CHAPTER 12
Tell
the whole
congregation
of Israel
that on the tenth
day of this
month,
each man
must select
a lamb
for his family,
one
per household.
If
the household
is too
small
for a whole lamb,
they are to
share with
the nearest
neighbor,
based on the number
of people,
and apportion
the lamb
accordingly.
You must care for it
until
the fourteenth
day
of the
month,
when the whole
assembly
of the congregation
of Israel
will slaughter
the animals
at
twilight.
They are to take
some of
the blood
and put
it on
the two
sideposts
and
tops of the doorframes
of the houses
in which
they eat the lambs.
They are to eat
the meat
that
night,
roasted
over the fire,
along with unleavened bread
and bitter herbs.
Do not
eat
any of
the meat raw
or cooked
in boiling
water,
but only
roasted
over the fire—
its head
and
legs
and inner parts.
Do not
leave
any of it
until
morning;
before
the morning
you must burn up
any part
that is left over.
This is how
you are to eat it:
You must be fully dressed for travel,
with your sandals
on your feet
and your staff
in your hand.
You are to eat
in haste;
it
is the LORD’s
Passover.
On that
night
I will pass
through the land
of Egypt
and strike down
every
firstborn male,
both man
and
beast,
and I will execute
judgment
against all
the gods
of Egypt.
I
am the LORD.
The blood
on
the houses
where
you
are staying
will
distinguish them;
when I see
the blood,
I will pass
over you.
No
plague
will fall
on you
to destroy you
when I strike
the land
of Egypt.
And this
day
will be
a memorial for you,
and you are to celebrate
it
as a feast
to the LORD,
as a lasting
ordinance
for the generations to come.
For seven
days
you must eat
unleavened bread.
On the first
day
you are to remove
the yeast
from your houses.
Whoever
eats
anything leavened
from the first
day
through
the seventh
must be cut off
from Israel.
On the first
day
you are to hold
a sacred
assembly,
and another
on the seventh
day.
You must
not
do
any work
on those days,
except to prepare
the meals—
that
is all
you may do.
So you are to observe
the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
for
on this
very
day
I brought
your divisions
out of the land
of Egypt.
You must observe
this
day
as a lasting
ordinance
for the generations to come.
In the first month
you are to eat
unleavened bread,
from the evening
of the fourteenth
day
until
the evening
of the twenty-first
day.
For seven
days
there must be no
yeast
found
in your houses.
If
anyone
eats
something leavened,
that
person,
whether a foreigner
or native
of the land,
must be cut off
from the congregation
of Israel.
Then Moses
summoned
all
the elders
of Israel
and told
them,
“Go at once
and select
for yourselves
a lamb
for each family,
and slaughter
the Passover lamb.
Take
a cluster
of hyssop,
dip
it into the blood
in the basin,
and brush
the top
and the two
sideposts of the doorframe
with some of
the blood.
None
of you
shall go out
the door
of his house
until
morning.
When the LORD
passes through
to strike down
the Egyptians,
He will see
the blood
on
the top
and the two
sideposts
and pass
over
the door;
so He will not
allow
the destroyer
to enter
your houses
and strike you down.
When
you enter
the land
that
the LORD
will give you
as
He promised,
you are to observe
this
service.
you are to reply,
‘It
is the Passover
sacrifice
to the LORD,
who
passed
over
the houses
of the Israelites
in Egypt
when He struck down
the Egyptians
and spared
our homes.’”
Then the people
bowed down
and worshiped.
Now
at midnight
the LORD
struck down
every
firstborn
male in the land
of Egypt,
from the firstborn
of Pharaoh,
who sat
on
his throne,
to
the firstborn
of the prisoner
in the dungeon,
as well as all
the firstborn
among the livestock.
During the night
Pharaoh
got up—
he
and all
his officials
and all
the Egyptians—
and there was
loud
wailing
in Egypt;
for there was no
house
without
someone dead.
Then Pharaoh summoned
Moses
and Aaron
by night
and said,
“Get up,
leave
my people,
both
you
and
the Israelites!
Go,
worship
the LORD
as you have requested.
And in order to send them
out of
the land
quickly,
the Egyptians
urged
the people on.
“For otherwise,”
they said,
“we are all
going to die!”
So the people
took
their dough
before
it was leavened,
carrying it on
their shoulders
in kneading bowls
wrapped
in clothing.
Furthermore, the Israelites
acted
on Moses’
word
and asked
the Egyptians
for articles
of silver
and
gold,
and for clothing.
And the LORD
gave
the people
such favor
in the sight
of the Egyptians
that they granted their request.
In this way they plundered
the Egyptians.
The Israelites
journeyed
from Rameses
to Succoth
with about 600,000
men
on foot,
besides
women and children.
And a mixed
multitude
also
went up
with them,
along with great droves of
livestock,
both flocks
and herds.
Since
their dough
had no
yeast,
the people baked
what they had brought
out of Egypt
into unleavened
loaves.
For
when they had been driven out
of Egypt,
they could
not
delay
and
had not
prepared
any provisions
for themselves.
At the end
of the 430
years,
to the
very
day,
all
the LORD’s
divisions
went out
of the land
of Egypt.
Because the LORD
kept a vigil
that
night
to bring them out
of Egypt,
this same
night is to be a vigil
to the LORD,
to be observed
by all
the Israelites
for the generations to come.
And the LORD
said
to
Moses
and Aaron,
“This
is the ordinance
of the Passover:
No
foreigner
is to eat
of it.
It must be eaten
inside one
house.
You are not
to take
any of
the meat
outside
the house,
and you may not
break
any of the bones.
If
a foreigner
resides
with
you and wants to celebrate
the LORD’s
Passover,
all the
males in the household
must be circumcised;
then
he may come near
to celebrate it,
and he shall be
like a native
of the land.
But no
uncircumcised man
may eat
of it.
And
on that
very
day
the LORD
brought
the Israelites
out of the land
of Egypt
by
their divisions.