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Exodus 12:21-30
Contemporary English Version
Exodus 12:21-30
Contemporary English Version
21 Moses called the leaders of Israel together and said:
Each family is to pick out a sheep and kill it for Passover. 22 Make a brush from a few small branches of a hyssop plant and dip the brush in the bowl that has the blood of the animal in it. Then brush some of the blood above the door and on the posts at each side of the door of your house. After this, everyone is to stay inside until morning.
23 (A) During that night the Lord will go through the country of Egypt and kill the first-born son in every Egyptian family. He will see where you have put the blood, and he will not come into your house. His angel that brings death will pass over and not kill your first-born sons.
24-25 After you have entered the country promised to you by the Lord, you and your children must continue to celebrate Passover each year. 26 Your children will ask you, “What are we celebrating?” 27 And you will answer, “The Passover animal is killed to honor the Lord. We do these things because on that night long ago the Lord passed over the homes of our people in Egypt. He killed the first-born sons of the Egyptians, but he spared our children from death.”
After Moses finished speaking, the people of Israel knelt down and worshiped the Lord. 28 Then they left and did what Moses and Aaron had told them to do.
Death for the First-Born Sons
29 (B) At midnight the Lord killed the first-born son of every Egyptian family, from the son of the king[a] to the son of every prisoner in jail. He also killed the first-born male of every animal that belonged to the Egyptians.
30 That night the king, his officials, and everyone else in Egypt got up and started crying bitterly. In every Egyptian home, someone was dead.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 12.29 the king: See the note at 1.11.
Exodus 12:21-30
New International Version
Exodus 12:21-30
New International Version
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go at once and select the animals for your families and slaughter the Passover(A) lamb. 22 Take a bunch of hyssop,(B) dip it into the blood in the basin and put some of the blood(C) on the top and on both sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord goes through the land to strike(D) down the Egyptians, he will see the blood(E) on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over(F) that doorway, and he will not permit the destroyer(G) to enter your houses and strike you down.
24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance(H) for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land(I) that the Lord will give you as he promised, observe this ceremony. 26 And when your children(J) ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 then tell them, ‘It is the Passover(K) sacrifice to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.’”(L) Then the people bowed down and worshiped.(M) 28 The Israelites did just what the Lord commanded(N) Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight(O) the Lord(P) struck down all the firstborn(Q) in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on the throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner, who was in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the livestock(R) as well. 30 Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians got up during the night, and there was loud wailing(S) in Egypt, for there was not a house without someone dead.
Contemporary English Version (CEV) 
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New International Version (NIV) 
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