14This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to the LORD throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. 15Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel.
16You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them; only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you. 17You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time. 18In 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. 19No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened, that person shall be cut off from the community of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a citizen of the country. 20You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread.
21Moses then summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, pick out lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover offering. 22Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside the door of his house until morning. 23For when the LORD goes through to smite the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, and the LORD will pass overc the door and not let the Destroyer enter and smite your home.
24“You shall observe this as an institution for all time, for you and for your descendants. 25And when you enter the land that the LORD will give you, as He has promised, you shall observe this rite. 26And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this rite?’ 27you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to the LORD, because He passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He smote the Egyptians, but saved our houses.’ ”
The people then bowed low in homage. 28And the Israelites went and did so; just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
29In the middle of the night the LORD struck down all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle. 30And Pharaoh arose in the night, with all his courtiers and all the Egyptians—because there was a loud cry in Egypt; for there was no house where there was not someone dead. 31He summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go, worship the LORD as you said! 32Take also your flocks and your herds, as you said, and begone! And may you bring a blessing upon me also!”
33The Egyptians urged the people on, impatient to have them leave the country, for they said, “We shall all be dead.” 34So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks upon their shoulders. 35The Israelites had done Moses’ bidding and borrowed from the Egyptians objects of silver and gold, and clothing. 36And the LORD had disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people, and they let them have their request; thus they stripped the Egyptians.
37The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, aside from children. 38Moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. 39And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had taken out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, since they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves.
40The length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years; 41at the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, to the very day, all the ranks of the LORD departed from the land of Egypt. 42That was for the LORD a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is the LORD’S, one of vigil for all the children of Israel throughout the ages.
43The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: This is the law of the passover offering: No foreigner shall eat of it. 44But any slave a man has bought may eat of it once he has been circumcised. 45No bound or hired laborer shall eat of it. 46It shall be eaten in one house: you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house; nor shall you break a bone of it. 47The whole community of Israel shall offer it. 48If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the passover to the LORD, all his males must be circumcised; then he shall be admitted to offer it; he shall then be as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised person may eat of it. 49There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you.
50And all the Israelites did so; as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
51That very day the LORD freed the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop.
13 The LORD spoke further to Moses, saying, 2“Consecrate to Me every first-born; man and beast, the first issue of every womb among the Israelites is Mine.”
3And Moses said to the people,
“Remember this day, on which you went free from Egypt, the house of bondage, how the LORD freed you from it with a mighty hand: no leavened bread shall be eaten. 4You go free on this day, in the montha of Abib. 5So, when the LORD has brought you into the land of the Ca- naanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall observe in this month the following practice:
6“Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival of the LORD. 7Throughout the seven days un- leavened bread shall be eaten; no leavened bread shall be found with you, and no leaven shall be found in all your territory. 8And you shall explain to your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I went free from Egypt.’
9“And this shall serve you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your foreheadb—in order that the Teaching of the LORD may be in your mouth—that with a mighty hand the LORD freed you from Egypt. 10You shall keep this institution at its set time from year to year.
11“And when the LORD has brought you into the land of the Canaan- ites, as He swore to you and to your fathers, and has given it to you, 12you shall set apart for the LORD every first issue of the womb: every male firstling that your cattle drop shall be the LORD’s. 13But every first- ling ass you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. And you must redeem every first-born male among your children. 14And when, in time to come, your son asks you, saying, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘It was with a mighty hand that the LORD brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage. 15When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD slew every first-born in the land of Egypt, the first-born of both man and beast. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every first male issue of the womb, but redeem every first-born among my sons.’
16“And so it shall be as a sign upon your hand and as a symbolc on your forehead that with a mighty hand the LORD freed us from Egypt.”
17Now when Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although it was nearer; for God said, “The people may have a change of heart when they see war, and return to Egypt.” 18So God led the people roundabout, by way of the wilderness at the Sea of Reeds.
Now the Israelites went up armedd out of the land of Egypt. 19And Moses took with him the
