Promised land ahead
1The LORD told Moses, 2“Every Israelite mother’s first child belongs to me. Whether the mother is a human or an animal, I want that first child or that first animal reserved for me and dedicated to serving me.” [1] 3Moses told the people, “Everyone, remember this day—the day you left Egypt and your slavery. It took the power of the LORD to do this for you. So, do as I said and don’t eat anything made with yeast.4Today, in the first month [2] of the year, you are leaving this land. 5The LORD is going to do what he promised your ancestors. He’s going to take you home. He’s going to give you the land now occupied by Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. It’s a fertile land where milk and honey flow like rivers. When you get there, this is how you’ll express your devotion to the LORD every year during this month.
Festival of Yeast-free Bread
6For seven days you won’t eat anything made with yeast. Then on the evening of the seventh day, you’ll have a feast in honor of the LORD. 7But before the festival, during those first seven days, I don’t want you to even lay eyes on yeast—or anything made with it. Get all the yeast products out of your homes and off your land. 8On the day of the festival, day seven, tell your children, ‘We are free today, no longer slaves in Egypt, because the LORD freed us.’ 9This springtime festival will put your head and your hands to work, helping you remind your children each year that the LORD freed you from slavery in Egypt. 10So celebrate this sacred holiday every year at this time.Firstborn children belong to God
11Here’s something else you need to do when you get to the land of Canaan, [3] which the LORD told your ancestors he’s giving to you, 12Give the LORD every mother’s first son. [4] And give him the first male animals born to your livestock. 13You don’t have to sacrifice donkeys, though. You can buy them back with the sacrifice of a lamb in their place. But if you prefer to sacrifice the donkey, kill it by breaking its neck. [5] As for baby boys, you have no option but to save them. 14In the years to come, when your children ask you what this is all about, tell them, ‘It’s about the LORD coming to our rescue in a powerful way, and freeing us from slavery in Egypt.15Pharaoh was finally going to let us go, but he got stubborn and changed his mind. So the LORD took the lives of every Egyptian mother’s first son. He did the same to their livestock. And that’s why we sacrifice every animal’s first male offspring. But we save our sons from this. [6] 16So this festival will put your head and your hands to work, helping remind you each year that the LORD freed you from slavery in Egypt.’”
Taking the road less traveled
17When Pharaoh freed the Israelites, they didn’t take the coastal route through the land of the Philistines, which was the shortest route home. God said, “These people don’t have the stomach for war. When they see a battle brewing, they’ll run back to Egypt.” [7]18So God took them on the less-traveled secondary roads, far out of the way. This took them through the Reed Sea [8] and into the badlands. They carried weapons with them. 19Moses took the bones of Joseph with him. Before Joseph died, he had made his family promise to take his body back to their land when they went home. [9] He said, “God will take care of you as you carry my bones with you.” 20The people left Succoth [10] and traveled to Etham, [11] where they camped along the border of the badlands.
21The LORD traveled in front of them, in a rising column of smoke [12] by day and a column of fire at night, which lit their way. That allowed them to travel day or night. 22The fire or smoke was always there with the people.
