﻿Exodus.
Chapter 12.
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: 
“This month shall be for you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 
Tell the whole congregation of Israel: ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man is to take a lamb or young goat for his ancestral household, one lamb or young goat per household. 
If a household is too small for one animal, let the man and the neighbor nearest his house take one together according to the number of people. You shall make your count for the animal according to what each person can eat. 
Your animal shall be a male a year old, without blemish; you shall take it from among the sheep or the goats. 
You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall slaughter it at twilight. 
They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it. 
They shall eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire; they shall eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 
Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and entrails. 
You shall leave none of it until morning; whatever remains until morning you shall burn in the fire. 
This is how you shall eat it: with your belts fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the LORD’s Passover. 
For I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. I will execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 
The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will come upon you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. 
This day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall celebrate it as a feast to the LORD. Throughout your generations you shall celebrate it as a perpetual statute. 
For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for anyone who eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh day shall be cut off from Israel. 
On the first day you shall have a holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days, except preparing what each person is to eat. That alone may be done for you. 
You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. You shall keep this day throughout your generations as a perpetual statute. 
In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you shall eat unleavened bread. 
For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, for anyone who eats anything leavened shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a resident foreigner or a native of the land. 
You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’” 
Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Select and take animals from the flock for your families, and slaughter the Passover animal. 
Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood in the basin. Apply some of the blood in the basin to the lintel and the two doorposts. None of you shall go out through the doorway of your house until morning. 
For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 
You shall observe this as a statute for you and your children forever. 
When you enter the land that the LORD will give you, just as he has said, you shall keep this observance. 
When your children ask you, ‘What does this observance mean to you?’ 
you shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the LORD’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, but saved our houses.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped. 
The Israelites went and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did. 
At midnight the LORD struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the animals. 
Pharaoh rose during the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no house without someone dead. 
He called for Moses and Aaron during the night and said, “Rise and go out from among my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, serve the LORD, as you have said. 
Take your flocks and herds as well, as you have said, and go. And bless me too.” 
The Egyptians urged the people to leave the land quickly, for they said, “We are all going to die!” 
The people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks on their shoulders. 
The Israelites had done as Moses had said and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. 
The LORD had given the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and the Egyptians granted their requests. Thus the Israelites plundered Egypt. 
The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the little ones. 
A large mixed multitude also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, a very great abundance of livestock. 
They baked the dough they had brought out of Egypt into cakes of unleavened bread, for it had not fermented, since they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay. They had not prepared provisions for themselves either. 
The time the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 
At the end of the four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the armies of the LORD went out of the land of Egypt. 
It was a night when the LORD kept watch to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is a vigil for the LORD, to be kept by all the Israelites throughout their generations. 
The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner may eat of it. 
But any slave a man has bought with silver may eat of it after you have circumcised him. 
A temporary resident and a hired worker may not eat of it. 
It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the meat outside the house, and you shall not break a bone of it. 
The whole congregation of Israel shall observe it. 
If a resident foreigner lives among you and wishes to keep the Passover to the LORD, every male of his household must be circumcised. Then he may draw near to observe it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 
There shall be one law for the native and for the resident foreigner who lives among you.” 
All the Israelites did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did. 
On that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt according to their armies. 
