Exodus 12
1 The Lord also said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me there in Egypt,
2 “This month will be for you the beginning of the months. It will be first in the months of the year.
“[From now on], this month [will be] the first month of the year for you.
3 Speak to the entire assembly of the sons of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month, let everyone take a lamb, by their families and houses.
Tell all the Israeli people that in each family, the man who heads the family must select a lamb or a young goat for his household.
4 But if the number is less than may suffice to be able to consume the lamb, he shall accept his neighbor, who has been joined with his house according to the number of souls that may suffice to be able to eat the lamb.
If there are not enough people in his family to eat a whole [cooked] lamb, then his family and the family that lives next door may share one animal. Decide how many lambs you need according to the number of people in each family, and according to how much each person can eat.
5 And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a one year old male. According to this rite, you shall also take a young goat.
The lambs or goats that you choose must be males, one-year-old, and they must not have any defects.
6 And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. And the entire multitude of the sons of Israel shall immolate it toward evening.
You must take [special] care of these animals until the 14th day of the month. On that day, all the Israeli people must slaughter the lambs [or goats] in the evening.
7 And they shall take from its blood, and place it on both the door posts and the upper threshold of the houses, in which they will consume it.
Then they must take some of the blood [from the lambs or goats], and they must smear it on the doorposts and the (lintels/horizontal beams above the doorways) of the houses in which they will eat the meat.
8 And that night they shall eat the flesh, roasted by fire, and unleavened bread with wild lettuce.
They must roast the animals immediately and eat the meat that night. They must eat it with bread that is baked without yeast and with bitter herbs.
9 You shall not consume anything from it raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted by fire. You shall devour the head with its feet and entrails.
You must not eat any of the meat raw, and you must not boil the meat. You must roast it [whole], without cutting off the head or the legs or removing the internal parts.
10 Neither shall there remain anything from it until morning. If anything will have been left over, you shall burn it with fire.
You must eat all the meat that evening; do not let any of the meat remain [to be eaten] the next morning. If any of the meat is left until the next morning, you must [completely] burn it.
11 Now you shall consume it in this way: You shall gird your waist, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall consume it in haste. For it is the Passover (that is, the Crossing) of the Lord.
When you eat it, you must be dressed ready to travel, and you must eat it quickly. You must have your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hands. It will be a festival [called] Passover to [honor] me, Yahweh.
12 And I will cross through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man, even to cattle. And I will bring judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord.
On that night I will go through all the country of Egypt, and I will kill all the oldest males in Egypt, both humans and animals. [By doing this] I will show that all the gods in Egypt are worthless. [I can do this], because I am Yahweh, [the all-powerful God].
13 But the blood will be for you as a sign in the buildings where you will be. And I will see the blood, and I will pass over you. And the plague will not be with you to destroy, when I strike the land of Egypt.
The blood [that you smear on the doorways will be a mark to indicate] the houses in which you [Israelis] live. When I see the blood, I will [ignore and] pass by those houses, and I will not harm you [Israelis who live there], when I punish the Egyptians.
14 Then you shall have this day as a memorial, and you shall celebrate it as a solemnity to the Lord, in your generations, as an everlasting devotion.
[Each year], you must celebrate this festival on this day, to remember [what I], Yahweh, [have done for you]. In all the generations to come, [each year] you must celebrate [this festival]. [It must continue] forever.
15 For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day there shall be no leaven in your houses. Whoever will consume anything leavened, from the first day, even until the seventh day, that soul shall perish from Israel.
For seven days you must eat bread that has no yeast in it. On the first day of that week you must get rid of all the yeast that is in your houses. During those seven days, if anyone eats bread that is baked with yeast in it, [you must consider] that person to be no longer an Israeli.
16 The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be venerated with the same festivity. You shall do no work in these days, except that which pertains to the eating.
On the first day [of that week], you must (have a holy meeting/gather together to [worship] me). You must do the same thing on the seventh day. People must not work on those two days. The only work they may do is to prepare food for you to eat.
17 And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread. For on this same day, I will lead your army out of the land of Egypt, and you shall keep this day, in your generations, as a perpetual ritual.
