Exodus 12
1 And the LORD 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 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 the house of [their] fathers, a lamb for a house:
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 shall be too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take [it] according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating 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 of the first year: ye 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 ye shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the 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 And they shall take of the blood, and strike [it] on the two side-posts, and on the upper door-post of 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 And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire; and unleavened bread, [and] with bitter [herbs] they shall eat it.
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 Eat not of it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted [with] fire; its head with its legs, and with its entrails.
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 And ye shall let nothing of it remain till the morning: and that which remaineth of it till the morning ye 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 And thus shall ye 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] the LORD'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 pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I [am] the LORD.
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 And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye [are]: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy [you], when I smite 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 And this day shall be to you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations: ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.
[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 shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whoever eateth leavened bread, from the first day till 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 And in the first day [there shall be] a holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you: no manner of work shall be done in them, save [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 And ye shall observe [the feast of] unleavened bread; for in this same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever.
[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, ye shall eat unleavened bread, till the one and twentieth 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 Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he shall be a stranger, or born in the land.
20 Ye shall eat nothing leavened: in all your habitations shall ye 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 Israel, and said to them, Draw out, and take you a lamb, according to your families, and kill the passover.
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 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 at the door of his house till the 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 the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the LORD will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in to your houses to smite [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 ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.
You and your descendants must celebrate this festival forever.
25 And it shall come to pass, when ye shall have come to the land which the LORD will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
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 come to pass, when your children shall say to you, What mean you by this service?
When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’,
27 That ye shall say, It [is] the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses. And the people bowed the head 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 And the children of Israel went away, and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
Then the Israeli people did what Yahweh had told Aaron and Moses/me [to tell them to do].
29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne, to the first-born of the captive that [was] in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle.
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 rose 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.
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 And he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Arise, [and] depart from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel: and go, serve the LORD, as ye have said.
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 Also take your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone: and bless me also.
Take your flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle], and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!”
33 And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste; for they said, We [are] all dead [men].
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 And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes upon 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 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses: and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment.
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 the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they lent to them [such things as they requested]: and they spoiled the Egyptians.
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 journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot [that were] men, besides children.
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 multitude went up also with them; and flocks, and herds, [even] very many cattle.
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 cakes of the dough which they brought from Egypt, for it was not leavened: because they were driven from Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any victuals.
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 sojourning of the children of Israel who dwelt 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 the four hundred and thirty years, even the same day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the LORD departed 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 [is] a night to be much observed to the LORD, for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this [is] that night of the LORD to be observed by all the children of Israel in 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 the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, This [is] the ordinance of the passover: there shall no stranger 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 that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.
45 A foreigner, and a hired servant shall 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 In one house shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry aught of the flesh abroad out of the house: neither shall ye break a bone of it.
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 shall keep it.
All the Israeli people must celebrate this festival.
48 And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall 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 One law shall be to him that is home-born, and to the stranger that sojourneth among you.
These rules apply to people who were born as Israelis and to foreigners who come and live among you.”
50 Thus did all the children of Israel; as the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
All the Israeli people obeyed Aaron and Moses/me and did what Yahweh had commanded.
51 And it came to pass the same day, [that] the LORD brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
