Exodus 12

And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

“This month shall be for you the beginning of months; it is the first for you among the months of the year.

Speak to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, saying: On the tenth of this month let each one take a sheep according to their ancestral houses, each one a sheep for a household.

But if those in the household are too few to be enough for a sheep, he shall take in with himself the neighbour who is near him, according to the number of souls; each one, according to what suffices him, shall be counted in for a sheep.

The sheep shall be for you unblemished, male, a year old; you shall take it from the lambs and from the kids.

And it shall be kept by you until the fourteenth of this month, and the whole multitude of the congregation of the sons of Israel shall slaughter it toward evening.

And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel in the houses in which they eat them.

And they shall eat the meat that night, roasted with fire; and they shall eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs.

You shall not eat any of them raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted with fire—the head with the legs and the inner parts.

You shall not leave any of it until morning, nor shall you break a bone of it; and whatever of it is left over until morning you shall burn with fire.

And thus you shall eat it: with your loins girded, sandals on your feet, and staffs in your hands; and you shall eat it in haste. It is a Pascha to the Lord.

And I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and I will strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from man to beast; and upon all the gods of the Egyptians I will execute vengeance. I am the Lord.

And the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and I will see the blood and will shelter you, and there shall be no plague among you to destroy when I strike in the land of Egypt.

And this day shall be a memorial for you, and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout all your generations; as an everlasting ordinance you shall keep it as a feast.

Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; and from the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. Everyone who eats leaven—that soul shall be utterly destroyed from Israel, from the first day until the seventh day.

And the first day shall be called holy, and the seventh day shall be for you a holy convocation. No servile work shall you do on them, except what must be prepared for every soul—only this may be done by you.

And you shall keep this commandment; for on this very day I will bring your host out of the land of Egypt. And you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.

Beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month, from evening you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month, until evening.

For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses. Everyone who eats what is leavened—that soul shall be utterly destroyed from the congregation of Israel, both among the sojourners and among the native-born of the land.

You shall eat nothing leavened; in every dwelling of yours you shall eat unleavened bread.”

And Moses called all the council of elders of the sons of Israel and said to them, “Go and take for yourselves a sheep according to your kindreds, and slaughter the Pascha.

And you shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dipping it in the blood that is beside the door, you shall touch the lintel and both the doorposts with the blood that is beside the door. And none of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.

And the Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and he will see the blood upon the lintel and upon both the doorposts, and the Lord will pass by the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike.

And you shall keep this word as an ordinance for yourself and for your sons forever.

And when you enter the land which the Lord will give you, just as he has spoken, you shall keep this service.

And it shall be, when your sons say to you, ‘What is this service?’

then you shall say to them, ‘This Pascha is a sacrifice to the Lord, because he sheltered the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians, and he rescued our houses.’” And the people bowed down and worshipped.

And the sons of Israel went away and did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.

And it happened in the middle of the night that the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat upon the throne to the firstborn of the captive woman in the dungeon, and to the firstborn of every animal.

And Pharaoh rose up by night, and all his attendants and all the Egyptians; and there was a great outcry in all the land of Egypt, for there was no house in which there was not someone dead.

And Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron by night and said to them, “Rise up and go out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel. Go and serve the Lord your God as you say.

And take your sheep and your cattle and go; and bless me also.”

And the Egyptians pressed the people hard, to drive them out of the land in haste, for they said, “We are all dying.”

And the people took up the dough before their kneaded lumps were leavened, bound up in their garments on their shoulders.

And the sons of Israel did just as Moses had instructed them, and they asked of the Egyptians vessels of silver and of gold, and clothing.

And the Lord gave his people favour before the Egyptians, and they lent to them; and they plundered the Egyptians.

And the sons of Israel set out from Ramesses to Sokchotha, about six hundred thousand men on foot, apart from the household dependants.

And a great mixed multitude went up with them, and sheep and cattle and very many livestock.

And they baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for it had not been leavened; because the Egyptians drove them out and they could not delay, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves for the journey.

And the sojourning of the sons of Israel, which they sojourned in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, was four hundred and thirty years.

And it came to pass after the four hundred and thirty years that all the host of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

It is a night watch to the Lord, for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. That night is this watch to the Lord, to be kept by all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, saying, “This is the law of the Pascha: no foreigner shall eat of it.

And every household servant of anyone, or one bought with silver—you shall circumcise him, and then he may eat of it.

A resident alien or a hired servant shall not eat of it.

It shall be eaten in one house; and you shall not carry any of the meat outside the house, nor shall you break a bone of it.

The whole congregation of the sons of Israel shall keep it.

And if any proselyte comes to you to keep the Pascha to the Lord, you shall circumcise every male of his, and then he shall come near to keep it, and he shall be like the native-born of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

One law shall be for the native and for the proselyte who has come to you.

And the sons of Israel did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron concerning them; so they did.

And it came to pass on that day that the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their host.