Exodus 11:1-12:36

New King James Version

Death of the Firstborn Announced^(A)

11 And the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. ^(B)Afterward he will let you go from here. ^(C)When he lets you go, he will surely drive you out of here altogether. ²Speak now in the hearing of the people, and let every man ask from his neighbor and every woman from her neighbor, ^(D)articles of silver and articles of gold.” ³^(E)And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man ^(F)Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.

⁴Then Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ^(G)‘About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt; ⁵and ^(H)all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the animals. ⁶^(I)Then there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, ^(J)such as was not like it before, nor shall be like it again. ⁷^(K)But against none of the children of Israel ^(L)shall a dog ^[a]move its tongue, against man or beast, that you may know that the Lord does make a difference between the Egyptians and Israel.’ ⁸And ^(M)all these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, and all the people who follow you!’ After that I will go out.” ^(N)Then he went out from Pharaoh in great anger.

⁹But the Lord said to Moses, ^(O)“Pharaoh will not heed you, so that ^(P)My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰So Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; ^(Q)and the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

The Passover Instituted^(R)

12 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ²^(S)“This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: ‘On the ^(T)tenth of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the house of his father, a lamb for a household. ⁴And if the household is too small for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; according to each man’s need you shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵Your lamb shall be ^(U)without^[b] blemish, a male ^[c]of the first year. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. ⁶Now you shall keep it until the ^(V)fourteenth day of the same month. Then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at twilight. ⁷And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸Then they shall eat the flesh on that ^(W)night; ^(X)roasted in fire, with ^(Y)unleavened bread and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but ^(Z)roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails. ¹⁰^(AA)You shall let none of it remain until morning, and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire. ¹¹And thus you shall eat it: ^[d]with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. So you shall eat it in haste. ^(AB)It is the Lord’s Passover.

¹²‘For I ^(AC)will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and ^(AD)against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: ^(AE)I am the Lord. ¹³Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴‘So this day shall be to you ^(AF)a memorial; and you shall keep it as a ^(AG)feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast ^(AH)by an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁵^(AI)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, ^(AJ)that ^[e]person shall be ^[f]cut off from Israel. ¹⁶On the first day there shall be ^(AK)a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat—that only may be prepared by you. ¹⁷So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^(AL)on this same day I will have brought your ^[g]armies ^(AM)out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. ¹⁸^(AN)In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ¹⁹For ^(AO)seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land. ²⁰You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”

²¹Then ^(AP)Moses called for all the ^(AQ)elders of Israel and said to them, ^(AR)“Pick out and take lambs for yourselves according to your families, and kill the Passover lamb. ²²^(AS)And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and ^(AT)strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. ²³^(AU)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the ^(AV)blood on the ^[h]lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^(AW)not allow ^(AX)the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you. ²⁴And you shall ^(AY)observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your sons forever. ²⁵It will come to pass when you come to the land which the Lord will give you, ^(AZ)just as He promised, that you shall keep this service. ²⁶^(BA)And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷that you shall say, ^(BB)‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people ^(BC)bowed their heads and worshiped. ²⁸Then the children of Israel went away and ^(BD)did so; just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn^(BE)

²⁹^(BF)And it came to pass at midnight that ^(BG)the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was ^[i]in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of ^(BH)livestock. ³⁰So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, 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 one dead.

The Exodus

³¹Then he ^(BI)called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, ^(BJ)both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have ^(BK)said. ³²^(BL)Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also.”

³³^(BM)And the Egyptians ^(BN)urged the people, that they might send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. ³⁵Now the children of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, and they had asked from the Egyptians ^(BO)articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. ³⁶^(BP)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they granted them what they requested. Thus ^(BQ)they plundered the Egyptians.