12:1 ¹ 

The Lord said ²  to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ³  12:2 “This month is to be your beginning of months; it will be your first month of the year. ⁴  12:3 Tell the whole community of Israel, ‘In the tenth day of this month they each ⁵  must take a lamb ⁶  for themselves according to their families ⁷  – a lamb for each household. ⁸  12:4 If any household is too small ⁹  for a lamb, ¹⁰  the man ¹¹  and his next-door neighbor ¹²  are to take ¹³  a lamb according to the number of people – you will make your count for the lamb according to how much each one can eat. ¹⁴  12:5 Your lamb must be ¹⁵  perfect, ¹⁶  a male, one year old; ¹⁷  you may take ¹⁸  it from the sheep or from the goats. 12:6 You must care for it ¹⁹  until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole community ²⁰  of Israel will kill it around sundown. ²¹  12:7 They will take some of the blood and put it on the two side posts and top of the doorframe of the houses where they will eat it. 12:8 They will eat the meat the same night; ²²  they will eat it roasted over the fire with bread made without yeast ²³  and with bitter herbs. 12:9 Do not eat it raw ²⁴  or boiled in water, but roast it over the fire with its head, its legs, and its entrails. 12:10 You must leave nothing until morning, but you must burn with fire whatever remains of it until morning. 12:11 This is how you are to eat it – dressed to travel, ²⁵  your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. ²⁶ 

12:12 I will pass through ²⁷  the land of Egypt in the same ²⁸  night, and I will attack ²⁹  all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of humans and of animals, ³⁰  and on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. ³¹  I am the Lord. 12:13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, so that when I see ³²  the blood I will pass over you, ³³  and this plague ³⁴  will not fall on you to destroy you ³⁵  when I attack ³⁶  the land of Egypt. ³⁷ 

12:14 This day will become ³⁸  a memorial ³⁹  for you, and you will celebrate it as a festival ⁴⁰  to the Lord – you will celebrate it perpetually as a lasting ordinance. ⁴¹  12:15 For seven days ⁴²  you must eat ⁴³  bread made without yeast. ⁴⁴  Surely ⁴⁵  on the first day you must put away yeast from your houses because anyone who eats bread made with yeast ⁴⁶  from the first day to the seventh day will be cut off ⁴⁷  from Israel.

12:16 On the first day there will be a holy convocation, ⁴⁸  and on the seventh day there will be a holy convocation for you. You must do no work of any kind ⁴⁹  on them, only what every person will eat – that alone may be prepared for you. 12:17 So you will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this very ⁵⁰  day I brought your regiments ⁵¹  out from the land of Egypt, and so you must keep this day perpetually as a lasting ordinance. ⁵²  12:18 In the first month, ⁵³  from the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you will eat bread made without yeast until the twenty-first day of the month in the evening. 12:19 For seven days ⁵⁴  yeast must not be found in your houses, for whoever eats what is made with yeast – that person ⁵⁵  will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner ⁵⁶  or one born in the land. 12:20 You will not eat anything made with yeast; in all the places where you live you must eat bread made without yeast.’”

12:21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel, and told them, “Go and select ⁵⁷  for yourselves a lamb or young goat ⁵⁸  for your families, and kill the Passover animals. ⁵⁹  12:22 Take a branch of hyssop, ⁶⁰  dip it in the blood that is in the basin, ⁶¹  and apply to the top of the doorframe and the two side posts some of the blood that is in the basin. Not one of you is to go out ⁶²  the door of his house until morning. 12:23 For the Lord will pass through to strike Egypt, and when he sees ⁶³  the blood on the top of the doorframe and the two side posts, then the Lord will pass over the door, and he will not permit the destroyer ⁶⁴  to enter your houses to strike you. ⁶⁵  12:24 You must observe this event as an ordinance for you and for your children forever. 12:25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give to you, just as he said, you must observe ⁶⁶  this ceremony. 12:26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ ⁶⁷  – 12:27 then you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice ⁶⁸  of the Lord’s Passover, when he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when he struck ⁶⁹  Egypt and delivered our households.’” The people bowed down low ⁷⁰  to the ground, 12:28 and the Israelites went away and did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁷¹ 

