Exodus Chapter 12
The Passover Instituted
1 The LORD told Moses and Aaron,
2 “This month will be the first month of your year. 3 Tell the assembly of Israel that on the tenth of this month, each family is to take a lamb according to their families. 4 If a family is too small for a lamb, that family and a nearby neighbor can take a lamb the size the number of people can eat. 5 It needs to be an unblemished male a year old. Take it from the sheep or goats. 6 Keep it till the fourteenth of the month.
“The whole community is to kill it in the evening. 7 Put some of its blood on the doorposts and lintel of the house where you eat it. 8 Eat the meat that same night, roasted with fire. Eat it with bitter herbs and bread without yeast. 9 Don’t eat any of it raw or boiled. Roast the head, legs, and entrails. 10 In the morning, burn what’s left over. 11 Eat it in a hurry, dressed, with sandals on your feet and staff in hand. It’s the LORD’s Passover. 12 I’ll go all over Egypt that night and strike down the firstborn people and animals. I’ll execute judgment on Egypt’s gods. I’m the LORD. 13 The blood on your houses will be a sign. When I see it, I’ll ‘pass over’ you. No plague will fall on you when I strike Egypt.
Ex 12:1-13
14 “Today will serve as a memorial day for you. Celebrate it as a festival to the LORD, a permanent ordinance. 15 Eat bread without yeast for a week. On the first day, take the yeast out of your houses. Whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first till seventh day will be excluded from Israel. 16 On the first day, hold a holy assembly. On the seventh day, hold another one. Don’t work on those days except for what needs to be eaten by each person that only you can fix. 17 Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread throughout your generations; that’s the day I brought your hosts out of Egypt. 18 In the first month, eat bread without yeast from the fourteenth in the evening till the twenty-first in the evening. 19 For a week, no yeast can be in your houses. Whoever eats anything with yeast in it will be excluded from the community of Israel, foreign or native. 20 Eat bread without yeast in all your houses.”
Ex 12:14-20
21 Moses called Israel’s elders,
“Butcher a Passover lamb for each family. 22 Dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that’s in the basin and apply it to the lintel and doorposts. Don’t anyone go outside till morning. 23 The LORD will pass through to strike down the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the lintel and doorposts, he’ll pass over and not let the destroyer come in to strike you. [ 24 ] 25 When you go into the land the LORD gives you, observe this rite. 26 When your children ask you what it means, 27 tell them it’s a Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who “passed over” the Israelites’ houses when he struck the Egyptians.”
The people bowed low in worship 28 and did what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron.
Ex 12:21-28
29 At midnight the LORD struck the firstborn in Egypt—the firstborn of Pharaoh on the throne, the firstborn of captives in the dungeon, the firstborn livestock. 30 Pharaoh, his officers, and all the Egyptians got up during the night. There was a great outcry in Egypt; every home had someone die.
The Exodus
31 He called for Moses and Aaron during the night,
“Get up! Get away from my people, you and the Israelites! Go worship the LORD like you’ve said. 32Take your flocks and herds. Go and bless me too.”
33 The Egyptians urged the people to leave right away, “We’ll all be dead!”
34 The people took their dough before it had yeast put in it, together with their kneading bowls tied up in the cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The Israelites had done what Moses said and asked the Egyptians for silver and gold articles, and for clothes. 36 The LORD had given the Egyptians a favorable attitude toward them, so they let them have what they asked for. That’s how they “plundered” the Egyptians.
Ex 12:29-36
37 The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot plus women and children. 38 A mixed crowd of non-Israelites went with them along with flocks and herds, a very large number of livestock. 39 The dough they brought out of Egypt they baked into flat cakes of bread without yeast. It had no yeast in it because they were driven out and couldn’t delay. They hadn’t prepared supplies.
40 The Israelites lived in Egypt 430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years to the day, the hosts of the LORD left Egypt. 42 It’s a night Israelites observe to him throughout their generations for bringing them out of Egypt.
Ex 12:37-42
Instructions for Passover
43 The LORD told Moses and Aaron,
“This is the ordinance about the Passover: no foreigner can eat it, 44 but every man’s slave purchased with money can eat it after you’ve circumcised him. 45 No hired hand can eat it. 46 Eat it in a single house. Don’t take any of the meat out of the house or break any of its bones. 47 The whole community of Israel is to celebrate it. 48 If a foreigner that lives with you wants to celebrate it, all the males that belong to him need to be circumcised. Then he can come to celebrate it. He’ll become a citizen of the country, but no uncircumcised person can eat it. 49 The same law applies to a native and foreigner among you.”
50 The Israelites did what the LORD commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 That same day, he brought them out of Egypt.
Ex 12:43-51