The First-Born Given to God

13 The Lord said to Moses, ² “Set apart to Me every first-born male. The first-born male among the people of Israel, and the first-born male animal are Mine.”

Special Supper of Bread without Yeast

³ Then Moses said to the people, “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the land where you were made to stay and work. For the Lord brought you out of this place by a powerful hand. No bread made with yeast will be eaten. ⁴ This day you are about to go out, in the month of Abib. ⁵ And the Lord will bring you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite and the Jebusite, which He promised to your fathers to give you. It is a land flowing with milk and honey. There you will do this act of worship in this month. ⁶ For seven days you will eat bread without yeast. On the seventh day there will be a special supper to the Lord. ⁷ Bread without yeast will be eaten for seven days. Nothing made with yeast will be seen among you. No yeast will be seen among you in all your country. ⁸ You will say to your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ It will be a special mark on your hand and on your forehead to make people remember, that the Law of the Lord is to be in your mouth. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with a powerful hand. ¹⁰ So you must keep this Law at the time given for it from year to year.

The First-Born

¹¹ “The Lord will bring you to the land of the Canaanite. He will give it to you as He promised you and your fathers. ¹² There you must give to the Lord the first male to be born. And all the first male animals born belong to the Lord. ¹³ But you may buy every first-born donkey by giving a lamb for it. But if you do not buy it, then you must break its neck. You must buy with a gift of money every first-born male among your sons. ¹⁴ And when the time comes when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ then say to him, ‘With a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the land where we were servants. ¹⁵ When Pharaoh would not let us go, the Lord killed every first-born in the land of Egypt, both the first-born of man and of animal. So I give to the Lord every first male animal to be born. But I buy with a gift of money every first-born of my sons.’ ¹⁶ So it will be like a special mark on your hand and on your forehead. For the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a powerful hand.”

Cloud by Day and Fire by Night

¹⁷ When Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even when that was nearer. For God said, “The people may change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God led the people through the desert to get to the Red Sea. The people of Israel went out of the land of Egypt ready for war. ¹⁹ Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the people of Israel promise. He had said, “For sure God will keep you and you will carry my bones with you from here.” ²⁰ Then they left Succoth and set up their tents at Etham, beside the desert. ²¹ The Lord went before them, in a pillar of cloud during the day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire during the night to give them light. So they could travel day and night. ²² The pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire during the night did not leave the people.

Crossing the Red Sea

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the people of Israel to turn around and set up their tents in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. Set up your tents in front of Baal-zephon, beside the sea. ³ For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They have lost their way. The desert has shut them in.’ ⁴ I will make Pharaoh’s heart hard. And he will try to catch them. So I will be honored through Pharaoh and his whole army. Then the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵ When the king of Egypt was told that the people had left, Pharaoh and his servants changed their minds about the people. They said, “What is this we have done? We have let Israel go from working for us.” ⁶ So he made his war-wagon ready and took his people with him. ⁷ He took 600 of the best war-wagons, and all the other war-wagons of Egypt in the care of leaders. ⁸ The Lord made the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt hard. And Pharaoh went to catch the people of Israel, who were leaving without fear. ⁹ The Egyptians followed them with all the horses and war-wagons of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army. And they came to them at their tents by the sea, beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ When Pharaoh came near, the people of Israel looked and saw the Egyptians coming after them. And they were filled with fear and cried out to the Lord. ¹¹ Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the desert? What have you done to us, in bringing us out of Egypt? ¹² Did we not tell you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die here.”

¹³ But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid! Be strong, and see how the Lord will save you today. For the Egyptians you have seen today, you will never see again. ¹⁴ The Lord will fight for you. All you have to do is keep still.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to keep going. ¹⁶ Lift up your special stick and put out your hand over the sea, and divide it. Then the people of Israel will go through the sea on dry land. ¹⁷ I will make the Egyptians’ hearts hard, so they will go after them. And I will be honored through Pharaoh and his whole army, his war-wagons and his horsemen. ¹⁸ The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I am honored through Pharaoh, his war-wagons and his horsemen.” ¹⁹ Then the Angel of God, who had been going in front of the army of Israel, moved and went behind them. The cloud moved from the front of them and stood behind them. ²⁰ It came between the army of Egypt and the army of Israel. There was the cloud and the darkness, yet it gave light at night. And the one army did not come near the other all night. ²¹ Then Moses put out his hand over the sea. And the Lord moved the sea all night by a strong east wind. So the waters were divided. ²² And the people of Israel went through the sea on dry land. The waters were like a wall to them on their right and on their left. ²³ Then the Egyptians followed them. All Pharaoh’s horses and war-wagons and horsemen went in the sea after them. ²⁴ In the morning hours, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army through the fire and cloud. And He made the Egyptian army afraid. ²⁵ He made the wheels of their war-wagons come off, so it was hard for the wagons to be moved. So the Egyptians said, “Let us run away from Israel. For the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand over the sea. And the waters will flow over the Egyptians, and over their war-wagons and their horsemen.” ²⁷ And when the morning came, the Egyptians ran into the wall of water as the sea returned to the way it was before. The Lord destroyed the Egyptians in the sea. ²⁸ The waters returned and covered the war-wagons and the horsemen and Pharaoh’s whole army that had gone in the sea after them. Not even one of them was left. ²⁹ But the people of Israel walked on dry land through the sea. The waters were like a wall to them on their right and on their left.

³⁰ So the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians. And Israel saw the Egyptians dead beside the sea. ³¹ Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians. And the people had fear of the Lord. They believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses.