Exodus 12
1 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me there in Egypt,
And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
2 “[From now on], this month [will be] the first month of the year for you.
Let this month be to you the first of months, the first month of the year.
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.
Say to all the children of Israel when they are come together, In the tenth day of this month every man is to take a lamb, by the number of their fathers' families, a lamb for every family:
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 lamb is more than enough for the family, let that family and its nearest neighbour have a lamb between them, taking into account the number of persons and how much food is needed for every man.
5 The lambs or goats that you choose must be males, one-year-old, and they must not have any defects.
Let your lamb be without a mark, a male in its first year: you may take it from among the sheep or 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.
Keep it till the fourteenth day of the same month, when everyone who is of the children of Israel is to put it to death between sundown and dark.
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.
Then take some of the blood and put it on the two sides of the door and over the door of the house where the meal is to be taken.
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 let your food that night be the flesh of the lamb, cooked with fire in the oven, together with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants.
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 take it uncooked or cooked with boiling water, but let it be cooked in the oven; its head with its legs and its inside parts.
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.
Do not keep any of it till the morning; anything which is not used is to be burned 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 take your meal dressed as if for a journey, with your shoes on your feet and your sticks in your hands: take it quickly: it is the Lord'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 on that night I will go through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt: I am the Lord.
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 will be a sign on the houses where you are: when I see the blood I will go over you, and no evil will come on you for your destruction, when my hand is on 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 is to be kept in your memories: you are to keep it as a feast to the Lord through all your generations, as an order for ever.
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.
For seven days let your food be unleavened bread; from the first day no leaven is to be seen in your houses: whoever takes bread with leaven in it, from the first till the seventh day, will 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 on the first day there is to be a holy meeting and on the seventh day a holy meeting; no sort of work may be done on those days but only to make ready what is necessary for everyone's food.
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.
So keep the feast of unleavened bread; for on this very day I have taken your armies out of the land of Egypt: this day, then, is to be kept through all your generations by an order for ever.
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, from the evening of the fourteenth day, let your food be unleavened bread till the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.
For seven days no leaven is to be seen in your houses: for whoever takes bread which is leavened will be cut off from the people of Israel, if he is from another country or if he is an Israelite by birth.
20 In your houses, do not eat anything that has yeast in it during those seven days.”
Take nothing which has leaven in it; wherever you are living let your food be unleavened cakes.
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 sent for the chiefs of Israel, and said to them, See that lambs are marked out for yourselves and your families, and let the Passover lamb be put to death.
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 take some hyssop and put it in the blood in the basin, touching the two sides and the top of the doorway with the blood from the basin; and let not one of you go out of his house till 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 the Lord will go through the land, sending death on the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the two sides and the top of the door, the Lord will go over your door and will not let death come in for your destruction.
24 You and your descendants must celebrate this festival forever.
And you are to keep this as an order to you and to your sons for ever.
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 when you come into the land which the Lord will make yours, as he gave his word, you are to keep this act of worship.
26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’,
And when your children say to you, What is the reason of this act of worship?
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].
Then you will say, This is the offering of the Lord's Passover; for he went over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he sent death on the Egyptians, and kept our families safe. And the people gave worship with bent heads.
28 Then the Israeli people did what Yahweh had told Aaron and Moses/me [to tell them to do].
And the children of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had given orders to Moses and Aaron, so they did.
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 in the middle of the night the Lord sent death on every first male child in the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power to the child of the prisoner in the prison; and the first births of all the 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.
Then Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and a great cry went up from Egypt; for there was not a house where someone was not 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 sent for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Get up and go out from among my people, you and the children of Israel; go and give worship to the Lord as you have said.
32 Take your flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle], and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!”
And take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone; and give me your blessing.
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 forcing the people on, to get them out of the land quickly; 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 bread-paste before it was leavened, putting their basins in their clothing on their backs.
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 children of Israel had done as Moses had said; and they got from the Egyptians ornaments of silver and of gold, and clothing:
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 the Lord had given the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians so that they gave them whatever was requested. So they took away all their goods from 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 children of Israel made the journey from Rameses to Succoth; there were about six hundred thousand men on foot, as well as 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 band of people went with them; and flocks and herds in great numbers.
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 made unleavened cakes from the paste which they had taken out of Egypt; it was not leavened, for they had been sent out of Egypt so quickly, that they had no time to make any food ready.
40 The Israeli people had lived in Egypt 430 years.
Now the children of Israel had been living in Egypt for 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 at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the armies of the Lord went out of 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 watch-night before the Lord who took them out of the land of Egypt: this same night is a watch-night to the Lord for all the children of Israel, through all 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 the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the law of the Passover: no man who is not an Israelite is to take of it:
But every man's servant, whom he has got for money, may take of it, when he has had circumcision.
45 Do not let people who are living among you temporarily, or servants whom you have hired, eat [the Passover meal].
A man from a strange country living among you, and a servant working for payment, may not take part in 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.
It is to be taken in one house; not a bit of the flesh is to be taken out of the house, and no bone of it may be broken.
47 All the Israeli people must celebrate this festival.
All Israel is to keep the feast.
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 if a man from another country is living with you, and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all the males of his family undergo circumcision, and then let him come near and keep it; for he will then be as one of your people; but no one without circumcision may keep it.
49 These rules apply to people who were born as Israelis and to foreigners who come and live among you.”
The law is the same for him who is an Israelite by birth and for the man from a strange country who is living with you.
50 All the Israeli people obeyed Aaron and Moses/me and did what Yahweh had commanded.
So the children of Israel did as the Lord gave orders to Moses and Aaron.
51 On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
And on that very day the Lord took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
