Pick a lamb to butcher
1While Moses and Aaron were still in Egypt, the LORD told them, 2“This is going to become the first month of the year on the Israelite calendar. [1] 3Tell all the people of Israel, ‘On the tenth day of this month, every family or household should select a lamb to eat. 4If one lamb is too much for one small household to eat, you may share a lamb with a nearby neighbor. Share the food. Give everyone an equal portion. 5You can pick from sheep or goats. But the animal must be a one-year-old male. And there can’t be anything wrong with him.6You should take good care of the animal for four days. Then on the fourteenth of the month, in the twilight of sundown, all Israelites should kill the animals they chose. 7Take some of the animal’s blood and brush it onto the door posts outside the house where you are going to eat. [2] Brush it on both sides of the door posts and on the lintel across the top. 8Roast the animal the same night you slaughter it. Eat it with flat bread made without yeast, and with a salad of bitter plants. [3]
9Don’t eat any of the meat raw. And don’t cook it in water. [4] Roast it whole, in a barbecue from head to tail, with all the organs still inside. 10Eat it all before morning. If there are leftovers you can’t eat, burn it before sunrise. 11When you eat this meal, I want you to eat it in a hurry, while fully dressed and ready to go—sandals on, and your walking staff within reach. This will be the day of the LORD’s Passover. [5]
12That’s because on the night you eat this meal, I will travel throughout Egypt. I will kill every mother’s first child, whether the mother is human or animal. This is how I’ll condemn all the gods these people worship. I am the LORD. 13The blood will save you, when I see it on the doorframes as I travel through Egypt. When I see the blood, I’ll pass over you. Death won’t pay you a visit, when I come to hammer Egypt.
Festival of the yeast-free bread
14This is going to be a day to remember. I want you to celebrate the day every year, for all the years to come. Observe it as a religious festival honoring the LORD. That’s a permanent rule.15When you celebrate it in the future, the only bread you can eat during the seven days of the festival is bread made without yeast. On the first day of that week, remove from your home anything with yeast in it. If you eat anything with yeast in it during that stretch, you’re no longer an Israelite. 16You should meet in worship on the first day and the seventh day of this week. You’re not to work on either day, except the work it takes to feed yourselves.
17Observe this festival of the yeast-free bread as a way of remembering that I freed you from slavery in Egypt and led you out of the land. Celebrate this day as a religious holiday every year for all the years to come. 18Begin celebrating this religious holiday on the fourteenth day of the first month. [6] The only bread you can eat is bread made without yeast. Continue that menu until the evening of the twenty-first day.
19There should be nothing in your home made with yeast. For seven days, no yeast allowed. If anyone eats anything with yeast in it, they are no longer an Israelite. This applies to native Israelites as well as newcomers in the land. 20You’re not allowed to eat anything with yeast in it. No matter where you live, the bread you eat must be yeast-free.” 21Moses called a meeting of all the leading elders of Israel. He told them, “Go select lambs for your families. You’ll slaughter them and eat as a Passover offering. 22Collect some of the animal’s blood into a bowl. Then take a handful of hyssop [7] branches and dip it in the blood. Use that to paint the frame of the doorway into your house—both sides of the doorframe and the lintel across the top. After you do that, go inside and stay there until morning.
God will pass over Israelite homes
23When the LORD comes to punish the Egyptians that night, he’ll see the blood on the doorframe of your homes, and he’ll pass over the door. He won’t allow his executioner [8] to cut you down. 24You and your descendants should observe this religious holiday for the rest of time. 25You should continue to observe this festival when you settle in the land the LORD has promised to give you.26When your children ask, ‘Why are we doing this?’ 27you should answer, ‘This is Passover, a sacrifice to honor the LORD. We call it Passover because the LORD passed over the Israelite house when he punished the Egyptians. He didn’t hurt anyone in Israelite homes.’” 28So the Israelites did what Moses and Aaron told them to do, as the LORD ordered.
Death at midnight
29It was about midnight when the LORD struck. Every Egyptian mother’s first child died—from Pharaoh’s first child, to the first child of a prisoner in the dungeon, to the first calf of a cow in the field. 30Pharaoh got up that night. So did his officials and Egyptians everywhere. Loud and bitter wailing rang throughout the country because someone had died in every Egyptian home. 31Pharaoh sent a message to Moses and Aaron that night. He said, “Get all your people up and get them out of here, away from my people! Go and worship the LORD like you said you wanted to! 32Take all your livestock, the flocks and the herds. Just call down a blessing for me—some word of kindness—and then get out!”Israel’s exodus begins
33Egyptians told the Israelite people to get out now, “Before you kill us all.” 34So the Israelites scooped up their bread dough without yeast. They stashed it in their kneading bowls, which they wrapped in cloaks they carried on their shoulders.35Earlier, the people had asked their Egyptian neighbors for expensive clothing and objects of silver and gold, as Moses had instructed. And the neighbors gave it to them. 36The LORD had tweaked the attitude of the Egyptians, making them inclined to give the Israelites what they wanted. In doing that, the Israelites plundered the Egyptians. 37The people of Israel left the city of Rameses [9] and traveled to Succoth. [10] There were about 600,000 [11] men on foot, not counting children. [12] 38This was a mixed crowd of Israelites and others who joined them. Herds and flocks into one massive livestock drive. 39For food, they stopped and baked the yeast-free bread dough they carried with them. They made flat cakes of yeast-free bread because they didn’t have yeast. [13] When Pharaoh ordered them to leave, they didn’t have time to do much of anything but close the door on their way out.
40The people of Israel had lived in Egypt 430 years. [14] 41On the last day of that 430th year, the people of Israel began their exodus out of Egypt. 42The LORD spent the night as Israel’s security guard. He protected them on their way out of Egypt. So, on this night every year from now on, people will honor the LORD for leading the Israelites to freedom.
43The LORD told Moses and Aaron, “These are the Passover laws. First, the food is for Israelites only. No others allowed, with a few exceptions. 44Your circumcised slaves can eat the food. 45Visitors and hired help can’t eat it. Not allowed. 46You need to eat the food at one sitting. You can’t take any out of the house. And you can’t break any bones of the sacrificed animal. [15] 47Every Israelite needs to celebrate this day.
48If someone visits you and wants to honor the LORD by eating the Passover meal with you, that’s fine. But he and all the males of his household need to be circumcised first. No uncircumcised males could eat the Passover meal. 49The Passover laws that apply to Israelites also apply to anyone else living among you as neighbors.” 50So, the people of Israel did what Moses and Aaron told them to do. 51That’s the day the LORD led all the tribes of Israel on their exodus to freedom out of Egypt.
