Exodus 12
1 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me there in Egypt,
And Jehovah spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “[From now on], this month [will be] the first month of the year for you.
This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.
3 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.
Speak ye to all the congregation of Israel, saying, In 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.
4 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.
And if the household be 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 every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb.
5 The lambs or goats that you choose must be males, one-year-old, and they must not have any defects.
Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. Ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats.
6 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.
And ye 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.
7 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.
And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel upon the houses in which they shall eat it.
8 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.
And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread, with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 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.
Do not eat of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire, its head with its legs and with the inwards of it.
10 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.
And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning, but that which remains of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire.
11 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.
And thus ye shall eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And ye shall eat it in haste. It is Jehovah's Passover.
12 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].
For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am Jehovah.
13 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.
And the blood shall be to you for a sign upon the houses where ye are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.
14 [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.
And this day shall be to you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to Jehovah; throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.
15 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.
Seven days ye shall eat unleavened bread, even the first day ye shall put away leaven 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.
16 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.
And 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.
17 [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.
And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread, for in this selfsame day I have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore ye shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.
18 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.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.
Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one who is born in the land.
20 In your houses, do not eat anything that has yeast in it during those seven days.”
Ye shall eat nothing leavened, in all your habitations ye shall eat unleavened bread.
21 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’.
Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, Draw out, and take to you lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover.
22 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.
And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin, and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
23 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].
For Jehovah will pass through to smite the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, Jehovah will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you.
24 You and your descendants must celebrate this festival forever.
And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons forever.
25 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].
And it shall come to pass, when ye have come to the land which Jehovah will give you, according as he has promised, that ye shall keep this service.
26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’,
And it shall come to pass, when your sons shall say to you, What do ye mean by this service?
27 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].
that ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of Jehovah's Passover, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head and worshiped.
28 Then the Israeli people did what Yahweh had told Aaron and Moses/me [to tell them to do].
And the sons of Israel went and did so, as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
29 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.
And it came to pass at midnight, that Jehovah smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.
30 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.
And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.
31 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!
And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the sons of Israel, and go, serve Jehovah, as ye have said.
32 Take your flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle], and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!”
Take both your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone, and bless me also.
33 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.
And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, We are all dead men.
34 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.
And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
35 The Egyptians urged the [Israeli] people to leave their country quickly. They said, “[If you do not do that], we will all die!”
And the sons of Israel did according to the word of Moses, and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment.
36 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].
And Jehovah gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. And they despoiled the Egyptians.
37 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.
And the sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children.
38 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].
And a mixed multitude also went up with them, and flocks, and herds, even very much cattle.
39 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.
And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any provisions.
40 The Israeli people had lived in Egypt 430 years.
Now the time that the sons of Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan was four hundred and thirty years.
41 On the day that those 430 years ended, on that very day, all the tribes of Yahweh’s people left Egypt.
And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the armies of Jehovah went out from the land of Egypt.
42 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.
It is a night to be much observed to Jehovah for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of Jehovah, to be much observed of all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
43 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.
And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall no foreigner eat of it,
but every man's servant who is bought for money, when thou have circumcised him, then he shall eat of it.
45 Do not let people who are living among you temporarily, or servants whom you have hired, eat [the Passover meal].
A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat of it.
46 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.
In one house it shall be eaten. Thou shall not carry forth any of the flesh abroad out of the house, neither shall ye break a bone of it.
47 All the Israeli people must celebrate this festival.
All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48 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.
And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Passover to Jehovah, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it, and he shall be as one who is born in the land, but no uncircumcised man shall eat of it.
49 These rules apply to people who were born as Israelis and to foreigners who come and live among you.”
One law shall be to him who is home-born, and to the stranger who sojourns among you.
50 All the Israeli people obeyed Aaron and Moses/me and did what Yahweh had commanded.
Thus did all the sons of Israel, as Jehovah commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
51 On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
And it came to pass the selfsame day, that Jehovah brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
