Exodus 12

The AIT Bible

Instructions for the Passover

1Yahweh said to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2“This month shall be for you the head of months; it shall be for you the first of the months of the year.

3Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month each man shall take for himself a lamb for a father’s house, a lamb for the household.

4And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor nearest to his house shall take one according to the number of persons; each shall count for the lamb according to what he eats.

5Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male, a year old; you shall take it from the sheep or from the goats.

6And it shall be for you a thing to keep until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight.

7They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they eat it.

8They shall eat the flesh on this night, roasted with fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.

9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled at all in water, but only roasted with fire—its head with its legs and with its inner parts.

10You shall leave none of it until morning; and whatever remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.

11And this is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; you shall eat it in haste. It is a Passover to Yahweh.

12For I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am Yahweh.

13The 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 shall be upon you to destroy when I strike in the land of Egypt.

14This day shall be for you a memorial, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to Yahweh; throughout your generations you shall celebrate it as an everlasting statute.

15Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; indeed, on the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall be cut off from Israel, from the first day to the seventh day.

16On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day a holy convocation for you; no work shall be done on them, except what must be eaten by every person—that alone may be prepared for you.

17You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; so you shall keep this day throughout your generations as an everlasting statute.

18In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening.

19For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a sojourner or a native of the land.

20You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.

21Then Moses called to all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Draw out and take for yourselves a lamb according to your families, and slaughter the Passover.

22You shall 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 some of the blood that is in the basin. And none of you shall go out from the doorway of his house until morning.

23For Yahweh will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike.

24You shall keep this word as a statute for you and for your children forever.

25And when you come to the land that Yahweh will give you, as he has spoken, you shall keep this service.

26And when your children say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’

27you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover to Yahweh, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but delivered our houses.’” And the people bowed down and worshiped.

28Then the sons of Israel went and did just as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.

The Tenth Plague and the Exodus

29And it happened at midnight that Yahweh struck every 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 every firstborn of livestock.

30And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great outcry in Egypt, for there was no house where there was not someone dead.

31Then he called for Moses and for Aaron by night and said, “Rise up, go out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel; and go, serve Yahweh as you have said.

32Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go; and bless me also.”

33And Egypt pressed hard upon the people, hurrying to send them out of the land, for they said, “We are all dying.”

34So the people took up their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs bound in their cloaks upon their shoulders.

35And the sons of Israel did according to the word of Moses; they asked from the Egyptians objects of silver and objects of gold and cloaks.

36And Yahweh had given the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they granted their request; and so they plundered Egypt.

37Then the sons of Israel set out from Rameses toward Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, the men, apart from the little ones.

38And also a great mixed multitude went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very heavy quantity of livestock.

39And they baked the dough that they had brought out from Egypt into unleavened cakes, for it had not leavened, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay, and they had not even made provisions for themselves.

40Now the dwelling of the sons of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.

41And it came about at the end of four hundred and thirty years, on this very day, that all the hosts of Yahweh went out from the land of Egypt.

42It is a night of watching for Yahweh, to bring them out from the land of Egypt; this same night is for Yahweh, a watching for all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

Regulations for the Passover Meal

43And Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it.

44But every man’s slave, purchased with money — when you have circumcised him, then he may eat of it.

45A resident alien and a hired laborer shall not eat of it.

46In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not bring any of the flesh outside the house, and you shall not break a bone in it.

47All the congregation of Israel shall observe it.

48And when a sojourner resides with you and would keep the Passover to Yahweh, let every male belonging to him be circumcised; then he may draw near to keep it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

49One law shall there be for the native and for the sojourner who resides among you.”

50And all the sons of Israel did just as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.

51And it came about on this very day that Yahweh brought the sons of Israel out from the land of Egypt by their hosts.

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