A Final Plague Threatened
11 The Lord said to Moses, “Yet one dplague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt. Afterward he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will edrive you away completely. 2 Speak now in the hearing of the people, that fthey ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, for silver and gold jewelry.” 3 And the Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh’s servants and in the sight of the people.
4 So Moses said, “Thus says the Lord: ‘About midnight gI will go out in the midst of Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, hfrom the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the slave girl who is behind the handmill, and all the firstborn of the cattle. 6 iThere shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has never been, nor ever will be again. 7 But not a dog shall growl against any of the people of Israel, either man or beast, that you may know that the Lord makes a jdistinction between Egypt and Israel.’ 8 And kall these your servants shall come down to me and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you.’ And after that I will go out.” And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger. 9 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you, that my lwonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.”
10 Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh, and mthe Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and nhe did not let the people of Israel go out of his land.
The Passover
12 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.
Consecration of the Firstborn
13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 m“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”
The Feast of Unleavened Bread
3 Then Moses said to the people, n“Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for oby a strong hand the Lord pbrought you out from this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten. 4 Today, qin the month of Abib, you are going out. 5 And when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he rswore to your fathers to give you, sa land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this service in this month. 6 tSeven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and uno leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. 8 vYou shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ 9 And it shall be to you as a sign on your hand and as a wmemorial xbetween your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. 10 You shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.
11 “When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12 you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s. 13 yEvery firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, zthe Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16 It shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for by a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”
Pillars of Cloud and Fire
17 aWhen Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people bchange their minds when they see war and creturn to Egypt.” 18 dBut God led the people around eby the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. 19 fMoses took the bones of Joseph with him, for gJoseph1 had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” 20 And they moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 hAnd the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
Crossing the Red Sea
14 iThen the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to turn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 jFor Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And I will kharden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and lI will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, and mthe Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, nthe mind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took six hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while the people of Israel were going out odefiantly. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them encamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
10 pWhen Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. qAnd the people of Israel cried out to the Lord. 11 rThey said to Moses, s“Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this twhat we said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may userve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, vstand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 wThe Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be silent.”
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 xLift up your staff, and ystretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that zthe people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”
19 Then athe angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and bthe pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night1 without one coming near the other all night.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and cthe Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. 22 dAnd the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging2 their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, ethat the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord threw3 the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, fnot one of them remained. 29 But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel gsaw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.
The Song of Moses
15 Then Moses and the people of Israel hsang this song to the Lord, saying,
“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider1 he has thrown into the sea.
2 iThe Lord is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation;
jthis is my God, and I will praise him,
my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 The Lord is a kman of war;
lthe Lord is his name.
4 m“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea,
and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 The floods covered them;
they went down into the depths nlike a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,
your right hand, O Lord, oshatters the enemy.
7 In the greatness of your pmajesty you overthrow your adversaries;
you send out your fury; qit consumes them like stubble.
8 rAt the sblast of your nostrils the waters piled up;
the floods stood up in a theap;
the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.
I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’
10 You blew with your wind; uthe sea covered them;
they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 v“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, wmajestic in holiness,
awesome in glorious deeds, doing xwonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand;
the earth swallowed them.
13 “You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have yredeemed;
zyou have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 aThe peoples have heard; they tremble;
pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;
btrembling seizes the leaders of Moab;
call the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16 Terror and dread fall upon them;
because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone,
till your people, O Lord, pass by,
till the people pass by whom you have dpurchased.
17 You will bring them in and eplant them on your own mountain,
the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode,
the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 fThe Lord will reign forever and ever.”
19 For gwhen the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, hthe Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with itambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, jfor he has triumphed gloriously;
the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
Bitter Water Made Sweet
22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went kinto the lwilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found mno water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.2 24 And the people ngrumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,3 and he othrew it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the Lord4 made for them a statute and a rule, and there he ptested them, 26 saying, q“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, rI will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your shealer.”
27 Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
