Exodus 12

12 ¹Our Father said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,

²"This month is your beginning of months, the year's first month. ³Tell all Israel's assembly: on this month's tenth day, each man is to take a lamb per family, a lamb per household. ⁴If the household is too small for a lamb, he and his nearest neighbor are to take one lamb by the number of people, counting for it by how much each eats. ⁵Your lamb must be flawless, a year-old male; take it from the sheep or the goats. ⁶Keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; the whole assembly of Israel's congregation is to slaughter it at twilight. ⁷They will take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and lintel of the houses where they eat it. ⁸That night they must eat the meat, fire-roasted, with bread made without yeast and bitter herbs—they must eat it. ⁹Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over fire—head, legs, and inner parts. ¹⁰Don't leave any of it until morning; burn whatever remains until morning. ¹¹Eat it this way: belt fastened, sandals on your feet, staff in hand, eating in haste. It is the Passover of our Father. ¹²That night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, man and beast, and execute judgments against all the gods of Egypt. I am your Father. ¹³The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you—no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. ^a a v13 The blood on the doorway that turns away judgment points to Jesus, our Passover lamb, whose blood shelters all who trust in him.

¹⁴"This day is a memorial for you; celebrate it as a feast to your Father, a rule forever for all your generations—celebrate it. ¹⁵Eat bread without yeast seven days. Remove all yeast from your houses on the first day, for whoever eats anything made with yeast, from the first day to the seventh, will be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶On the first day hold a holy gathering, and on the seventh day a holy gathering. Do no work then, except preparing what each person eats—that alone you may do. ¹⁷Keep the Feast of Bread Without Yeast, for on this exact day I brought your forces out of the land of Egypt. Keep this day, generation after generation, as a lasting statute. ¹⁸In the first month, eat bread without yeast from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹For seven days, no yeast is to be found in your houses; whoever eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off from Israel's community, whether foreigner or native of the land. ²⁰Eat nothing made with yeast; eat bread without yeast everywhere you live."

²¹Moses called all Israel's elders and said to them, "Pick out lambs for your families, then slaughter the Passover lamb. ²²Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood in the basin, and touch the lintel and both doorposts with the blood in the basin. None of you may leave his house door until morning. ²³For our Father will pass through to strike Egypt. Seeing the blood on the lintel and two doorposts, our Father will pass over the entrance and not let the destroyer enter your houses to strike you. ²⁴You are to keep this command as a lasting statute for you and for your children. ²⁵When you enter the land our Father will give you, as he promised, keep this service. ²⁶And when your children say to you, 'What does this service mean to you?' ²⁷you are to say, 'It is our Father's Passover sacrifice: he passed over the houses of Israel's people in Egypt, striking the Egyptians but sparing our houses.'" Then the people bowed and worshiped.

²⁸The Israelites went and did just as our Father commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.

²⁹At midnight our Father struck every firstborn in Egypt, from Pharaoh's firstborn on his throne to the prisoner's firstborn in the dungeon, and every firstborn animal. ³⁰Pharaoh got up that night—he, his officials, all Egypt—and a great cry rose in Egypt, for every house had someone dead.

Pharaoh Lets Them Go

³¹He summoned Moses and Aaron that night: "Get up, leave my people—you and the Israelites—go, serve God as you said. ³²Take both your flocks and your herds, as you said, and go—bless me too."

³³The Egyptians urged the Israelites to leave the land quickly, saying, "We're all dead." ³⁴The people carried their dough before it rose, kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks on their shoulders. ³⁵Israel did as Moses said: they asked the Egyptians for silver, gold, and clothing. ³⁶And our Father gave the people favor with the Egyptians, so they granted their request; and so the people plundered the Egyptians.

³⁷Israel set out from Rameses to Succoth—about 600,000 men on foot, plus women and children. ³⁸A large mixed crowd also went up with them, with flocks, herds, and abundant livestock. ³⁹They baked the dough they'd brought from Egypt into flat cakes without yeast, since it hadn't risen—driven out of Egypt, with no time to wait or prepare food for themselves. ⁴⁰The time that the people of Israel lived in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹After 430 years, on that very day, all the armies of our Father left the land of Egypt. ⁴²This was a night our Father watched, to bring them out of the land of Egypt; this same night, all Israel's people keep watch for our Father, generation after generation.

Who May Eat the Passover

⁴³Our Father told Moses and Aaron, "This is the Passover's rule: no foreigner may eat it, ⁴⁴but every slave that is bought for money may eat of it after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵No temporary resident or hired worker may eat of it. ⁴⁶Eat it in one house; carry none of the meat outside the house, and break none of its bones. ^b b v46 Not one of the lamb's bones was to be broken — the very thing said of Jesus on the cross, the true Passover lamb. ⁴⁷All the congregation of Israel is to keep it. ⁴⁸If a foreigner living with you wants to keep the Passover to our Father, circumcise all his males; then he may come near and keep it—he becomes like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. ⁴⁹There is to be one law for the native and for the foreigner who resides among you."

⁵⁰All Israel's sons did as our Father commanded Moses and Aaron; they did it. ⁵¹That very day our Father brought Israel's people out of the land of Egypt by their armies.