A Night to Remember
12 1 Our Father said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
The Passover Lamb
2 "This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel: On the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb for his family, a lamb for each household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take one according to the number of people; you shall make your count for the lamb according to what each person can eat. 5 Your lamb shall be without defect, a male a year old; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6 You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 7 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 They shall eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 You shall let none of it remain until morning; anything left until morning you shall burn in the fire. 11 This is how you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; you shall eat it in haste. It is the Passover of our Father. 12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments. I am your Father. 13 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 fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 1 1 v13 The blood on the doorway that turns away judgment points to Jesus, our Passover lamb, whose blood shelters all who trust in him.
Unleavened Bread, Generation to Generation
14 This day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall keep it as a feast to our Father; throughout your generations, as a lasting statute, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the very first day you shall remove all yeast from your houses, for anyone who eats anything made with yeast from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 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, except what each person needs to eat — that alone may be prepared by you. 17 You shall keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt. So you shall keep this day throughout your generations, as a lasting statute. 18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day, you shall eat unleavened bread. 19 For seven days no yeast shall be found in your houses, for whoever eats anything made with yeast, that person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a foreigner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread."
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, "Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and brush the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning. 23 For our Father will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, our Father will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall keep this command as a lasting statute for you and for your children. 25 And when you come to the land that our Father will give you, as he promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, 'What does this service mean to you?' 27 you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of our Father'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 down and worshiped.
28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; just as our Father had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Midnight in Egypt
29 At midnight our Father struck down 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 all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 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.
Pharaoh Lets Them Go
31 Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, "Get up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; go, serve the Father, as you have said.
Israel Departs
32 Take your flocks and your herds as well, just as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also."
A Father Watching Over Them
33 The Egyptians pressed hard on the people to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We are all dead men." 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 The people of Israel had done as Moses told them, and they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 36 And our Father gave the people favor with the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
37 The people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with very large flocks and herds, a great deal of livestock. 39 And they baked flat unleavened bread from the dough they had brought out of Egypt, for it had no yeast, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. 40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years. 41 At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very day, all the forces of our Father went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of vigil kept by our Father to bring them out of the land of Egypt; this same night is a night of vigil kept to our Father by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Who May Eat the Passover
43 Our Father said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
One Law for All
44 but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. 45 No temporary resident or hired worker may eat of it. 46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not carry any of the meat outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones. 2 2 v46 Not one of the lamb's bones was to be broken — the very thing said of Jesus on the cross, the true Passover lamb. 47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48 If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the Passover to our Father, let all his males be circumcised; then he may come and celebrate it, and he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 There shall be one law for the native and for the foreigner who resides among you."
50 All the people of Israel did just as our Father had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did. 51 And on that very day our Father brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their forces.