< Exodus 12 >

1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
2 “This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.
This month shall be to you the beginning of months: it shall be the first in the months of the year.
3 Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household.
Speak ye to the whole assembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses.
4 If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly.
But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take unto him his neighbour that joineth to his house, according to the number of souls which may be enough to eat the lamb.
5 Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.
And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year: according to which rite also you shall take a kid.
6 You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month: and the whole multitude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening.
7 They are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
8 They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire, and unleavened bread with wild lettuce.
9 Do not eat any of the meat raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire—its head and legs and inner parts.
You shall not eat thereof any thing raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted at the fire: you shall eat the head with the feet and entrails thereof.
10 Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over.
Neither shall there remain any thing of it until morning. If there be any thing left, you shall burn it with fire.
11 This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.
And thus you shall eat it: you shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste: for it is the Phase (that is the Passage) of the Lord.
12 On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
And I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will distinguish them; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be: and I shall see the blood, and shall pass over you: and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt.
14 And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
And this day shall be for a memorial to you: and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord in your generations with an everlasting observance.
15 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread: in the first day there shall be no leaven in your houses: whosoever shall eat any thing leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall perish out of Israel.
16 On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.
The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be kept with the like solemnity: you shall do no work in them, except those things that belong to eating.
17 So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
And you shall observe the feast of the unleavened bread: for in this same day I will bring forth your army out of the land of Egypt, and you shall keep this day in your generations by a perpetual observance.
18 In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
The first month, the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the same month in the evening.
19 For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.
Seven days there shall not be found any leaven in your houses: he that shall eat leavened bread, his soul shall perish out of the assembly of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land.
20 You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”
You shall not eat any thing leavened: in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb.
And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: Go take a lamb by your families, and sacrifice the Phase.
22 Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning.
And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning.
23 When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
For the Lord will pass through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pass over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you.
24 And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants.
Thou shalt keep this thing as a law for thee and thy children for ever.
25 When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service.
And when you have entered into the land which the Lord will give you as he hath promised, you shall observe these ceremonies.
26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’
And when your children shall say to you: What is the meaning of this service?
27 you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
You shall say to them: It is the victim of the passage of the Lord, when he passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians, and saving our houses. And the people bowing themselves, adored.
28 And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
And the children of Israel going forth did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.
And it came to pass at midnight, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharao, who sat on his throne, unto the firstborn of the captive woman that was in the prison, and all the firstborn of cattle.
30 During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.
And Pharao arose in the night, and all his servants, and all Egypt: for there was not a house wherein there lay not one dead.
31 Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.
And Pharao calling Moses and Aaron, in the night, said: Arise and go forth from among my people, you and the children of Israel: go, sacrifice to the Lord as you say.
32 Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.”
Your sheep and herds take along with you, as you demanded, and departing, bless me.
33 And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!”
And the Egyptians pressed the people to go forth out of the land speedily, saying: We shall all die.
34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing.
The people therefore took dough before it was leavened: and tying it in their cloaks, put it on their shoulders.
35 Furthermore, the Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing.
And the children of Israel did as Moses had commanded: and they asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver and gold, and very much raiment.
36 And the LORD gave the people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that they granted their request. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.
And the Lord gave favour to the people in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent unto them: and they stripped the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.
And the children of Israel set forward from Ramesse to Socoth, being about six hundred thousand men on foot, beside children.
38 And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
And a mixed multitude without number went up also with them, sheep and herds and beasts of divers kinds, exceeding many.
39 Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.
And they baked the meal, which a little before they had brought out of Egypt, in dough: and they made earth cakes unleavened: for it could not be leavened, the Egyptians pressing them to depart, and not suffering them to make any stay: neither did they think of preparing any meat.
40 Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years.
And the abode of the children of Israel that they made in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
Which being expired, the same day all the army of the Lord went forth out of the land of Egypt.
42 Because the LORD kept a vigil that night to bring them out of the land of Egypt, this same night is to be a vigil to the LORD, to be observed by all the Israelites for the generations to come.
This is the observable night of the Lord, when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt: this night all the children of Israel must observe in their generations.
43 And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it.
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the service of the Phase: No foreigner shall eat of it.
44 But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.
But every bought servant shall be circumcised, and so shall eat.
45 A temporary resident or hired hand shall not eat the Passover.
The stranger and the hireling shall not eat thereof.
46 It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of the bones.
In one house shall it be eaten, neither shall you carry forth of the flesh thereof out of the house, neither shall you break a bone thereof.
47 The whole congregation of Israel must celebrate it.
All the assembly of the children of Israel shall keep it.
48 If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it.
And if any stranger be willing to dwell among you, and to keep the Phase of the Lord, all his males shall first be circumcised, and then shall he celebrate it according to the manner: and he shall be as he that is born in the land: but if any man be uncircumcised, he shall not eat thereof.
49 The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”
The same law shall be to him that is born in the land, and to the proselyte that sojourneth with you.
50 Then all the Israelites did this—they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
And all the children of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
51 And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.
And the same day the Lord brought forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies.

< Exodus 12 >