Exodus 12 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron while they were still in
"This will be your starting point — the first of your year from now on."
"Tell the whole of Israel: On the tenth day of this month, each household is to pick out a One per household."
"If a household is too small for a whole lamb, they should share one with their nearest neighbor. Figure out the portions based on how much each person will eat."
"Your animal must be a one-year-old male with with it. You can pick it from the sheep or the goats."
"Keep it until the fourteenth day of the month. Then the entire assembled community of Israel will slaughter their lambs at
"Then they are to take some of the and brush it on the two and the top beam of the doorframe of every house where they eat the lamb."
"That same night they are to eat the meat, roasted over fire, along with and
"Don't eat any of it raw or boiled in water. Roast the whole thing over fire — head, legs, and internal organs."
"Don't save any of it until morning. Whatever is left by morning, burn it up."
"And here's how you eat it: with your your sandals on, and your walking stick in your hand. Eat it in a hurry — this is Yahweh's
"That night I will pass through the land of and strike down every firstborn — both people and animals. I will bring judgment on every of I am Yahweh."
"The blood will be your marking the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. The plague that destroys won't touch you when I strike Egypt."
"This day will be a for you. Celebrate it as a festival to Yahweh — an ongoing tradition for every generation. This is
"For seven days you will eat flatbread made without On the very first day, get rid of all from your houses. Anyone who eats anything with in it during those seven days will be from Israel."
"On the first day, hold a Do the same on the seventh day. No work is to be done on those days, except for preparing food — that's the only thing you can do."
"Guard this of carefully, because this is the exact day I brought your people out of Egypt an Celebrate this day as a permanent tradition for every generation."
"In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day, eat flatbread without yeast."
"For seven days, no yeast is to be found in your houses. Anyone who eats anything with yeast — whether they're an you or a native Israelite — that person will be cut off from the community of Israel."
"Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live, eat flatbread without yeast."
Then Moses called together all the of Israel and told them, "Go, pick out lambs for your families and slaughter the Passover animal."
"Take a bundle of dip it in the blood that's in the basin, and brush some of the blood on the top beam and both doorposts. Then nobody leaves their house until morning."
"When Yahweh passes through to strike Egypt, he will see the blood on the top beam and doorposts, and Yahweh will pass over your door. He will not let the enter your houses to strike you down."
"Follow these instructions as a permanent rule for you and your descendants."
"When you enter the land that Yahweh will give you, just as he promised, keep observing this tradition."
"And when your children ask you, 'What does this mean to you?'"
"you will say, 'It's the Passover to Yahweh, because he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our families.'" Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
The Israelites went and did exactly what Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron.
At midnight, Yahweh struck down every in Egypt — from the of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the of the prisoner locked in the dungeon, and every of the livestock too.
Pharaoh got up in the middle of the night — he and all his officials and all of Egypt — and there was loud, agonized crying throughout Egypt, because there wasn't a single house where someone hadn't died.
During the night, Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron. "Get up!" he said. "Get out from among my people — both you and the Israelites! Go, serve Yahweh like you asked."
"Take your flocks and herds, just like you said, and go! And for a on me, too."
The Egyptians pressed the people hard to leave the country quickly. "We're all going to die!" they said.
So the people grabbed their dough before it had risen, wrapped their kneading bowls in their clothes, and carried them on their shoulders.
The Israelites had also done what Moses told them — they had asked the Egyptians for silver and gold jewelry and for clothing.
Yahweh had made the Egyptians toward the people, so they gave them whatever they asked for. That's how the Israelites of its
The Israelites traveled from to — about men on foot, not counting women and children.
A large of other people went with them too, along with huge numbers of livestock — both flocks and herds.
They baked the dough they'd brought from Egypt into flat cakes without yeast — it hadn't risen because they'd been driven out of Egypt so fast they couldn't wait around, and they hadn't prepared any other food.
Now, the Israelites had lived in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years.
At the end of those four hundred and thirty years — on that very day — all of Yahweh's people left Egypt like an organized army.
It was a of for Yahweh, as he brought them out of Egypt. So this same is set apart for Yahweh — a when all Israelites stay awake and keep watch, generation after generation.
Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "Here are the rules for the Passover meal: No foreigner may eat it."
"But any slave you've purchased may eat it after you've him."
"A temporary visitor or a hired worker may not eat it."
"It must be eaten inside one house. take of the meat outside, and of the
"The whole community of Israel must celebrate this."
"If a foreigner living among you wants to celebrate Yahweh's Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised first. Then he can participate just like a Israelite. But no uncircumcised person may eat it."
"The same instruction applies to the native-born and to the foreigner living among you."
All the Israelites did exactly what Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron.