Exodus 12 (New American Standard)

The Passover Lamb

1 Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of ^aEgypt, 2 "¹This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first month of the year to you. 3 "Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On the tenth of this month they are each one to take a ^blamb for themselves, according to their fathers' households, a ^clamb for ^deach household. 4 'Now if the household is too small for a ^elamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house are to take one according to the ^fnumber of persons in them; according to ^gwhat each man should eat, you are to ^hdivide the lamb. 5 'Your ⁱlamb shall be ²an unblemished male a year old ; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 '^jYou shall keep it until the ³fourteenth day of the same month, then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to kill it ^k4at twilight. 7 '⁵Moreover, they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel ^lof the houses in which they eat it. 8 'They shall eat the flesh ⁶that same night, ⁷roasted with fire, and they shall eat it with ⁸unleavened bread ^m9and bitter herbs. 9 'Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all with water, but rather ¹⁰roasted with fire, both its head and its legs along with ¹¹its entrails. 10 '¹²And you shall not leave any of it over until morning, but whatever is left of it until morning, you shall burn with fire. 11 'Now you shall eat it in this manner : with your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand ; and you shall eat it in haste -it is ¹³the LORD'S Passover. 12 'For ¹⁴I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast ; and ¹⁵against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments -¹⁶I am the LORD. 13 '¹⁷The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you ⁿlive; and when I see the blood I will pass over you, and no plague will befall you ^oto destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

Feast of Unleavened Bread

14 'Now ¹⁸this day will be ¹⁹a memorial to you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD ; throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as ^p20a permanent ordinance. 15 '²¹Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, but on the first day you shall ^qremove leaven from your houses ; for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day, ²²that ^rperson shall be cut off from Israel. 16 '²³On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and another holy assembly on the seventh day ; no work at all shall be done on them, except what must be eaten ^sby every person, that alone may be ^tprepared by you. 17 'You shall also observe ²⁴the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this ²⁵very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt ; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as ²⁶a ^upermanent ordinance. 18 '²⁷In 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. 19 '²⁸Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses ; for whoever eats what is leavened, that ^v29person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is an alien or a native of the land. 20 'You shall not eat anything leavened ; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.' " 21 Then ³⁰Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, "^wGo and ³¹take for yourselves ^xlambs according to your families, and slay ³²the Passover lamb. 22 "³³You shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood which is in the basin, and ^yapply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts ; and none of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning.

A Memorial of Redemption

23 "For ³⁴the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians ; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and will ³⁵not allow the ³⁶destroyer to come in to your houses to smite you. 24 "And ³⁷you shall observe this event as an ordinance for you and your children forever . 25 "When you enter the land which the LORD will give you, as He has ^zpromised, you shall observe this ^aarite. 26 "³⁸And when your children say to you, '^bbWhat does this rite mean to you?' 27 you shall say, 'It is a Passover sacrifice to ³⁹the LORD ^ccwho passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but ^ddspared our homes.' " ⁴⁰And the people bowed low and worshiped. 28 Then the sons of Israel went and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 29 Now it came about at ⁴¹midnight that ⁴²the LORD struck all ⁴³the firstborn in the land of Egypt, 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 ⁴⁴cattle. 30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was ⁴⁵a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead. 31 Then ⁴⁶he called for Moses and Aaron at night and said, "Rise up, ⁴⁷get out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel ; and go, ^eeworship the LORD, as you have said. 32 "Take ⁴⁸both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go, and bless me also."

Exodus of Israel

33 ⁴⁹The Egyptians urged the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We will all be dead." 34 So the people took ⁵⁰their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls bound up in the clothes on their shoulders. 35 ⁵¹Now the sons of Israel had done according to the word of Moses, for they had requested from the Egyptians articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing ; 36 and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have their request. Thus they ⁵²plundered the Egyptians. 37 Now the ⁵³sons of Israel journeyed from ⁵⁴Rameses to Succoth, about ⁵⁵six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38 A ⁵⁶mixed multitude also went up with them, ^ffalong with flocks and herds, a ⁵⁷very large number of livestock. 39 They baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread. For it had not become leavened, since they were ⁵⁸driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they ^ggprepared any provisions for themselves. 40 Now the time ^hhthat the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was ⁵⁹four hundred and thirty years. 41 And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, ⁱⁱto ⁶⁰the very day, ⁶¹all the hosts of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.

Ordinance of the Passover

42 ⁶²It is a night ^jjto be observed for the LORD for having brought them out from the land of Egypt ; this night is for the LORD, ^kkto be observed ^llby all the sons of Israel throughout their generations. 43 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of ⁶³the Passover : no ^mm64foreigner is to eat of it; 44 but every man's ⁶⁵slave purchased with money, after you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it. 45 "⁶⁶A sojourner or a hired servant shall not eat of it. 46 "It is to be eaten in a single house ; you are not to bring forth any of the flesh outside of the house, ⁶⁷nor are you to break any bone of it. 47 "⁶⁸All the congregation of Israel are to ⁿⁿcelebrate this. 48 "But ⁶⁹if a ^oostranger sojourns with you, and ^ppcelebrates the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near to ^qqcelebrate it; and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 49 "^rr70The same law shall ^ssapply to the native as to the ^ttstranger who sojourns among you." 50 Then all the sons of Israel did so; they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that same day ⁷¹the LORD brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt ^uu72by their hosts.