The Passover
Exodus 12, verse 1. Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, Exodus 12, verse 2. “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. Exodus 12, verse 3. Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the family households, a lamb for each home. Exodus 12, verse 4. If there be too few in a household, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of souls; he will make his count in lambs according to the needs of each one. Exodus 12, verse 5. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or the kids. Exodus 12, verse 6. Then you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. Exodus 12, verse 7. Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. Exodus 12, verse 8. They shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. Exodus 12, verse 9. Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. Exodus 12, verse 10. You shall let none of it remain until morning, nor shall you break a bone of it; and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. Exodus 12, verse 11. Thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord's Pascha. Exodus 12, verse 12. For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute vengeance: I am the Lord. Exodus 12, verse 13. Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. Exodus 12, verse 14. So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance. Exodus 12, verse 15. ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. Exodus 12, verse 16. On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No servile work shall be done on them; and whatever must be done by each soul, this only shall be done by you. Exodus 12, verse 17. So you shall keep this commandment, for on this same day I will bring your army out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. Exodus 12, verse 18. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. Exodus 12, verse 19. For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. Exodus 12, verse 20. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’” Exodus 12, verse 21. Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go away and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and sacrifice the Pascha. Exodus 12, verse 22. Then you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. But none of you shall go out from the door of his house until morning. Exodus 12, verse 23. For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass by the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. Exodus 12, verse 24. Now you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your children forever. Exodus 12, verse 25. So if you enter the land the Lord shall give you, as He promised, you shall keep this service. Exodus 12, verse 26. Thus it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What does this service mean?’ Exodus 12, verse 27. that you shall say, ‘This is the Paschal sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’” So the people bowed down and worshiped. Exodus 12, verse 28. Then the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.
The Plague of the Death of the Firstborn
Exodus 12, verse 29. Now it came to pass at midnight that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive woman in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the cattle. Exodus 12, verse 30. So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in all the land of Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead. Exodus 12, verse 31. Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. Go and serve the Lord as you said. Exodus 12, verse 32. Take also your sheep and oxen and go, and bless me as well.” Exodus 12, verse 33. The Egyptians also urged the people so as to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” Exodus 12, verse 34. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. Exodus 12, verse 35. Thus the children of Israel did as Moses commanded them, and they asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, gold, and clothing. Exodus 12, verse 36. Now the Lord gave the people grace in the sight of the Egyptians, who lent to them. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
The Exodus
Exodus 12, verse 37. Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides their belongings. Exodus 12, verse 38. A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with sheep, oxen, and a great deal of cattle. Exodus 12, verse 39. Then they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because the Egyptians drove them out; and they could not remain, nor had they prepared for themselves provisions for the journey. Exodus 12, verse 40. Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt and in the land of Canaan was four hundred and thirty years. Exodus 12, verse 41. Then it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years that the entire army of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt by night. Exodus 12, verse 42. It is a night of vigil to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of vigil to the Lord for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
Paschal Regulations
Exodus 12, verse 43. Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the law of Pascha: no foreigner shall eat it. Exodus 12, verse 44. But every man's servant bought with money, when you circumcise him, then he may eat it. Exodus 12, verse 45. A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it. Exodus 12, verse 46. In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones. Exodus 12, verse 47. All the congregation of the children of Israel shall keep it. Exodus 12, verse 48. But when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Lord's Pascha, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and sacrifice it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it. Exodus 12, verse 49. One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.” Exodus 12, verse 50. Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. Exodus 12, verse 51. So it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their army.