[Every year] you must keep celebrating this festival of eating bread that has no yeast in it, because it will remind you that it was on this day that I brought all your tribal groups out of Egypt. So [every year], in all the generations to come, you must celebrate this day as a festival. It must continue forever.
18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, toward evening, you shall consume the unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the same month, toward evening.
In the first month of the year, on the 14th day of that month, the only bread you may eat is bread that has no yeast in it. You must keep doing that each day until the 21st day of that month. For those seven days you must not have any yeast in your house. [During that time], if anyone, either an Israeli or a foreigner, eats bread made with yeast, you must consider that person no longer to be an Israeli.
19 For seven days, there shall not be found leaven in your houses. Whoever will eat leaven, his soul will perish from the assembly of Israel, as much with the newcomers as with the natives of the land.
20 You shall not consume any leaven. In all your dwelling places, you shall eat unleavened bread.”
In your houses, do not eat anything that has yeast in it during those seven days.”
21 Then Moses called all the elders of the sons of Israel, and he said to them: “Go, taking an animal by your families, and sacrifice the Passover.
Then Moses/I summoned all the leaders of the Israeli people. He/I said to them, “Each family should select a lamb and kill it, [in order that you may eat it to celebrate the festival that will be called] ‘Passover’.
22 And dip a little bundle of hyssop in the blood which is at the entrance, and sprinkle the upper threshold with it, and both of the door posts. Let none of you go out of the door of his house until morning.
Let the lamb’s blood [drain into] a basin. Get a bunch/sprig of (hyssop/a very leafy plant) and dip it in the blood. Then smear some of the blood on the doorposts and the (lintels/beams above the doorways) [of your houses]. The people in each house must all stay inside the house until the next morning.
23 For the Lord will cross through, striking the Egyptians. And when he will see the blood on the upper threshold, and on both the door posts, he will pass over the door of the house and not permit the Striker to enter into your houses or to do harm.
When Yahweh goes throughout Egypt to kill the [oldest male in each] Egyptian family, he will see the blood on the (lintels/beams of your doorways), and he will [ignore and] pass by those houses. He will not allow the angel who causes people to die to enter your houses and kill [any of] your [oldest sons].
24 You shall keep this word as a law for you and for your sons, forever.
You and your descendants must celebrate this festival forever.
25 And when you have entered into the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he has promised, you shall observe these ceremonies.
And when you arrive in the land that Yahweh will be giving to you as he promised, you must keep celebrating this ritual [every year].
26 And when your sons will say to you, ‘What is the meaning of this religious observance?’
When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’,
27 You shall say to them: ‘It is the victim of the crossing of the Lord, when he passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, striking the Egyptians, and freeing our houses.’” And the people, bowing down, worshipped.
you must tell them, ‘This ritual is [to remember how our ancestors] sacrificed [lambs] on the night that Yahweh’s angel passed by the houses of the Israeli people [when they were] in Egypt. He killed the [oldest males/sons in all] the Egyptian houses, but he spared [the sons in] [MTY] our houses.’” After Moses/I told them this, they all bowed their heads and worshiped [Yahweh].
28 And the sons of Israel, departing, did just as the Lord had instructed Moses and Aaron.
Then the Israeli people did what Yahweh had told Aaron and Moses/me [to tell them to do].
29 Then it happened, in the middle of the night: the Lord struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the captive woman who was in prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.
At midnight Yahweh killed all the oldest sons of the Egyptian people, all over Egypt. That included the king’s oldest son, the oldest sons of the prisoners in the dungeon/jail, and [the oldest sons of everyone else]. He also killed the oldest males of all the Egyptians’ livestock.
30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, and all his servants, and all of Egypt. And there arose a great outcry in Egypt. For there was not a house in which no one lay dead.
That night the king, all his officials, and [all the rest of] the Egyptian people awoke [and discovered what had happened]. They wailed loudly all over Egypt, because in every house, someone’s son had died.
31 And Pharaoh, calling Moses and Aaron in the night, said: “Rise up and go forth from among my people, you and the sons of Israel. Go, sacrifice to the Lord, just as you say.
That night the king summoned Aaron and Moses/me and said, “You and all the [other] Israeli people, must leave my country [immediately]! Go and worship Yahweh, as you requested!
