Exodus 12
1 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me there in Egypt,
And the Lord 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 is the first to you among the months 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.
Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month let them take each man a lamb according to the houses of their families, every man a lamb for his 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 they be few in a household, so that there are not enough for the lamb, he shall take with himself his neighbor that lives near to him, —as to the number of souls, every one according to that which suffices him shall make a reckoning for the lamb.
5 The lambs or goats that you choose must be males, one-year-old, and they must not have any defects.
It shall be to you a lamb unblemished, a male of a year old: you shall take it of the lambs and the kids.
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 it shall be kept by you till the fourteenth of this month, and all the multitude of the congregation of the children of Israel shall kill it toward 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 shall put it on the two door-posts, and on the lintel, in the houses in which soever they shall eat them.
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 this night roast with fire, and they shall eat unleavened [bread] with bitter herbs.
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.
You shall not eat of it raw nor sodden in water, but only roast with fire, the head with the feet and the appurtenances.
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.
Nothing shall be left of it till the morning, and a bone of it you shall not break; but that which is left of it till the morning you 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 shall you eat it: your loins girded, and your sandals on your feet, and your staves in your hands, and you shall eat it in haste. It is a passover to the Lord.
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].
and I will go throughout the land of Egypt in that night, and will strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt both man and beast, and on all the gods of Egypt will I execute vengeance: 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 shall be for a sign to you on the houses in which you are, and I will see the blood, and will protect you, and there shall not be on you the plague of destruction, when I strike in 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 a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord through all your generations; you shall keep it a feast for a perpetual ordinance.
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 you shall eat unleavened bread, and from the first day you shall utterly remove leaven from your houses: whoever shall eat leaven, that soul shall be utterly destroyed from Israel, from the first day until the seventh day.
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 the first day shall be called holy, and the seventh day shall be a holy convocation to you: you shall do no servile work on them, only as many things as will [necessarily] be done by every soul, this only shall 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 you shall keep this commandment, for on this day will I bring out your force out of the land of Egypt; and you shall make this day a perpetual ordinance for you throughout your generations.
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.
Beginning the fourteenth day of the first month, you shall eat unleavened bread from evening, till the twenty-first day of the month, till evening.
Seven days leaven shall not be found in your houses; whoever shall eat anything leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, both among the occupiers of the land and the original inhabitants.
20 In your houses, do not eat anything that has yeast in it during those seven days.”
You shall eat nothing leavened, but in every habitation of your you 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’.
And Moses called all the elders of the children of Israel, and said to them, Go away and take to yourselves a lamb according to your kindred, 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 you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and having dipped it into some of the blood that is by the door, you shall touch the lintel, and [shall put it] upon both door-posts, even of the blood which is by the door; but you shall not go out every one from the door 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].
And the Lord shall pass by to strike the Egyptians, and shall see the blood upon the lintel, and upon both the door-posts; and the Lord shall pass by the door, and shall not suffer the destroyer to enter into your houses to strike [you].
24 You and your descendants must celebrate this festival forever.
And keep you this thing as an ordinance for yourself and for your children 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 if you should enter into the land, which the Lord shall give you, as he has spoken, keep this service.
26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’,
And it shall come to pass, if your sons say to you, What is 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 you shall say to them, This passover is a sacrifice to the Lord, as he defended the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, but delivered our houses.
28 Then the Israeli people did what Yahweh had told Aaron and Moses/me [to tell them to do].
And the people bowed and worshipped. And the children of Israel departed and did as the Lord 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 the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharao that sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the captive-maid in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all 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 Pharao rose up by night, and his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in all the land of Egypt, for there was not a house in which 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 Pharao called Moses and Aaron by night, and said to them, Rise and depart from my people, both you and the children of Israel. Go and serve the Lord your God, even as you say.
32 Take your flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle], and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!”
And take with you your sheep, and your oxen: bless me also, I pray you.
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 constrained the people, so that they cast them out of the land with haste, for they said, We all shall die.
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 their meal was leavened, bound up [as it was] in their garments, on 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 children of Israel did as Moses commanded them, and they asked of the Egyptians articles of silver and gold and apparel.
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 gave his people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and they lent to them; and they spoiled 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 Israel departed from Ramesses to Socchoth, to [the full number of] six hundred thousand footmen, even men, besides the baggage.
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 great mixed [company] went up with them, and sheep and oxen and 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 the dough which they brought out of Egypt, unleavened cakes, for it had not been leavened; for the Egyptians cast them out, and they could not remain, neither did they prepare provision for themselves for the journey.
40 The Israeli people had lived in Egypt 430 years.
And the sojourning of the children of Israel, while they sojourned in the land of Egypt and the land of Chanaan, [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 after the four hundred and thirty years, all the forces of the Lord came forth out of the land of Egypt by night.
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 kept to the Lord, so that he should bring them out of the land of Egypt; that very night is a watch kept to the Lord, so that it should be to all the children of Israel to 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 stranger shall eat of it.
And every slave or servant bought with money—him you shall circumcise, and then shall he 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 or hireling 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 shall it be eaten, and you shall not carry of the flesh out from the house; and a bone of it you shall not break.
47 All the Israeli people must celebrate this festival.
All the congregation of the children 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 if any proselyte shall come to you to keep the passover to the Lord, you shall circumcise every male of him, and then shall he approach to sacrifice it, and he shall be even as the original inhabitant of the land; no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
49 These rules apply to people who were born as Israelis and to foreigners who come and live among you.”
There shall be one law to the native, and to the proselyte coming among you.
50 All the Israeli people obeyed Aaron and Moses/me and did what Yahweh had commanded.
And the children of Israel did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron for them, so they did.
51 On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
And it came to pass in that day that the Lord brought out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt with their forces.