12:29 ⁷² 

It happened ⁷³  at midnight – the Lord attacked 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 prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 12:30 Pharaoh got up ⁷⁴  in the night, ⁷⁵  along with all his servants and all Egypt, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house ⁷⁶  in which there was not someone dead. 12:31 Pharaoh ⁷⁷  summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Get up, get out ⁷⁸  from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the Lord as you have requested! ⁷⁹  12:32 Also, take your flocks and your herds, just as you have requested, and leave. But bless me also.” ⁸⁰ 

12:33 The Egyptians were urging ⁸¹  the people on, in order to send them out of the land quickly, ⁸²  for they were saying, “We are all dead!” 12:34 So the people took their dough before the yeast was added, ⁸³  with their kneading troughs bound up in their clothing on their shoulders. 12:35 Now the Israelites had done ⁸⁴  as Moses told them – they had requested from the Egyptians ⁸⁵  silver and gold items and clothing. 12:36 The Lord ⁸⁶  gave the people favor ⁸⁷  in the sight of the Egyptians, and they gave them whatever they wanted, ⁸⁸  and so they plundered Egypt. ⁸⁹ 

12:37 The Israelites journeyed ⁹⁰  from Rameses ⁹¹  to Sukkoth. There were about 600,000 men ⁹²  on foot, plus their dependants. ⁹³  12:38 A mixed multitude ⁹⁴  also went up with them, and flocks and herds – a very large number of cattle. ⁹⁵  12:39 They baked cakes of bread without yeast using the dough they had brought from Egypt, for it was made without yeast – because they were thrust out ⁹⁶  of Egypt and were not able to delay, they ⁹⁷  could not prepare ⁹⁸  food for themselves either.

12:40 Now the length of time the Israelites lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁹⁹  12:41 At the end of the 430 years, on the very day, all the regiments ¹⁰⁰  of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt. 12:42 It was a night of vigil for the Lord to bring them out from the land of Egypt, ¹⁰¹  and so ¹⁰²  on this night all Israel is to keep the vigil ¹⁰³  to the Lord for generations to come.

12:43 ¹⁰⁴ 

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the ordinance of the Passover. No foreigner may ¹⁰⁵  share in eating it. ¹⁰⁶  12:44 But everyone’s servant who is bought for money, after you have circumcised him, may eat it. 12:45 A foreigner and a hired worker must not eat it. 12:46 It must be eaten in one house; you must not bring any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it. 12:47 The whole community of Israel must observe it.

12:48 “When a foreigner lives ¹⁰⁷  with you and wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, ¹⁰⁸  and then he may approach and observe it, and he will be like one who is born in the land ¹⁰⁹  – but no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 12:49 The same law will apply ¹¹⁰  to the person who is native-born and to the foreigner who lives among you.”

12:50 So all the Israelites did exactly as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ¹¹¹  12:51 And on this very day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their regiments.

13:1 ¹¹² 

The Lord spoke ¹¹³  to Moses: 13:2 “Set apart ¹¹⁴  to me every firstborn male – the first offspring of every womb ¹¹⁵  among the Israelites, whether human or animal; it is mine.” ¹¹⁶ 

13:3 Moses said to the people, “Remember ¹¹⁷  this day on which you came out from Egypt, from the place where you were enslaved, ¹¹⁸  for the Lord brought you out of there ¹¹⁹  with a mighty hand – and no bread made with yeast may be eaten. ¹²⁰  13:4 On this day, ¹²¹  in the month of Abib, ¹²²  you are going out. ¹²³ 

13:5 When ¹²⁴  the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ¹²⁵  then you will keep ¹²⁶  this ceremony ¹²⁷  in this month. 13:6 For seven days ¹²⁸  you must eat ¹²⁹  bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day there is to be ¹³⁰  a festival to the Lord. 13:7 Bread made without yeast must be eaten ¹³¹  for seven days; ¹³²  no bread made with yeast shall be seen ¹³³  among you, and you must have no yeast among you within any of your borders.

