- Exodus
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12
1 The Lord told Moses and Aaron while they were still in Egypt, 2 “This month will be for you the first month, the first month of your year. 3 Tell all the Israelites that on the tenth day of this month, every man must choose a lamb*“Lamb”: or a young goat—the word used here applies to both. for his family, one for each household. 4 However, if the household is too small for a whole lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor may choose a lamb according to the total number of people. Divide up the lamb depending on what everybody can eat. 5 Your lamb must be a year-old male without any defects, and you can take it either from the sheep or the goats.
6 Keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when all the Israelites will slaughter the animals after sunset and before it gets dark. 7 They are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they have the meal. 8 They are to roast the meat over a fire and eat it that night, together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 You are not to eat the meat raw or boiled in water. All of it must be roasted over a fire, including the head, legs, and its insides. 10 Make sure nothing is left until the morning. If there is anything left over, burn it by morning.
11 This is how you are to eat the meal. You should be dressed ready to travel, with your sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. You are to eat quickly—it is the Lord's Passover. 12 That very night I will go all through Egypt and kill every firstborn of both people and animals, and I will bring condemnation on all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. 13 The blood on the houses where you live will mark them out. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. No deathly plague will fall on you to destroy you when I attack Egypt.
14 This will be a day to remember for you. You are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord for generations to come. You will observe this for all time to come. 15 For seven days you must eat only bread made without yeast. On the first day you are to get rid of the yeast from your houses. Anyone who eats anything with yeast from the first day to the seventh day must be excluded from the Israelite community. 16 On both the first day and on the seventh day you are to have a holy meeting. You must not work on those days, except to prepare food. That is all you are allowed to do.
17 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread because on this very day I led your tribes by their respective divisions out of Egypt. You are to observe this day for all time to come. 18 In the first month you are to eat bread without yeast from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days there must be no yeast in your houses. If anyone eats something with yeast in it, then they must be excluded from the Israelite community, whether they are a foreigner or a native of the land. 20 You must not eat anything with yeast in it. Eat only bread without yeast in all your homes.”
21 Then Moses called together all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go immediately and choose a lamb for each of your families, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Get a bunch of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and put some on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you are to go out through door of the house until morning.
23 When the Lord passes through to punish the Egyptians, he will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. He will pass over the door, and he will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and kill you. 24 You and your descendants are to remember to observe these instructions for all time to come. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord promised to give you, you are to observe this ceremony. 26 When your children come and ask you, ‘Why is this ceremony important to you?’ 27 you are to tell them, ‘This is the Passover sacrifice to the Lord. He was the one who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he killed the Egyptians but spared our households.’ ” The people bowed down in worship.
28 Then the Israelites went and did just as the Lord had told Moses and Aaron. 29 At midnight the Lord killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the jail, and also all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 Pharaoh got up during the night, as well as all his officials and all the Egyptians. There were loud cries of agony throughout Egypt, because there wasn't a single house where someone hadn't died. 31 Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron during the night and told them, “Get out of here! Leave my people, the two of you and the Israelites! Go, so you can worship the Lord as you have asked. 32 Take your flocks and herds as well, just like you've said, and leave! Oh, and bless me too.”
33 The Egyptians urged the Israelites to leave their country as quickly as possible, saying, “Otherwise we'll all die!” 34 So the Israelites picked up their dough before it had risen, and carried it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing. 35 In addition, the Israelites did what Moses had told them and asked the Egyptians for objects of silver and gold, and for clothing. 36 The Lord had made the Egyptians look so favorably on the Israelites that they agreed to their request. In this way they took the wealth†“Took the wealth”: literally, “plundered.” of the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites set out on foot from Rameses for Succoth and numbered about 600,000 men, as well as women and children.‡“Women and children”: literally, “dependents.” 38 In addition many foreigners joined them. They also took with them large herds and flocks of livestock. 39 Since their bread dough didn't have any yeast, the Israelites baked what they had brought out of Egypt into loaves without yeast. This was because when they were driven out of Egypt they had to leave in a hurry and didn't have time to prepare food for themselves.
40 The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. 41 On the very day the 430 years ended, all the tribes of the Lord by their respective divisions left Egypt. 42 Because the Lord kept watch that night to lead them out of the land of Egypt, this same night you are to keep watch as an observance to honor the Lord, and this to be kept by all Israelites for generations to come.
43 The Lord told Moses and Aaron, “This is the Passover ceremony. No foreigner is allowed to eat it. 44 But any slave who has been bought can eat it once you have circumcised him. 45 Foreign visitors or those hired from other nations shall not eat the Passover. 46 It has to be eaten inside the house. You are not allowed to take any of the meat outside the house, or to break any of the bones. 47 All Israelites are to celebrate it. 48 If there's a foreigner who lives with you and wants to celebrate the Lord's Passover, all the males in their household have to be circumcised. Then he may come and celebrate it, and he shall be treated like a native of the land. But no man who is not circumcised may eat it. 49 The same rule applies to both the native and the foreigner who lives among you.”
50 Then all the Israelites followed these instructions. They did exactly what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 That very day the Lord led the Israelite tribes out of Egypt by their respective tribal divisions.

- Exodus
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- 12
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*12:3 “Lamb”: or a young goat—the word used here applies to both.

†12:36 “Took the wealth”: literally, “plundered.”

‡12:37 “Women and children”: literally, “dependents.”

© 2018 Dr. Jonathan Gallagher