Exodus 12:14-13:16

New Living Translation

¹⁴ “This is a day to remember. Each year, from generation to generation, you must celebrate it as a special festival to the Lord. This is a law for all time. ¹⁵ For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast. On the first day of the festival, remove every trace of yeast from your homes. Anyone who eats bread made with yeast during the seven days of the festival will be cut off from the community of Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day of the festival and again on the seventh day, all the people must observe an official day for holy assembly. No work of any kind may be done on these days except in the preparation of food.

¹⁷ “Celebrate this Festival of Unleavened Bread, for it will remind you that I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt on this very day. This festival will be a permanent law for you; celebrate this day from generation to generation. ¹⁸ The bread you eat must be made without yeast from the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of that month. ¹⁹ During those seven days, there must be no trace of yeast in your homes. Anyone who eats anything made with yeast during this week will be cut off from the community of Israel. These regulations apply both to the foreigners living among you and to the native-born Israelites. ²⁰ During those days you must not eat anything made with yeast. Wherever you live, eat only bread made without yeast.”

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together and said to them, “Go, pick out a lamb or young goat for each of your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. ²² Drain the blood into a basin. Then take a bundle of hyssop branches and dip it into the blood. Brush the hyssop across the top and sides of the doorframes of your houses. And no one may go out through the door until morning. ²³ For the Lord will pass through the land to strike down the Egyptians. But when he sees the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe, the Lord will pass over your home. He will not permit his death angel to enter your house and strike you down.

²⁴ “Remember, these instructions are a permanent law that you and your descendants must observe forever. ²⁵ When you enter the land the Lord has promised to give you, you will continue to observe this ceremony. ²⁶ Then your children will ask, ‘What does this ceremony mean?’ ²⁷ And you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he struck the Egyptians, he spared our families.’” When Moses had finished speaking, all the people bowed down to the ground and worshiped.

²⁸ So the people of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded through Moses and Aaron. ²⁹ And that night at midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn son of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn son of the prisoner in the dungeon. Even the firstborn of their livestock were killed. ³⁰ Pharaoh and all his officials and all the people of Egypt woke up during the night, and loud wailing was heard throughout the land of Egypt. There was not a single house where someone had not died.

Israel’s Exodus from Egypt

³¹ Pharaoh sent for Moses and Aaron during the night. “Get out!” he ordered. “Leave my people—and take the rest of the Israelites with you! Go and worship the Lord as you have requested. ³² Take your flocks and herds, as you said, and be gone. Go, but bless me as you leave.” ³³ All the Egyptians urged the people of Israel to get out of the land as quickly as possible, for they thought, “We will all die!”

³⁴ The Israelites took their bread dough before yeast was added. They wrapped their kneading boards in their cloaks and carried them on their shoulders. ³⁵ And the people of Israel did as Moses had instructed; they asked the Egyptians for clothing and articles of silver and gold. ³⁶ The Lord caused the Egyptians to look favorably on the Israelites, and they gave the Israelites whatever they asked for. So they stripped the Egyptians of their wealth!

³⁷ That night the people of Israel left Rameses and started for Succoth. There were about 600,000 men,^[a] plus all the women and children. ³⁸ A rabble of non-Israelites went with them, along with great flocks and herds of livestock. ³⁹ For bread they baked flat cakes from the dough without yeast they had brought from Egypt. It was made without yeast because the people were driven out of Egypt in such a hurry that they had no time to prepare the bread or other food.

⁴⁰ The people of Israel had lived in Egypt^[b] for 430 years. ⁴¹ In fact, it was on the last day of the 430th year that all the Lord’s forces left the land. ⁴² On this night the Lord kept his promise to bring his people out of the land of Egypt. So this night belongs to him, and it must be commemorated every year by all the Israelites, from generation to generation.

Instructions for the Passover

⁴³ Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “These are the instructions for the festival of Passover. No outsiders are allowed to eat the Passover meal. ⁴⁴ But any slave who has been purchased may eat it if he has been circumcised. ⁴⁵ Temporary residents and hired servants may not eat it. ⁴⁶ Each Passover lamb must be eaten in one house. Do not carry any of its meat outside, and do not break any of its bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Israel must celebrate this Passover festival.

⁴⁸ “If there are foreigners living among you who want to celebrate the Lord’s Passover, let all their males be circumcised. Only then may they celebrate the Passover with you like any native-born Israelite. But no uncircumcised male may ever eat the Passover meal. ⁴⁹ This instruction applies to everyone, whether a native-born Israelite or a foreigner living among you.”

⁵⁰ So all the people of Israel followed all the Lord’s commands to Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ On that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt like an army.

Dedication of the Firstborn

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Dedicate to me every firstborn among the Israelites. The first offspring to be born, of both humans and animals, belongs to me.”

³ So Moses said to the people, “This is a day to remember forever—the day you left Egypt, the place of your slavery. Today the Lord has brought you out by the power of his mighty hand. (Remember, eat no food containing yeast.) ⁴ On this day in early spring, in the month of Abib,^[c] you have been set free. ⁵ You must celebrate this event in this month each year after the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. (He swore to your ancestors that he would give you this land—a land flowing with milk and honey.) ⁶ For seven days the bread you eat must be made without yeast. Then on the seventh day, celebrate a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Eat bread without yeast during those seven days. In fact, there must be no yeast bread or any yeast at all found within the borders of your land during this time.

⁸ “On the seventh day you must explain to your children, ‘I am celebrating what the Lord did for me when I left Egypt.’ ⁹ This annual festival will be a visible sign to you, like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. Let it remind you always to recite this teaching of the Lord: ‘With a strong hand, the Lord rescued you from Egypt.’^{[d] 10} So observe the decree of this festival at the appointed time each year.

¹¹ “This is what you must do when the Lord fulfills the promise he swore to you and to your ancestors. When he gives you the land where the Canaanites now live, ¹² you must present all firstborn sons and firstborn male animals to the Lord, for they belong to him. ¹³ A firstborn donkey may be bought back from the Lord by presenting a lamb or young goat in its place. But if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. However, you must buy back every firstborn son.

¹⁴ “And in the future, your children will ask you, ‘What does all this mean?’ Then you will tell them, ‘With the power of his mighty hand, the Lord brought us out of Egypt, the place of our slavery. ¹⁵ Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, so the Lord killed all the firstborn males throughout the land of Egypt, both people and animals. That is why I now sacrifice all the firstborn males to the Lord—except that the firstborn sons are always bought back.’ ¹⁶ This ceremony will be like a mark branded on your hand or your forehead. It is a reminder that the power of the Lord’s mighty hand brought us out of Egypt.”