Exodus 12
1 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me there in Egypt,
Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt. He said,
2 “[From now on], this month [will be] the first month of the year for you.
“For you, this month will be the start of months, 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.
Tell the assembly of Israel, 'On the tenth day of this month they must each take a lamb or young goat for themselves, each family doing this, a lamb for each 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.
If the household is too small for a lamb, the man and his next door neighbor are to take lamb or young goat meat that will be enough for the number of the people. It should be enough for everyone to eat, so they must take enough meat to feed them all.
5 The lambs or goats that you choose must be males, one-year-old, and they must not have any defects.
Your lamb or young goat must be without blemish, a one-year-old male. You may take one of the sheep or 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.
You must keep it until the fourteenth day of that month. Then the whole assembly of Israel must kill these animals at twilight.
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.
You must take some of the blood and put it on the two side doorposts and on the tops of the doorframes of the houses in which you will eat the meat.
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.
You must eat the meat that night, after first roasting it over a fire. Eat it with bread made without yeast, along 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.
Do not eat it raw or boiled in water. Instead, roast it over fire with its head, legs and inner 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.
You must not let any of it be left over until morning. You must burn whatever is left over in the morning.
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.
This is how you must eat it: with your belt fastened, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You must eat it hurriedly. It is Yahweh'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].
Yahweh says this: I will go through the land of Egypt in that night and attack all the firstborn of man and animal in the land of Egypt. I will bring punishment on all the gods of Egypt. I am Yahweh.
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.
The blood will be a sign on your houses for my coming to you. When I see the blood, I will pass over you when I attack the land of Egypt. This plague will not come on you and destroy you.
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.
This day will become a memorial day for you, which you must observe as a festival for Yahweh. It will always be a law for you, throughout your people's generations, that you must observe this day.
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.
You will eat bread without yeast during seven days. On the first day you will remove the yeast from your houses. Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person must 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.
On the first day there will be an assembly that is set apart to me, and on the seventh day there will be another such gathering. No work will be done on these days, except the cooking for everyone to eat. That must be the only work that 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.
You must observe this Festival of Unleavened Bread because it is on this day that I will have brought your people, armed group by armed group, out of the land of Egypt. So you must observe this day throughout your people's generations. This will always be a law for you.
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.
You must eat unleavened bread from twilight of the fourteenth day in the first month of the year, until twilight of the twenty-first day of the month.
During these seven days, no yeast must be found in your houses. Whoever eats bread made with yeast must be cut off from the community of Israel, whether that person is a foreigner or someone born in your land.
20 In your houses, do not eat anything that has yeast in it during those seven days.”
You must eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, you must eat bread made without yeast.'”
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 summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs or kids that will be enough to feed your families and kill the Passover lamb.
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.
Then take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that will be in a basin. Apply the blood in the basin to the top of the doorframe and the two doorposts. None of you is to 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 Yahweh will pass through to attack the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the top of the doorframe and on the two doorposts, he will pass over your door and not permit the destroyer to come into your houses to attack you.
24 You and your descendants must celebrate this festival forever.
You must observe this event. This will always be a law for you and your descendants.
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].
When you enter the land that Yahweh will give you, just as he has promised to do, you must observe this act of worship.
26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’,
When your children ask you, 'What does this act of worship mean?'
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 must say, 'It is the sacrifice of Yahweh's Passover, because Yahweh passed over the Israelites' houses in Egypt when he attacked the Egyptians. He set our households free.'” Then the people bowed down and worshiped Yahweh.
28 Then the Israeli people did what Yahweh had told Aaron and Moses/me [to tell them to do].
The Israelites went and did exactly as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron.
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.
It happened at midnight that Yahweh attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the person in prison 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.
Pharaoh got up in the night—he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians. There was loud lamenting in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not someone 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!
Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out from among my people, you and the Israelites. Go, worship Yahweh, as you have said you wanted to do.
32 Take your flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle], and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!”
Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and also bless me.”
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.
The Egyptians were in a great hurry to send them out of the land, for they said, “We will all 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.
So the people took their dough without adding any yeast. Their kneading bowls were already tied up in their clothes and 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!”
Now the people of Israel did as Moses told them. They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles 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].
Yahweh made the Egyptians eager to please the Israelites. So the Egyptians gave them whatever they asked for. In this way, the Israelites plundered 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.
The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth. They numbered about 600,000 men on foot, in addition to the women and 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].
A mixed multitude also went with them, together with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock.
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.
They baked bread without yeast in the dough that they brought from Egypt. It was without yeast because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay to prepare food.
40 The Israeli people had lived in Egypt 430 years.
The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years.
41 On the day that those 430 years ended, on that very day, all the tribes of Yahweh’s people left Egypt.
At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all of Yahweh's armed groups 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.
This was a night to stay awake, for Yahweh to bring them out from the land of Egypt. This was Yahweh's night to be observed by all the Israelites throughout their people's 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.
Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “Here is the rule for the Passover: No foreigner may share in eating it.
However, every Israelite's slave, bought with money, may eat it after you have circumcised him.
45 Do not let people who are living among you temporarily, or servants whom you have hired, eat [the Passover meal].
Foreigners and hired servants must not eat any of the food.
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.
The food must be eaten in one house. You must not carry any of the meat out of the house, and you must not break any bone of it.
47 All the Israeli people must celebrate this festival.
All the community of Israel must observe the festival.
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.
If a foreigner lives with you and wants to observe the Passover to Yahweh, all his male relatives must be circumcised. Then he may come and observe it. He will become like the people who were born in the land. However, no uncircumcised person may eat any of the food.
49 These rules apply to people who were born as Israelis and to foreigners who come and live among you.”
This same law will apply to both the native born and to the foreigner who lives among you.”
50 All the Israeli people obeyed Aaron and Moses/me and did what Yahweh had commanded.
So all the Israelites did exactly as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron.
51 On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
It came about that very day that Yahweh brought Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armed groups.
