(F) from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹ Yeast must not be found in your houses for seven days. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreign resident or native of the land, must be cut off from the community of Israel. ²⁰ Do not eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”^[a]

²¹ Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select an animal from the flock according to your families, and slaughter the Passover animal.^{(G) 22} Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it in the blood^(H) that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. ²³ When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, He will pass over the door and not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you.^(I)

²⁴ “Keep this command permanently as a statute for you and your descendants. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the Lord will give you as He promised, you are to observe this ritual. ²⁶ When your children^(J) ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean to you?’ ²⁷ you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice^(K) to the Lord, for He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” So the people bowed down and worshiped. ²⁸ Then the Israelites went and did this; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

The Exodus

²⁹ Now at midnight the Lord struck every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock.^{(L) 30} During the night Pharaoh got up, he along with all his officials and all the Egyptians, and there was a loud wailing^(M) throughout Egypt because there wasn’t a house without someone dead. ³¹ He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites, and go, worship Yahweh as you have asked. ³² Take even your flocks and your herds as you asked and leave, and also bless me.”

³³ Now the Egyptians pressured the people in order to send them quickly out of the country, for they said, “We’re all going to die!”^{(N) 34} So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped up in their clothes on their shoulders.

³⁵ The Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.^{(O) 36} And the Lord gave the people such favor in the Egyptians’ sight that they gave them what they requested. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth,^(P) about 600,000^(Q) soldiers on foot, besides their families. ³⁸ An ethnically diverse crowd also went up with them, along with a huge number of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ The people baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, since it had no yeast; for when they had been driven^(R) out of Egypt they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ The time that the Israelites lived in Egypt^[b] was 430 years.^{(S) 41} At the end of 430 years, on that same day, all the Lord’s divisions went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It was a night of vigil in honor of the Lord, because He would bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is in honor of the Lord, a night vigil for all the Israelites throughout their generations.^(T)

Passover Instruction

⁴³ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner may eat it. ⁴⁴ But any slave a man has purchased may eat it, after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵ A temporary resident or hired hand may not eat the Passover.^{(U) 46} It is to be eaten in one house. You may not take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of its bones.^{(V) 47} The whole community of Israel must celebrate^[c] it. ⁴⁸ If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the Lord’s Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate;^[d] he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. ⁴⁹ The same law will apply to both the native and the foreigner^(W) who resides among you.”

⁵⁰ Then all the Israelites did this; they did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ On that same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their divisions.^(X)

13 The Lord spoke to Moses: ² “Consecrate every firstborn male^(Y) to Me, the firstborn from every womb among the Israelites, both man and domestic animal; it is Mine.”

³ Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery, for the Lord brought you out of here by the strength of His hand. Nothing leavened may be eaten.^{(Z) 4} Today, in the month of Abib,^[e](AA) you are leaving. ⁵ When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites,^[f] which He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(AB) you must carry out this ritual in this month.^{(AC) 6} For seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread is to be eaten for those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, and no yeast may be found among you in all your territory. ⁸ On that day explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’^{(AD) 9} Let it serve as a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead,^[g](AE) so that the Lord’s instruction may be in your mouth; for the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand. ¹⁰ Keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹ “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and your fathers, and gives it to you, ¹² you are to present to the Lord every firstborn male of the womb. All firstborn offspring of the livestock you own that are males will be the Lord’s. ¹³ You must redeem every firstborn of a donkey with a flock animal, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. However, you must redeem every firstborn among your sons.^(AF)

¹⁴ “In the future, when your son^(AG) asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘By the strength of His hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, out of the place of slavery. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of livestock. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord all the firstborn of the womb that are males, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons.’ ¹⁶ So let it be a sign on your hand and a symbol^[h] on your forehead, for the Lord brought us out of Egypt by the strength of His hand.”^(AH)

Two Blind Men Healed

²⁹ As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.^{(A) 30} There were two blind men sitting by the road. When they heard that Jesus was passing by, they cried out, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!” ³¹ The crowd told them to keep quiet, but they cried out all the more, “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David!”^(B)

³² Jesus stopped, called them, and said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”

³³ “Lord,” they said to Him, “open our eyes!” ³⁴ Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes. Immediately they could see, and they followed Him.

The Triumphal Entry

21 When they approached Jerusalem^(C) and came to Bethphage at the Mount of Olives,^(D) Jesus then sent two disciples, ² telling them, “Go into the village ahead of you. At once you will find a donkey tied there, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to Me. ³ If anyone says anything to you, you should say that the Lord needs them, and immediately he will send them.”

⁴ This took place so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled:

⁶ The disciples went and did just as Jesus directed them. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt; then they laid their robes on them, and He sat on them. ⁸ A very large crowd spread their robes on the road; others were cutting branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. ⁹ Then the crowds who went ahead of Him and those who followed kept shouting:

¹⁰ When He entered Jerusalem, the whole city was shaken, saying, “Who is this?” ¹¹ And the crowds kept saying, “This is the prophet Jesus^(G) from Nazareth in Galilee!”

Cleansing the Temple Complex

¹² Jesus went into the temple complex^[c](H) and drove out all those buying and selling in the temple. He overturned the money changers’ tables and the chairs of those selling doves.^{(I) 13} And He said to them, “It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer.^[d] But you are making it a den of thieves!”^(J)[e]

Children Praise Jesus

¹⁴ The blind and the lame came to Him in the temple complex, and He healed them. ¹⁵ When the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonders that He did and the children shouting in the temple complex, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant ¹⁶ and said to Him, “Do You hear what these children are saying?”

“Yes,” Jesus told them. “Have you never read:

¹⁷ Then He left them, went out of the city to Bethany,^(L) and spent the night there.

The Barren Fig Tree

¹⁸ Early in the morning,^(M) as He was returning to the city, He was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He went up to it and found nothing on it except leaves. And He said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” At once the fig tree withered.

²⁰ When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and said, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”

²¹ Jesus answered them, “I assure you: If you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you tell this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done.^{(N) 22} And if you believe, you will receive^(O) whatever you ask for in prayer.”

The Malicious Man