32 Your sheep and herds take along with you, as you requested, and as you go away, bless me.”
Take your flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle], and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!”
33 And the Egyptians urged the people to go away from the land quickly, saying, “We will all die.”
Then the Israeli people did as Moses/I had told them. They [went to] their Egyptian [neighbors] and asked them for silver and gold jewelry and clothing.
34 Therefore, the people took bread dough before it was leavened. And tying it in their cloaks, they placed it on their shoulders.
Yahweh caused the Egyptian people to greatly respect the [Israeli] people, so they gave them what they asked for. In that way, they carried away the wealth of the Egyptian people.
35 And the sons of Israel did just as Moses had instructed. And they petitioned the Egyptians for vessels of silver and of gold, and very many garments.
The Egyptians urged the [Israeli] people to leave their country quickly. They said, “[If you do not do that], we will all die!”
36 Then the Lord granted favor to the people in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they bestowed on them. And they despoiled the Egyptians.
So the [Israeli] people [prepared to leave at once]. They took the bowls in which they mixed the dough to make bread, and the dough that was in the bowls without any yeast in it, and they wrapped the bowls in their cloaks. They put the bowls on their shoulders [and left].
37 And the sons of Israel set out from Rameses to Soccoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides little ones.
The Israeli people traveled from Rameses [city] to Succoth [town]. There were about 600,000 men who went, in addition to the women and children.
38 But also an innumerable mix of common people ascended with them, sheep and herds and animals of diverse kinds, exceedingly many.
Many other people who were not Israelis went along with them. There were also livestock, the flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle].
39 And they baked the bread, which a little while ago they had taken out of Egypt as dough. And they made unleavened bread baked under ashes. For it was not able to be leavened, with the Egyptians compelling them to leave and not permitting them to cause any delay. Neither did they have occasion to prepare any meat.
On their way, they baked bread with the dough that they carried with them when they had been expelled from Egypt. The dough did not have yeast in it, because they were told to leave Egypt so quickly that they did not have enough time to get food ready to take with them, or enough time to mix yeast in the dough.
40 Now the habitation of the sons of Israel, while they remained in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
The Israeli people had lived in Egypt 430 years.
41 Having been completed, on the same day all the army of the Lord departed from the land of Egypt.
On the day that those 430 years ended, on that very day, all the tribes of Yahweh’s people left Egypt.
42 This night is a worthy observance of the Lord, when he led them out of the land of Egypt. This all the sons of Israel must observe in their generations.
It was a night when Yahweh (protected/guarded over) them as he brought them out of Egypt. So this same night every year is a night that is dedicated to Yahweh, a night when the Israeli people in every generation [remember how] Yahweh protected our ancestors.
43 And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron: “This is the religious observance of the Passover. No foreigner shall eat from it.
Then Yahweh said this to Aaron and Moses/me: “These are my instructions about the Passover ritual: Do not let foreigners eat [the Passover meal]. But any male slaves that you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised them.
44 But every bought servant shall be circumcised, and so he may eat from it.
45 The newcomer and the hired hand shall not eat from it.
Do not let people who are living among you temporarily, or servants whom you have hired, eat [the Passover meal].
46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry its flesh outside, nor shall you break its bone.
Each family must eat the Passover meal inside their own house. Do not take any of the food outside the house. And do not break any of the bones of the lamb that is sacrificed.
47 The entire assembly of the sons of Israel shall do this.
All the Israeli people must celebrate this festival.
48 And if any sojourner will be willing to cross over into your settlement, and to keep the Passover of the Lord, all his males shall first be circumcised, and then he shall celebrate the rite. And he shall be just like a native of the land. But if any man is not circumcised, he shall not eat from it.
When someone from another country comes to live with you and wants to celebrate the Passover Festival, circumcise all the males in his household. Then they may eat the Passover meal, and you should treat those people as though they were born as Israelis. But do not allow men who have not been circumcised to eat the Passover meal.
49 The law shall be the same for the native born and for the settler who sojourns with you.”
These rules apply to people who were born as Israelis and to foreigners who come and live among you.”
50 And all the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had instructed Moses and Aaron.
All the Israeli people obeyed Aaron and Moses/me and did what Yahweh had commanded.
51 And on the same day, the Lord led the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies.
On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
