The Passover
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 o“This month shall be for you pthe beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell all the congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month every man shall take a lamb according to their fathers’ houses, a lamb for a household. 4 And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; qaccording to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. 5 Your lamb shall be rwithout blemish, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats, 6 and syou shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill their lambs at twilight.1
7 “Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They shall eat the flesh that night, roasted on the fire; twith unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9 uDo not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10 And vyou shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything that remains until the morning you shall burn. 11 In this manner you shall eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. And you shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For wI will pass through the land of Egypt that night, and I will xstrike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and yon all zthe gods of Egypt aI will execute judgments: I am the Lord. 13 The blood shall be a sign for you, on the houses where you are. And bwhen I see the blood, I will pass over you, and cno plague will befall you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.
14 “This day shall be for you a dmemorial day, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations, as a statute forever, you shall keep it as a feast. 15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven out of your houses, for if anyone eats what is leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be ecut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you shall hold fa holy assembly, and on the seventh day a holy assembly. No work shall be done on those days. But what everyone needs to eat, that alone may be prepared by you. 17 And you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for gon this very day hI brought your ihosts out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day, throughout your generations, as a statute forever. 18 In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 For seven days jno leaven is to be found in your houses. If anyone eats what is leavened, that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a sojourner or a native of the land. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwelling places you shall eat unleavened bread.”
21 Then Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and select lambs for yourselves according to your clans, and kill the Passover lamb. 22 Take a bunch of khyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and touch the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 For the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians, and when he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door and lwill not allow mthe destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. 24 You shall observe this rite as a statute for you and for your sons forever. 25 And when you come to the land that the Lord will give you, nas he has promised, you shall keep this service. 26 And when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ 27 oyou shall say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the houses of the people of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians but spared our houses.’” And the people bowed their heads and worshiped.
28 Then the people of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
29 pAt midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, qfrom the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And rthere was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 sThen he summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, t“Up, go out from among my people, both you and the people of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said. 32 uTake your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone, and bless me also!”
The Exodus
33 vThe Egyptians were urgent with the people to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls being bound up in their cloaks on their shoulders. 35 wThe people of Israel had also done xas Moses told them, for they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing. 36 And the Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. yThus they plundered the Egyptians.
37 And the people of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, zabout six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children. 38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were athrust out of Egypt and bcould not wait, nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was c430 years. 41 At the end of 430 years, on that very day, all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night of watching by the Lord, dto bring them out of the land of Egypt; so this same night is a enight of watching kept to the Lord by all the people of Israel throughout their generations.
Institution of the Passover
43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it, 44 but every slave2 that is bought for money may eat of it fafter you have circumcised him. 45 gNo foreigner or hired worker may eat of it. 46 It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house, and hyou shall inot break any of its bones. 47 All the congregation of Israel shall keep it. 48 If a stranger shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the Lord, let jall his males be circumcised. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it. 49 kThere shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who sojourns among you.”
50 All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day lthe Lord brought the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their hosts.
Water from the Rock
1 All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was vno water for the people to drink. 2 wTherefore the people xquarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to ydrink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ztest the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people agrumbled against Moses and said, b“Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready cto stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff dwith which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 eBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and fwater shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place Massah1 and Meribah,2 because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
Israel Defeats Amalek
8 gThen Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill hwith the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of Joshua, that iI will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses jbuilt an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne3 of the Lord! The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”
Oholiab and Bezalel
1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 l“See, I have called by name Bezalel the son of Uri, son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, 3 and I have mfilled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship, 4 to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 5 in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, to work in every craft. 6 And behold, I have appointed with him Oholiab, the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. And I have given to all able men ability, that they may make all that I have commanded you: 7 nthe tent of meeting, and othe ark of the testimony, and pthe mercy seat that is on it, and all the furnishings of the tent, 8 qthe table and its utensils, and rthe pure lampstand with all its utensils, and sthe altar of incense, 9 and tthe altar of burnt offering with all its utensils, and uthe basin and its stand, 10 and vthe finely worked garments,1 the holy garments for Aaron the priest and the garments of his sons, for their service as priests, 11 and wthe anointing oil and the fragrant incense for the Holy Place. According to all that I have commanded you, they shall do.”
The Sabbath
12 And the Lord said to Moses, 13 “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, x‘Above all you shall keep ymy Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who zprofanes it shall be put to death. Whoever does any work on it, that soul shall be acut off from among his people. 15 bSix days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a ccovenant forever. 17 It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and don the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.’”
18 And he gave to Moses, when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, etablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
