Exodus 12:21-42

Contemporary English Version

²¹ Moses called the leaders of Israel together and said:

Each family is to pick out a sheep and kill it for Passover. ²² Make a brush from a few small branches of a hyssop plant and dip the brush in the bowl that has the blood of the animal in it. Then brush some of the blood above the door and on the posts at each side of the door of your house. After this, everyone is to stay inside until morning.

^23 (A) During that night the Lord will go through the country of Egypt and kill the first-born son in every Egyptian family. He will see where you have put the blood, and he will not come into your house. His angel that brings death will pass over and not kill your first-born sons.

^24-25 After you have entered the country promised to you by the Lord, you and your children must continue to celebrate Passover each year. ²⁶ Your children will ask you, “What are we celebrating?” ²⁷ And you will answer, “The Passover animal is killed to honor the Lord. We do these things because on that night long ago the Lord passed over the homes of our people in Egypt. He killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians, but he spared our children from death.”

After Moses finished speaking, the people of Israel knelt down and worshiped the Lord. ²⁸ Then they left and did what Moses and Aaron had told them to do.

Death for the First-Born Sons

^29 (B) At midnight the Lord killed the first-born son of every Egyptian family, from the son of the king^[a] to the son of every prisoner in jail. He also killed the first-born male of every animal that belonged to the Egyptians.

³⁰ That night the king, his officials, and everyone else in Egypt got up and started crying bitterly. In every Egyptian home, someone was dead.

The People of Israel Escape from Egypt

³¹ During the night the king^[b] sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, “Get your people out of my country and leave us alone! Go and worship the Lord, as you have asked. ³² Take your sheep, goats, and cattle, and get out. But ask your God to be kind to me.”

³³ The Egyptians did everything they could to get the Israelites to leave their country as quickly as possible. They said, “Please hurry and leave. If you don't, we will all be dead.” ³⁴ So the Israelites quickly made some bread dough and put it in pans. But they did not mix any yeast in the dough to make it rise. They wrapped cloth around the pans and carried them on their shoulders.

^35 (C) The Israelites had already done what Moses had told them to do. They had gone to their Egyptian neighbors and asked for gold and silver and for clothes. ³⁶ The Lord had made the Egyptians friendly toward the people of Israel, and they gave them whatever they asked for. In this way they carried away the wealth of the Egyptians when they left Egypt.

³⁷ The Israelites walked from the city of Rameses to the city of Succoth. There were about 600,000 of them, not counting women and children. ³⁸ Many other people went with them as well, and there were also a lot of sheep, goats, and cattle. ³⁹ They left Egypt in such a hurry that they did not have time to prepare any food except the bread dough made without yeast. So they baked it and made thin bread.

^40-41 (D) The Lord's people left Egypt exactly 430 years after they had arrived. ⁴² On that night the Lord kept watch for them, and on this same night each year Israel will always keep watch in honor of the Lord.