Exodus 12:13-14:10

English Standard Version

^13 (A)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 no plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “This day shall be ^(B)for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a ^(C)statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. ^15 (D)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, ^(E)that person shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you shall hold a ^(F)holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. ¹⁷ And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for ^(G)on this very day I brought your ^(H)hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. ^18 (I)In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. ^19 (J)For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, ^(K)that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, ^(L)whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves ^(M)according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. ²² Take a bunch of ^(N)hyssop and ^(O)dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch ^(P)the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. ^(Q)None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ^23 (R)For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on ^(S)the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and ^(T)will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. ²⁴ You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. ²⁵ And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, ^(U)as he has promised, you shall keep this service. ²⁶ And ^(V)when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ ²⁷ you shall say, ^(W)‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people ^(X)bowed their heads and worshiped.

²⁸ Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn

^29 (Y)At midnight the ^(Z)Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, ^(AA)from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. ³⁰ And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was ^(AB)a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. ³¹ Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, ^(AC)both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. ^32 (AD)Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

The Exodus

^33 (AE)The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴ So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. ³⁵ The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had ^(AF)asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ^36 (AG)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that ^(AH)they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷ And the ^(AI)people of Israel journeyed from ^(AJ)Rameses to Succoth, ^(AK)about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸ A ^(AL)mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because ^(AM)they were thrust out of Egypt and ^(AN)could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰ The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹ At the end of ^(AO)430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴² It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a ^(AP)night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

Institution of the Passover

⁴³ And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, ⁴⁴ but every slave^[a] that is ^(AQ)bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. ^45 (AR)No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. ⁴⁶ It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and ^(AS)you shall not break any of its bones. ^47 (AT)All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ^48 (AU)If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he ^(AV)shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. ⁴⁹ There shall be ^(AW)one law for the native and for the ^(AX)stranger who sojourns among you.”

⁵⁰ All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ And on that very day the ^(AY)Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their ^(AZ)hosts.

Consecration of the Firstborn

13 The Lord said to Moses, ^2 (BA)“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

³ Then Moses said to the people, ^(BB)“Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ^(BC)for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. ^(BD)No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴ Today, in the month of ^(BE)Abib, you are going out. ⁵ And when the Lord brings you into ^(BF)the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which ^(BG)he swore to your fathers to give you, a land ^(BH)flowing with milk and honey, ^(BI)you shall keep this service in this month. ^6 (BJ)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ^8 (BK)You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ And it shall ^(BL)be to you as a sign on your hand and as ^(BM)a memorial ^(BN)between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ^10 (BO)You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹ “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, ^(BP)as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ^12 (BQ)you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's. ^13 (BR)Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every ^(BS)firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ^14 (BT)And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ^(BU)‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of ^(BV)slavery. ¹⁵ For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the ^(BW)Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but ^(BX)all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ^16 (BY)It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for ^(BZ)by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did ^(CA)not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people ^(CB)change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ But God ^(CC)led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. ¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph^[b] had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, ^(CD)“God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” ²⁰ And ^(CE)they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ And ^(CF)the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. ²² The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Crossing the Red Sea

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to ^(CG)turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between ^(CH)Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ ⁴ And ^(CI)I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I will ^(CJ)get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, ^(CK)and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the ^(CL)mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” ⁶ So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, ⁷ and took ^(CM)six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. ⁸ And ^(CN)the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while ^(CO)the people of Israel were going out defiantly. ⁹ The ^(CP)Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh's horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them ^(CQ)encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel ^(CR)cried out to the Lord.