< Exodus 12 >
1 The Lord told Moses and Aaron while they were still in Egypt,
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:
2 “This month will be for you the first month, 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 all the Israelites that on the tenth day of this month, every man must choose a lamb for his family, one for each 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 However, if the household is too small for a whole lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor may choose a lamb according to the total number of people. Divide up the lamb depending on what everybody can eat.
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 a year-old male without any defects, and you can take it either 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 Keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the Israelites will slaughter the animals after sunset and before it gets dark.
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 have the meal.
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 roast the meat over a fire and eat it that night, together 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 You are not to eat the meat raw or boiled in water. All of it must be roasted it over a fire, including the head, legs, and its insides.
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 Make sure nothing is left until the morning. If there is anything left over, burn it by morning.
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 the meal. You should be dressed ready to travel, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. You are to eat quickly—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 That very night I will go all through Egypt and kill every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring condemnation on 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 live will mark them out. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. No deathly plague will fall on you to destroy you when I attack 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 This will be a day to remember for you. You are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord for generations to come. You will observe this for all time 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 only bread made without yeast. On the first day you are to get rid of the yeast from your houses. Anyone who eats anything with yeast from the first day to seventh day must be excluded from the Israelite community.
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 both the first day and on the seventh day you are to have a holy meeting. You must not work on those days, except to prepare food. That is all you are allowed to 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 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I led your tribes by their respective divisions out of Egypt. You are to observe this day for all time 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 bread without yeast 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 yeast in your houses. If anyone eats something with yeast in it, then they must be excluded from the Israelite community, whether they are a foreigner or native of the land.
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 must not eat anything with yeast in it. Eat only bread without yeast in all your homes.”
You shall not eat any thing leavened: in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.
21 Then Moses called together all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go immediately and choose a lamb for each of your families, and kill 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 Get a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and put some on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you are to go out through door of the 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 punish the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. He will pass over the door, and he will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and kill you.
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 You and your descendants are to remember to observe these instructions for all time to come.
Thou shalt keep this thing as a law for thee and thy children for ever.
25 When you enter the land that the Lord promised to give you, you are to observe this ceremony.
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 come and ask you, ‘Why is this ceremony important to you?’
And when your children shall say to you: What is the meaning of this service?
27 you are to tell them, ‘This is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord. He was the one who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he killed the Egyptians but spared our households.’” The people bowed down in worship.
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 Then the Israelites went and did just as the Lord had told Moses and Aaron.
And the children of Israel going forth did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight the Lord killed 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 jail, and also all the firstborn of 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 Pharaoh got up during the night, as well as all his officials and all the Egyptians. There were loud cries of agony throughout Egypt, because there wasn't a single house where someone hadn't died.
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 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron during the night and told them, “Get out of here! Leave my people, the two of you and the Israelites! Go, so you can worship the Lord as you have asked.
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 like you've said, and leave! Oh, and bless me too.”
Your sheep and herds take along with you, as you demanded, and departing, bless me.
33 The Egyptians urged the Israelites to leave their country as quickly as possible, saying, “Otherwise we'll all die!”
And the Egyptians pressed the people to go forth out of the land speedily, saying: We shall all die.
34 So the Israelites picked up their dough before it had risen, and carried 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 In addition, the Israelites did what Moses had told them and asked the Egyptians for objects 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 The Lord had made the Egyptians look so favorably on the Israelites that they agreed their request. In this way they took the wealth of 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 set out on foot from Rameses for Succoth and numbered about 600,000 men, as well as 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 In addition many foreigners joined them. They also took with them large herds and flocks of livestock.
And a mixed multitude without number went up also with them, sheep and herds and beasts of divers kinds, exceeding many.
39 Since their bread dough didn't have any yeast, the Israelites baked what they had brought out of Egypt into loaves without yeast. This was because when they were driven out of Egypt they had to leave in a hurry and didn't have time to prepare food 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 The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years.
And the abode of the children of Israel that they made in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
41 On the very day the 430 years ended, all the tribes of the Lord by their respective divisions left 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 watch that night to lead them out of the land of Egypt, you are to keep watch this same night as an observance to honor the Lord, to be kept by all Israelites for 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 The Lord told Moses and Aaron, “This is the Passover ceremony. No foreigner is allowed to eat 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 bought can eat it once you have circumcised him.
But every bought servant shall be circumcised, and so shall eat.
45 Foreign visitors or those hired from other nations shall not eat the Passover.
The stranger and the hireling shall not eat thereof.
46 It has to be eaten inside the house. You are not allowed to take any of the meat outside the house, or to 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 All Israelites are to celebrate it.
All the assembly of the children of Israel shall keep it.
48 If there's a foreigner lives with you and wants to celebrate the Lord's Passover, all the males in their household have to be circumcised. Then he may come and celebrate it, and he shall be treated like a native of the land. But no man who is not circumcised may eat 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 rule applies to both the native and the foreigner who lives 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 followed these instructions. They did exactly what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
And all the children of Israel did as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
51 That very day the Lord led the Israelite tribes out of Egypt by their respective tribal divisions.
And the same day the Lord brought forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies.