13 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “You must give me every male in Israel who is his mother’s first child. That means that every firstborn baby boy and every firstborn male animal will be mine.”

³ Moses said to the people, “Remember this day. You were slaves in Egypt, but on this day the Lord used his great power and made you free. You must not eat bread with yeast. ⁴ Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving Egypt. ⁵ The Lord made a special promise to your ancestors. He promised to give you the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites. After the Lord leads you to the land filled with many good things,^[a] then you must remember this day. You must have a special day of worship on this day during the first month of every year.

⁶ “For seven days, you must eat only bread without yeast. On the seventh day there will be a great festival to show honor to the Lord. ⁷ So for seven days, you must not eat any bread made with yeast. There must be no bread with yeast any place in your land. ⁸ On this day you should tell your children, ‘We are having this festival because the Lord took me out of Egypt.’

⁹ “This festival will help you remember; it will be like a string tied on your hand. It will be like a sign before your eyes.^[b] This festival will help you remember the Lord’s teachings. It will help you remember that the Lord used his great power to take you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ So remember this festival every year at the right time.

¹¹ “The Lord will lead you into the land he promised to give you. The Canaanites live there now. But God promised your ancestors that he would give you this land. When that happens, ¹² you must remember to give the Lord every firstborn boy. And every male animal that is the firstborn must also be given to the Lord. ¹³ Every firstborn donkey can be bought back. You can offer a lamb and keep the donkey. If you don’t want to buy back the donkey like this, then you must break its neck to kill it. But every firstborn baby boy^[c] must be bought back from the Lord.

¹⁴ “In the future, your children will ask why you do this. They will say, ‘What does all this mean?’ And you will answer, ‘The Lord used his great power to save us from Egypt. We were slaves in that place, but he led us out and brought us here. ¹⁵ In Egypt, Pharaoh was stubborn and refused to let us leave. So the Lord killed every firstborn in all the land. (The Lord killed the firstborn males—animal and human.) That is why I give every firstborn male animal to the Lord, and that is why I buy back each of my firstborn sons from him.’ ¹⁶ This is like a string tied on your hand, like a sign in front of your eyes. It helps you remember that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power.”

The Trip Out of Egypt

¹⁷ Pharaoh made the people leave Egypt. God did not let the people take the road leading to the land of the Philistines. That road by the Mediterranean Sea is the shortest way, but God said, “If the people go that way they will have to fight. Then they might change their minds and go back to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God led them another way through the desert by the Red Sea.^[d] The Israelites were dressed for war when they left Egypt.

Joseph Goes Home

¹⁹ Moses carried the bones of Joseph with him. Before Joseph died, he made the Israelites promise to do this for him. He said, “When God saves you, remember to carry my bones with you out of Egypt.”

The Lord Leads His People

²⁰ The Israelites left Succoth and camped at Etham. Etham was near the desert. ²¹ The Lord led the way. During the day, he used a tall cloud to lead the people. And during the night, he used a tall column of fire to lead the way. This fire gave them light so that they could also travel at night. ²² The cloud was always with them during the day, and the column of fire was always with them at night.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people to go back to Pi Hahiroth. Tell them to spend the night between Migdol and the Red Sea, near Baal Zephon. ³ Pharaoh will think that the Israelites are lost in the desert and that the people will have no place to go. ⁴ I will make Pharaoh brave, and he will chase you. But I will defeat Pharaoh and his army. This will bring honor to me. Then the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord.” So the Israelites did what he told them.

Pharaoh Chases the Israelites

⁵ Pharaoh received a report that the Israelites had escaped. When he heard this, he and his officials changed their minds about what they had done. Pharaoh said, “Why did we let the Israelites leave? Why did we let them run away? Now we have lost our slaves!”

⁶ So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his men with him. ⁷ He took 600 of his best men and all of his chariots. There was an officer in each chariot.^{[e] 8} The Israelites were leaving with their arms raised in victory. But the Lord caused Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to become brave. And Pharaoh chased the Israelites.

⁹ The Egyptian army had many horse soldiers and chariots. They chased the Israelites and caught up with them while they were camped near the Red Sea at Pi Hahiroth, east of Baal Zephon.

¹⁰ When the Israelites saw Pharaoh and his army coming toward them, they were very frightened and cried to the Lord for help. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Did you bring us out here in the desert to die? We could have died peacefully in Egypt; there were plenty of graves in Egypt. ¹² We told you this would happen! In Egypt we said, ‘Please don’t bother us. Let us stay and serve the Egyptians.’ It would have been better for us to stay and be slaves than to come out here and die in the desert.”

¹³ But Moses answered, “Don’t be afraid! Don’t run away! Stand where you are and watch the Lord save you today. You will never see these Egyptians again. ¹⁴ You will not have to do anything but stay calm. The Lord will do the fighting for you.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you still crying to me? Tell the Israelites to start moving. ¹⁶ Raise the walking stick in your hand over the Red Sea, and the sea will split. Then the people can go across on dry land. ¹⁷ I have made the Egyptians brave, so they will chase you. But I will show you that I am more powerful than Pharaoh and all of his horses and chariots. ¹⁸ Then Egypt will know that I am the Lord. They will honor me when I defeat Pharaoh and his horse soldiers and chariots.”

The Lord Defeats the Egyptian Army

¹⁹ Then the angel of God moved to the back of the people. (The angel was usually in front of the people, leading them.) So the tall cloud moved from in front of the people and went to the back of the people. ²⁰ In this way the cloud stood between the Egyptians and the Israelites. There was light for the Israelites. But there was darkness for the Egyptians. So the Egyptians did not come any closer to the Israelites that night.

²¹ Moses raised his hand over the Red Sea, and the Lord caused a strong wind to blow from the east. The wind blew all night long. The sea split, and the wind made the ground dry. ²² The Israelites went through the sea on dry land. The water was like a wall on their right and on their left. ²³ Then all of Pharaoh’s chariots and horse soldiers followed them into the sea. ²⁴ Early that morning the Lord looked down from the tall cloud and column of fire at the Egyptian army. Then he made them panic. ²⁵ The wheels of the chariots became stuck. It was very hard to control the chariots. The Egyptians shouted, “Let’s get out of here! The Lord is fighting against us. He is fighting for the Israelites.”

²⁶ Then the Lord told Moses, “Raise your hand over the sea to make the water fall and cover the Egyptian chariots and horse soldiers.”

²⁷ So just before daylight, Moses raised his hand over the sea. And the water rushed back to its proper level. The Egyptians were running as fast as they could from the water, but the Lord swept them away with the sea. ²⁸ The water returned to its normal level and covered the chariots and horse soldiers. Pharaoh’s army had been chasing the Israelites, but that army was destroyed. None of them survived!

²⁹ But the Israelites crossed the sea on dry land. The water was like a wall on their right and on their left. ³⁰ So that day the Lord saved the Israelites from the Egyptians. Later, the Israelites saw the dead bodies of the Egyptians on the shore of the Red Sea. ³¹ The Israelites saw the great power of the Lord when he defeated the Egyptians. So the people feared and respected the Lord, and they began to trust the Lord and his servant Moses.