Exodus 12
1 Now YHWH spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me there in Egypt,
2 "This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.
“[From now on], this month [will be] the first month of the year for you.
3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth day of this month, they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household;
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 and if the household is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls; according to what everyone can eat you shall make your count for 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 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male in its first year. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:
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 the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at 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 They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat 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 They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.
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 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts.
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 You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn 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 This is how you shall eat it: with your waist girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste: it is YHWH's Passover.
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 For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am YHWH.
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 The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be on you to destroy you, 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 This day shall be to you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to YHWH: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
[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 "'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off 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 In the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.
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 You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day have I brought your regiments out of the land of Egypt: therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
[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 at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at 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 yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that person must be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a foreigner, or one who is born in the land.
20 You must eat nothing leavened. In all your places where you live you must eat unleavened bread.'"
In your houses, do not eat anything that has yeast in it during those seven days.”
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of the children of Israel, and said to them, "Go and select lambs according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.
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 you are to take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply it on the top and on both sides of the doorframe with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you is to 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 YHWH will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, YHWH will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
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 And you must observe this as an ordinance for you and your children forever.
You and your descendants must celebrate this festival forever.
25 And it shall come to pass when you enter the land which YHWH will give you, as he has promised, you must keep this ceremony.
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 it shall be, when your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this ceremony?'
When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’,
27 that you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of YHWH's Passover, because he passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.'" And the people bowed down and worshiped.
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 Then the children of Israel went away and did as YHWH had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Then the Israeli people did what Yahweh had told Aaron and Moses/me [to tell them to do].
29 And it came to pass at midnight that YHWH killed all the firstborn 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 prison, and all the firstborn of livestock.
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 got up during the night, he, and all his servants, and all Egypt, and there was loud wailing in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not someone 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 Then he summoned for Moses and Aaron during the night, and said, "Get up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve YHWH, as you have requested.
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 Take your flocks and your herds, as you have requested, and be gone, but bless me also."
Take your flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle], and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!”
33 The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land quickly, for they said, "We will all be dead."
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 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped in their clothing 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 Now the children of Israel did according to what Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing.
The Egyptians urged the [Israeli] people to leave their country quickly. They said, “[If you do not do that], we will all die!”
36 And YHWH gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they gave them whatever they wanted. And so they plundered Egypt.
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 children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides their dependents.
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 And a mixed crowd also went up with them, and a huge number of livestock, both flocks and herds.
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 unleavened loaves using the dough that they had brought out of Egypt; for it wasn't leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and couldn't wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
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 time that the children of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.
The Israeli people had lived in Egypt 430 years.
41 And it came to pass at the end of four hundred thirty years, to the day, it came to pass that all the regiments of YHWH went out 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 It was a night when YHWH kept vigil to bring them out from the land of Egypt. So on this night all the children of Israel must keep a vigil to YHWH throughout 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 YHWH said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner may eat of 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 man's servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may he eat of it.
45 A foreigner and a hired servant must not eat of it.
Do not let people who are living among you temporarily, or servants whom you have hired, eat [the Passover meal].
46 It is to be eaten in one house. You must not take any of the meat outside the house, and you are not to break any of its bones.
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 All the congregation of Israel is to keep it.
All the Israeli people must celebrate this festival.
48 If a foreigner lives with you and wants to keep the Passover to YHWH, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may take part and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of 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 same law will apply to the native-born and to the foreigner who lives among you."
These rules apply to people who were born as Israelis and to foreigners who come and live among you.”
50 So all the children of Israel did as YHWH commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
All the Israeli people obeyed Aaron and Moses/me and did what Yahweh had commanded.
51 And it happened on this very day that YHWH brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.
On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