13:8 You are to tell your son ¹³⁴  on that day, ¹³⁵  ‘It is ¹³⁶  because of what ¹³⁷  the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 13:9 ¹³⁸  It ¹³⁹  will be a sign ¹⁴⁰  for you on your hand and a memorial ¹⁴¹  on your forehead, ¹⁴²  so that the law of the Lord may be ¹⁴³  in your mouth, ¹⁴⁴  for ¹⁴⁵  with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. 13:10 So you must keep ¹⁴⁶  this ordinance at its appointed time from year to year. ¹⁴⁷ 

13:11 When the Lord brings you ¹⁴⁸  into the land of the Canaanites, ¹⁴⁹  as he swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it ¹⁵⁰  to you, 13:12 then you must give over ¹⁵¹  to the Lord the first offspring of every womb. ¹⁵²  Every firstling ¹⁵³  of a beast that you have ¹⁵⁴  – the males will be the Lord’s. ¹⁵⁵  13:13 Every firstling ¹⁵⁶  of a donkey you must redeem ¹⁵⁷  with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, then you must break its neck. ¹⁵⁸  Every firstborn of ¹⁵⁹  your sons you must redeem.

13:14 ¹⁶⁰ 

In the future, ¹⁶¹  when your son asks you ¹⁶²  ‘What is this?’ ¹⁶³  you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand ¹⁶⁴  the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the land of slavery. ¹⁶⁵  13:15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused ¹⁶⁶  to release us, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of people to the firstborn of animals. ¹⁶⁷  That is why I am sacrificing ¹⁶⁸  to the Lord the first male offspring of every womb, but all my firstborn sons I redeem.’ 13:16 It will be for a sign on your hand and for frontlets ¹⁶⁹  on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.” ¹⁷⁰ 

13:17 ¹⁷¹ 

When Pharaoh released ¹⁷²  the people, God did not lead them ¹⁷³  by the way to the land ¹⁷⁴  of the Philistines, ¹⁷⁵  although ¹⁷⁶  that was nearby, for God said, ¹⁷⁷  “Lest ¹⁷⁸  the people change their minds ¹⁷⁹  and return to Egypt when they experience ¹⁸⁰  war.” 13:18 So God brought the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea, ¹⁸¹  and the Israelites went up from the land of Egypt prepared for battle. ¹⁸² 

13:19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph ¹⁸³  had made the Israelites solemnly swear, ¹⁸⁴  “God will surely attend ¹⁸⁵  to you, and you will carry ¹⁸⁶  my bones up from this place with you.”

13:20 They journeyed from Sukkoth and camped in Etham, on the edge of the desert. 13:21 Now the Lord was going before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them in the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, ¹⁸⁷  so that they could ¹⁸⁸  travel day or night. ¹⁸⁹  13:22 He did not remove the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. ¹⁹⁰ 

14:1 ¹⁹¹ 

The Lord spoke to Moses: 14:2 “Tell the Israelites that they must turn and camp ¹⁹²  before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you are to camp by the sea before Baal Zephon opposite it. ¹⁹³  14:3 Pharaoh will think ¹⁹⁴  regarding the Israelites, ‘They are wandering around confused ¹⁹⁵  in the land – the desert has closed in on them.’ ¹⁹⁶  14:4 I will harden ¹⁹⁷  Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them. I will gain honor ¹⁹⁸  because of Pharaoh and because of all his army, and the Egyptians will know ¹⁹⁹  that I am the Lord.” So this is what they did. ²⁰⁰ 

14:5 When it was reported ²⁰¹  to the king of Egypt that the people had fled, ²⁰²  the heart of Pharaoh and his servants was turned against the people, and the king and his servants said, ²⁰³  “What in the world have we done? ²⁰⁴  For we have released the people of Israel ²⁰⁵  from serving us!” 14:6 Then he prepared ²⁰⁶  his chariots and took his army ²⁰⁷  with him. 14:7 He took six hundred select ²⁰⁸  chariots, and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, ²⁰⁹  and officers ²¹⁰  on all of them.

