Exodus 12:21-42

Good News Translation

The First Passover

²¹ Moses called for all the leaders of Israel and said to them, “Each of you is to choose a lamb or a young goat and kill it, so that your families can celebrate Passover. ²² Take a sprig of hyssop, dip it in the bowl containing^[a] the animal's blood, and wipe the blood on the doorposts and the beam above the door of your house. Not one of you is to leave the house until morning. ^23 (A)When the Lord goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the beams and the doorposts and will not let the Angel of Death enter your houses and kill you. ²⁴ You and your children must obey these rules forever. ²⁵ When you enter the land that the Lord has promised to give you, you must perform this ritual. ²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ ²⁷ you will answer, ‘It is the sacrifice of Passover to honor the Lord, because he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. He killed the Egyptians, but spared us.’”

The Israelites knelt down and worshiped. ²⁸ Then they went and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

The Death of the First-Born

^29 (B)At midnight the Lord killed all the first-born sons in Egypt, from the king's son, who was heir to the throne, to the son of the prisoner in the dungeon; all the first-born of the animals were also killed. ³⁰ That night, the king, his officials, and all the other Egyptians were awakened. There was loud crying throughout Egypt, because there was not one home in which there was not a dead son. ³¹ That same night the king sent for Moses and Aaron and said, “Get out, you and your Israelites! Leave my country; go and worship the Lord, as you asked. ³² Take your sheep, goats, and cattle, and leave. Also pray for a blessing on me.”

³³ The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the country; they said, “We will all be dead if you don't leave.” ³⁴ So the people filled their baking pans with unleavened dough, wrapped them in clothing, and carried them on their shoulders. ^35 (C)The Israelites had done as Moses had said, and had asked the Egyptians for gold and silver jewelry and for clothes. ³⁶ The Lord made the Egyptians respect the people and give them what they asked for. In this way the Israelites carried away the wealth of the Egyptians.

The Israelites Leave Egypt

³⁷ The Israelites set out on foot from Rameses for Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men, not counting women and children. ³⁸ A large number of other people and many sheep, goats, and cattle also went with them. ³⁹ They baked unleavened bread from the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for they had been driven out of Egypt so suddenly that they did not have time to get their food ready or to prepare leavened dough.

^40 (D)The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. ⁴¹ On the day the 430 years ended, all the tribes of the Lord's people left Egypt. ⁴² It was a night when the Lord kept watch to bring them out of Egypt; this same night is dedicated to the Lord for all time to come as a night when the Israelites must keep watch.