Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

The Passover Lamb

12 Now Adonai spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt saying, ² “This month will mark the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year for you. ³ Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb for his family one lamb for the household. ⁴ But if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor are to take one according to the number of the people. According to each person eating, you are to make your count for the lamb. ⁵ Your lamb is to be without blemish, a year old male.^[a] You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶ You must watch over it until the fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. ^{[b] 7} They are to take the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the crossbeam of the houses where they will eat it. ⁸ They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over a fire. With matzot and bitter herbs^[c] they are to eat it. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or boiled with water, but only roasted with fire—its head with its legs and its innards. ¹⁰ So let nothing of it remain until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning you are to burn with fire. ¹¹ Also you are to eat it this way: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is Adonai’s Passover.

¹² “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and strike down every firstborn, both men and animals, and I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am Adonai. ¹³ The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are.^[d] When I see the blood, I will pass over you. So there will be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

²¹ Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, select lambs for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb. ^{[a] 22} You are to take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply it to the crossbeam and two doorposts with the blood from the basin. None of you may go out the door of his house until morning. ²³ Adonai will pass through to strike down the Egyptians, but when He sees the blood on the crossbeam and the two doorposts, Adonai will pass over that door, and will not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you down. ²⁴ Also you are to observe this event as an eternal ordinance, for you and your children.

²⁵ “When you come into the land which Adonai will give you as He has promised, you are to keep this ceremony. ²⁶ Now when it happens that your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ²⁷ You are to say, ‘It is the sacrifice of Adonai’s Passover, because He passed over the houses of Bnei-Yisrael in Egypt, when He struck down the Egyptians, but spared our households.’” So the people bowed their heads and worshipped.

²⁸ Then Bnei-Yisrael went and did it. They did just as Adonai had commanded Moses and Aaron.

An Ethiopian Asks about Isaiah 53

²⁶ Now an angel of the Lord spoke to Philip, saying, “Get up, and go south on the road going down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a desert road.) ²⁷ So he got up and went. And behold, an Ethiopian eunuch—an official who was responsible for all the treasure of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians—had traveled to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸ and was now returning. Sitting in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah.

²⁹ The Ruach said to Philip, “Go, catch up with this chariot.”

³⁰ Philip ran up and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said, “Do you understand what you are reading?”

³¹ “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” So he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. ³² Now the passage of Scripture that he was reading was this:

³⁴ The eunuch replied to Philip, “Please tell me, who is the prophet talking about—himself or someone else?” ³⁵ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he proclaimed the Good News about Yeshua.

³⁶ Now as they were going down the road, they came to some water. The eunuch said, “Look, water! What’s to prevent me from being immersed?”

^{37  [b] 38} He ordered the chariot to stop. They both got down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and Philip immersed him. ³⁹ When they came up out of the water, the Ruach Adonai snatched Philip away.^[c] The eunuch saw no more of him, for he went on his way, rejoicing.

⁴⁰ But Philip found himself at Azotus. And as he passed through, he kept proclaiming the Good News to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.