Exodus 12:31-13:16

English Standard Version

³¹Then he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Up, go out from among my people, ^(A)both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. ³²^(B)Take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”

The Exodus

³³^(C)The Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” ³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. ³⁵The people of Israel had also done as Moses told them, for they had ^(D)asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. ³⁶^(E)And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that ^(F)they let them have what they asked. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷And the ^(G)people of Israel journeyed from ^(H)Rameses to Succoth, ^(I)about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸A ^(J)mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because ^(K)they were thrust out of Egypt and ^(L)could not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.

⁴⁰The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹At the end of ^(M)430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. ⁴²It was a night of watching by the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a ^(N)night of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.

Institution of the Passover

⁴³And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, ⁴⁴but every slave^[a] that is ^(O)bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵^(P)No foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. ⁴⁶It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and ^(Q)you shall not break any of its bones. ⁴⁷^(R)All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. ⁴⁸^(S)If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he ^(T)shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. ⁴⁹There shall be ^(U)one law for the native and for the ^(V)stranger who sojourns among you.”

⁵⁰All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹And on that very day the ^(W)Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their ^(X)hosts.

Consecration of the Firstborn

13 The Lord said to Moses, ²^(Y)“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

³Then Moses said to the people, ^(Z)“Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ^(AA)for by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. ^(AB)No leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴Today, in the month of ^(AC)Abib, you are going out. ⁵And when the Lord brings you into ^(AD)the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which ^(AE)he swore to your fathers to give you, a land ^(AF)flowing with milk and honey, ^(AG)you shall keep this service in this month. ⁶^(AH)Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ⁸^(AI)You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹And it shall ^(AJ)be to you as a sign on your hand and as ^(AK)a memorial ^(AL)between your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰^(AM)You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹“When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, ^(AN)as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ¹²^(AO)you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord's. ¹³^(AP)Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every ^(AQ)firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ¹⁴^(AR)And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ^(AS)‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of ^(AT)slavery. ¹⁵For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the ^(AU)Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but ^(AV)all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶^(AW)It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for ^(AX)by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”