The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 God said to Moses and Aaron while still in Egypt,
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The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
2 "This month is to be the first month of the year for you.
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“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.
3 Address the whole community of Israel; tell them that on the tenth of this month each man is to take a lamb for his family, one lamb to a house.
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Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household.
4 If the family is too small for a lamb, then share it with a close neighbor, depending on the number of persons involved. Be mindful of how much each person will eat.
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And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.
5 Your lamb must be a healthy male, one year old; you can select it from either the sheep or the goats.
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Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats,
6 Keep it penned until the fourteenth day of this month and then slaughter it - the entire community of Israel will do this - at dusk.
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and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.
7 Then take some of the blood and smear it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which you will eat it.
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“Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.
8 You are to eat the meat, roasted in the fire, that night, along with bread, made without yeast, and bitter herbs.
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They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Don't eat any of it raw or boiled in water; make sure it's roasted - the whole animal, head, legs, and innards.
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Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
10 Don't leave any of it until morning; if there are leftovers, burn them in the fire.
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And you shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn.
11 "And here is how you are to eat it: Be fully dressed with your sandals on and your stick in your hand. Eat in a hurry; it's the Passover to God.
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In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
12 "I will go through the land of Egypt on this night and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, whether human or animal, and bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. I am God.
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For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.
13 The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood I will pass over you - no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.
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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 will be a memorial day for you; you will celebrate it as a festival to God down through the generations, a fixed festival celebration to be observed always.
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“This day shall be for you a memorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast.
15 You will eat unraised bread (matzoth) for seven days: On the first day get rid of all yeast from your houses - anyone who eats anything with yeast from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel.
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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, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
16 The first and the seventh days are set aside as holy; do no work on those days. Only what you have to do for meals; each person can do that.
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On the first day you shall hold a 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 "Keep the Festival of Unraised Bread! This marks the exact day I brought you out in force from the land of Egypt. Honor the day down through your generations, a fixed festival to be observed always.
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And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever.
18 In the first month, beginning on the fourteenth day at evening until the twenty-first day at evening, you are to eat unraised bread.
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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 For those seven days not a trace of yeast is to be found in your houses. Anyone, whether a visitor or a native of the land, who eats anything raised shall be cut off from the community of Israel.
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For seven days no leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land.
20 Don't eat anything raised. Only matzoth."
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You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread. ”
21 Moses assembled all the elders of Israel. He said, "Select a lamb for your families and slaughter the Passover lamb.
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Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb.
22 Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the bowl of blood and smear it on the lintel and on the two doorposts. No one is to leave the house until morning.
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Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.
23 God will pass through to strike Egypt down. When he sees the blood on the lintel and the two door posts, God will pass over the doorway; he won't let the destroyer enter your house to strike you down with ruin.
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For the Lord will pass through to strike 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 not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
24 "Keep this word. It's the law for you and your children, forever.
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You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever.
25 When you enter the land which God will give you as he promised, keep doing this.
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And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you shall keep this service.
26 And when your children say to you, 'Why are we doing this?'
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And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service? ’
27 tell them: 'It's the Passover-sacrifice to God who passed over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt when he hit Egypt with death but rescued us.'" The people bowed and worshiped.
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you shall say, ‘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 bowed their heads and worshiped.
28 The Israelites then went and did what God had commanded Moses and Aaron. They did it all.
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Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
29 At midnight God struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, right down to the firstborn of the prisoner locked up in jail. Also the firstborn of the animals.
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At midnight the Lord struck down 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 in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock.
30 Pharaoh got up that night, he and all his servants and everyone else in Egypt - what wild wailing and lament in Egypt! There wasn't a house in which someone wasn't dead.
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And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
31 Pharaoh called in Moses and Aaron that very night and said, "Get out of here and be done with you - you and your Israelites! Go worship God on your own terms.
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Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said.
32 And yes, take your sheep and cattle as you've insisted, but go. And bless me."
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Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also! ”
33 The Egyptians couldn't wait to get rid of them; they pushed them to hurry up, saying, "We're all as good as dead."
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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 The people grabbed their bread dough before it had risen, bundled their bread bowls in their cloaks and threw them over their shoulders.
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So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders.
35 The Israelites had already done what Moses had told them; they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold things and clothing.
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The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
36 God saw to it that the Egyptians liked the people and so readily gave them what they asked for. Oh yes! They picked those Egyptians clean.
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And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites moved on from Rameses to Succoth, about 600,000 on foot, besides their dependents.
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And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.
38 There was also a crowd of riffraff tagging along, not to mention the large flocks and herds of livestock.
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A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds.
39 They baked unraised cakes with the bread dough they had brought out of Egypt; it hadn't raised - they'd been rushed out of Egypt and hadn't time to fix food for the journey. The Passover
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And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 The Israelites had lived in Egypt 430 years.
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The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years.
41 At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, God's entire army left Egypt.
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At the end of years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.
42 God kept watch all night, watching over the Israelites as he brought them out of Egypt. Because God kept watch, all Israel for all generations will honor God by keeping watch this night - a watchnight.
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It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
43 God said to Moses and Aaron, "These are the rules for the Passover: No foreigners are to eat it.
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And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
44 Any slave, if he's paid for and circumcised, can eat it.
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but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him.
45 No casual visitor or hired hand can eat it.
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No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it.
46 Eat it in one house - don't take the meat outside the house. Don't break any of the bones.
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It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
47 The whole community of Israel is to be included in the meal.
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All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.
48 "If an immigrant is staying with you and wants to keep the Passover to God, every male in his family must be circumcised, then he can participate in the Meal - he will then be treated as a native son. But no uncircumcised person can eat it.
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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 shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
49 "The same law applies both to the native and the immigrant who is staying with you."
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There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you. ”
50 All the Israelites did exactly as God commanded Moses and Aaron.
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All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.
51 That very day God brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, tribe by tribe.
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And on that very day the Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025