The Passover

The Lord made the Egyptians think well of the people. Moses himself was a very great man in Egypt. Pharaoh’s officials thought so, and so did the people.

Moses said to Pharaoh, “This is what the Lord says: ‘At about midnight I will go out through the middle of Egypt. Every firstborn in the land will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh on his throne all the way to the firstborn of the servant girl who grinds grain at the mill. Every firstborn animal will die too. There will be a great cry all over the land of Egypt. There has never been anything like it, and there never will be again.

“‘But not even a dog will bark at any of the Israelites, or at their animals. That way you will know that the Lord treats the Egyptians and Israel differently. Every one of these officials of yours will come down and bow low in front of me. They will say, “Get out, you and all your followers!” After that I will go.’” Then Moses went out from Pharaoh, very angry.

The Lord had said to Moses, “Pharaoh won’t listen to you, so that I can do many more wonders in the land of Egypt.” Moses and Aaron did all these wonders in front of Pharaoh. But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he didn’t let the Israelites go out of his land.

“Give this message to all the people of Israel. On the tenth day of this month, every man must choose a lamb for his family, one lamb for each household. If there aren’t enough people in a household to eat a whole lamb, the man and his next-door neighbor are to share one, depending on how many people there are. When you choose the lamb, work out how much each person will eat.

“Your lamb must have nothing wrong with it. It must be a male, one year old, taken from the sheep or from the goats. Keep it until the fourteenth day of the month. Then, in the evening, the whole community of Israel is to kill their lambs.

“They are to take some of the lamb’s blood and put it on the doorframe of each house where they eat it: on the two doorposts and on the beam above the door. That night they will eat the meat, roasted in the fire, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

“Don’t eat it raw, and don’t boil it in water. Roast it in the fire, head, legs, insides and all. Don’t keep any of it until morning. Burn whatever is left in the morning.

“When you eat it, have your belt on, your sandals on and your staff in your hand. Eat it quickly. It is the Lord’s Passover.

“I will go through the land of Egypt that night. I will strike every firstborn there, both people and animals. I will bring judgment on all of Egypt’s gods. I am the Lord. The blood on the houses where you are will be your sign. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no plague will fall on you and destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

“This will be a day for you to remember. Keep it as a feast to the Lord. Every generation after you is to keep it as a feast, as a law that lasts forever.

“On the first day you will hold a holy gathering, and on the seventh day another. Do no work on those days, except to prepare what everyone is going to eat. That is the only work you may do.

“Keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, because on this same day I brought your people out of the land of Egypt in their ranks, like an army. Every generation is to keep this day, as a law that lasts forever. In the first month, starting on the evening of the fourteenth day, eat unleavened bread until the evening of the twenty-first.

“For seven days no yeast may be found in your houses. Whoever eats anything with yeast in it will be cut off from the community of Israel, whether a foreigner or someone born in the land. Don’t eat anything with yeast in it. In every home, eat only bread without yeast.”

“The Lord will pass through Egypt to strike the Egyptians. When he sees the blood on the beam above the door and on both doorposts, he will pass over that door. He won’t let the destroyer come into your houses to strike you.

“You are to keep this as a law for you and your children forever. When you come into the land the Lord will give you, as he has promised, keep doing this.

“When your children ask you, ‘Why do we do this?’ tell them, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Lord’s Passover. When he struck the Egyptians, he passed over the Israelites’ houses in Egypt, and he spared our homes.’” The people bowed their heads and worshiped.

The Israelites went and did it. They did everything the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

Pharaoh got up in the night, and so did all his officials and all the Egyptians. There was a great cry in Egypt, because in every house someone was dead.

Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron that same night. “Get up and leave my people, you and the Israelites!” he said. “Go and serve the Lord, the way you asked. Take your flocks and your herds too, just as you said, and go. And bless me as well!”

The Egyptians pressed the people to hurry out of the land. “We’re all going to die!” they said.

So the people took their dough before it had risen. They tied their mixing bowls up in their clothes and carried them on their shoulders.

The Israelites had done what Moses said. They had asked the Egyptians for clothing and for jewelry made of silver and gold. The Lord had made the Egyptians think well of the people, so the Egyptians let them have whatever they asked for. That is how the Israelites carried off the riches of Egypt.

They baked loaves of bread without yeast from the dough they had brought out of Egypt. The dough hadn’t risen, because they had been pushed out of Egypt and couldn’t wait. They hadn’t gotten any food ready for themselves.

The Israelites had lived in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. On the very day those four hundred and thirty years ended, all the Lord’s people went out of the land of Egypt in their ranks, like an army.

It is a night to keep for the Lord, because he brought them out of the land of Egypt. This is the Lord’s night, for all the Israelites to keep, generation after generation.

The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Here are the rules for the Passover. No foreigner may eat it. A servant who was bought with money may eat it, once you have circumcised him. But a foreigner, or a worker you hire, may not eat it.

“It must be eaten inside one house. Don’t take any of the meat outside the house, and don’t break any of the lamb’s bones. The whole community of Israel is to keep the Passover.

“If a foreigner living among you wants to keep the Lord’s Passover, all the males of his household must be circumcised first. Then he may come and keep it, and he will be like someone born in the land. But no man who is not circumcised may eat it. The same law is for the one born among you and for the foreigner who lives among you.”

All the Israelites did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. That same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, in their ranks like an army.

Moses said to the people, “Remember this day. It is the day you came out of Egypt, the land where you were slaves. The Lord brought you out of here by the power of his hand. Don’t eat any bread made with yeast. You are leaving today, in the month of Abib.

“The Lord swore an oath to your ancestors that he would give you the land where the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites live, a land flowing with milk and honey. When he brings you there, you are to keep this feast in this month. Eat bread without yeast for seven days, and on the seventh day hold a feast for the Lord. Eat only bread without yeast through the seven days. No bread with yeast, and no yeast at all, is to be seen among you anywhere inside your borders.

“On that day tell your son, ‘I keep this feast because of what the Lord did for me as I came out of Egypt.’ This will be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead, so the Lord’s law will be on your lips, because the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his strong hand. So keep this law at the right time, year after year.

“The Lord is going to bring you into the land of the Canaanites and give it to you, as he swore an oath to you and to your ancestors. When he does, you are to give the Lord every firstborn, and every firstborn male of your animals. They belong to the Lord. Buy back every firstborn donkey by giving a lamb in its place. If you don’t buy it back, break its neck. And buy back every firstborn son among your children.

“Someday, when your son asks you, ‘What is this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord brought us out of Egypt, where we were slaves, by the power of his hand. When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, of people and of animals. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord every male that is born first to its mother, but I buy back each of my firstborn sons.’ This will be a sign on your hand and a mark on your forehead, because the Lord brought us out of Egypt by the power of his hand.”

Moses took Joseph’s bones with him. Joseph had made the Israelites promise with an oath. “God will surely come to help you,” he had said, “and you must carry my bones up from here with you.”

They moved on from Succoth and camped at Etham, at the edge of the wilderness.

The Lord went ahead of them. By day he was in a pillar of cloud, showing them the way. By night he was in a pillar of fire, giving them light. That way they could keep going by day and by night. The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night didn’t leave their place at the head of the people.