Exodus 12
1 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses/me there in Egypt,
And the Lord spoke unto 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 unto you the chief of months: the first shall it be unto you of 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 ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this month they shall take to themselves every man a lamb for every family, a lamb for every house:
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 the household be too small for a lamb, then shall he take it with his neighbor who is next unto his house, according to the number of the souls; every man according to what he eateth shall ye make a count for the lamb.
5 The lambs or goats that you choose must be males, one-year-old, and they must not have any defects.
A lamb without blemish, a male of the first year shall ye have; from the sheep, or from the goats may ye take it.
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 ye shall have it in keeping until the fourteenth day of the same month; and then the whole assembly of the congregation 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 put it on the two side-posts and on the upper door-post, in the houses, wherein they shall eat it.
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 that night, roasted by the fire, with unleavened bread; together with bitter herbs shall they eat it.
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 in any wise sodden with water; but roasted by the fire; its head with its legs, and with its entrails.
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.
And ye shall not let any thing of it remain until morning; and that which remaineth of it until morning ye 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 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 passover unto 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 pass through the land of Egypt in this night, and I will smite every first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt will I execute judgments: 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 to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and there shall be no plague against you to destroy, when I smite [others] 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 unto you for a memorial; and ye shall celebrate it as a feast unto the Lord; throughout your generations, as an ordinance for ever shall ye celebrate it.
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 shall ye eat unleavened bread; but on the first day ye shall have put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread, that soul shall be cut off 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 on the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done on them, save what is eaten by every man, that only may be prepared 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 ye shall observe the unleavened bread; for on this selfsame day have I brought forth your armies out of the land of Egypt; therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations as an ordinance for ever.
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.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, at evening, shall ye eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at evening.
Seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses; for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or one born in the land.
20 In your houses, do not eat anything that has yeast in it during those seven days.”
Nothing that is leavened shall ye eat; in all your habitations shall ye 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 for the elders of Israel, and said unto them, Draw out and take for yourselves lambs according to your families, and kill the passover sacrifice.
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 ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip 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 frown 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].
And 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 unto your houses to smite.
24 You and your descendants must celebrate this festival forever.
And ye shall observe this thing, as an ordinance for thee and for thy sons 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 it shall come to pass, when ye be come into the land which the Lord will give you, according as he hath promised, that ye shall keep this service.
26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’,
And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by 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 ye shall say, It is the sacrifice of the passover unto the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he smote the Egyptians, and our houses he spared; and the people bent the head and bowed themselves.
28 Then the Israeli people did what Yahweh had told Aaron and Moses/me [to tell them to do].
And the children of Israel went away, and did as the Lord had 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 smote every first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that was to sit on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born 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.
And Pharaoh rose up 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 some 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 he called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Eternal, as ye have spoken.
32 Take your flocks [of sheep and goats] and herds [of cattle], and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!”
Also your flocks and your herds take, as ye have spoken, and be gone; and bless me also.
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 were urgent upon the people, to make haste to send them away out of the land; for they said, We are all dying.
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 up their dough before it was yet leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon 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 had done according to the word of Moses; and they had asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and garments.
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 had given the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they gave unto them what they required; and they emptied out Egypt.
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 of Israel journeyed from Ra'meses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, beside 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].
And a mixed multitude also went up with them; and flocks, and herds, a very large amount of 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 of the dough, which they had brought forth out of Egypt, unleavened cakes, for it was not leavened; because they were thrust out of Egypt, and could not tarry, neither had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 The Israeli people had lived in Egypt 430 years.
Now the time of the residence of the children of Israel, which they dwelt in Egypt, 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 at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, and it happened even on the selfsame day, that all the armies of the Lord 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.
A night to be observed was this unto the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night holy to the Lord, to be observed by all the children of Israel in 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 unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the passover: No stranger shall eat thereof.
But every man's servant that is bought for money, when thou hast circumcised him, then shall he eat thereof.
45 Do not let people who are living among you temporarily, or servants whom you have hired, eat [the Passover meal].
A resident foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat thereof.
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; thou shalt not carry forth aught of the flesh abroad out of the house; and no bone shall ye break in it.
47 All the Israeli people must celebrate this festival.
All the congregation of Israel shall prepare 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 when a stranger sojourneth with thee, and will prepare the passover to the Lord, let his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and prepare it, and he shall be as one that is born in the land; but no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.
49 These rules apply to people who were born as Israelis and to foreigners who come and live among you.”
One law shall be to him that is home-born, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you.
50 All the Israeli people obeyed Aaron and Moses/me and did what Yahweh had commanded.
And all the children of Israel did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.
51 On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.
And it came to pass on the selfsame day, that the Lord did bring forth the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.