14:8 But the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he chased after the Israelites. Now the Israelites were going out defiantly. ²¹¹  14:9 The Egyptians chased after them, and all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh and his horsemen and his army overtook them camping by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, before Baal-Zephon. 14:10 When ²¹²  Pharaoh got closer, ²¹³  the Israelites looked up, ²¹⁴  and there were the Egyptians marching after them, ²¹⁵  and they were terrified. ²¹⁶  The Israelites cried out to the Lord, ²¹⁷  14:11 and they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? ²¹⁸  What in the world ²¹⁹  have you done to us by bringing ²²⁰  us out of Egypt? 14:12 Isn’t this what we told you ²²¹  in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we can serve the Egyptians, ²²²  because it is better for us to serve ²²³  the Egyptians than to die in the desert!’” ²²⁴ 

14:13 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! ²²⁵  Stand firm ²²⁶  and see ²²⁷  the salvation ²²⁸  of the Lord that he will provide ²²⁹  for you today; for the Egyptians that you see today you will never, ever see again. ²³⁰  14:14 The Lord ²³¹  will fight for you, and you can be still.” ²³² 

14:15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. ²³³  14:16 And as for you, ²³⁴  lift up your staff and extend your hand toward the sea and divide it, so that ²³⁵  the Israelites may go through the middle of the sea on dry ground. 14:17 And as for me, I am going to harden ²³⁶  the hearts of the Egyptians so that ²³⁷  they will come after them, that I may be honored ²³⁸  because ²³⁹  of Pharaoh and his army and his chariots and his horsemen. 14:18 And the Egyptians will know ²⁴⁰  that I am the Lord when I have gained my honor ²⁴¹  because of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

14:19 The angel of God, who was going before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them, and the pillar ²⁴²  of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them. 14:20 It came between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp; it was a dark cloud ²⁴³  and it lit up the night so that one camp did not come near the other ²⁴⁴  the whole night. ²⁴⁵  14:21 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sea, and the Lord drove the sea apart ²⁴⁶  by a strong east wind all that night, and he made the sea into dry land, and the water was divided. 14:22 So the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground, the water forming a wall ²⁴⁷  for them on their right and on their left.

14:23 The Egyptians chased them and followed them into the middle of the sea – all the horses of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. 14:24 In the morning watch ²⁴⁸  the Lord looked down ²⁴⁹  on the Egyptian army ²⁵⁰  through the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian army ²⁵¹  into a panic. ²⁵²  14:25 He jammed ²⁵³  the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving, ²⁵⁴  and the Egyptians said, “Let’s flee ²⁵⁵  from Israel, for the Lord fights ²⁵⁶  for them against Egypt!”

14:26 The Lord said to Moses, “Extend your hand toward the sea, so that the waters may flow ²⁵⁷  back on the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen!” 14:27 So Moses extended his hand toward the sea, and the sea returned to its normal state ²⁵⁸  when the sun began to rise. ²⁵⁹  Now the Egyptians were fleeing ²⁶⁰  before it, but the Lord overthrew ²⁶¹  the Egyptians in the middle of the sea. 14:28 The water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the army of Pharaoh that was coming after the Israelites into the sea ²⁶²  – not so much as one of them survived! ²⁶³  14:29 But the Israelites walked on dry ground in the middle of the sea, the water forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. 14:30 So the Lord saved ²⁶⁴  Israel on that day from the power ²⁶⁵  of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead ²⁶⁶  on the shore of the sea. 14:31 When Israel saw ²⁶⁷  the great power ²⁶⁸  that the Lord had exercised ²⁶⁹  over the Egyptians, they ²⁷⁰  feared the Lord, and they believed in ²⁷¹  the Lord and in his servant Moses. ²⁷²