Exodus 12
A Lamb Without Blemish, and Not a Bone Broken
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The Institution of Passover
12:1The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
12:2“This month shall be the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of the year for you.
12:3“Speak to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month, each shall take a sheep for the ancestral households, one sheep for each household.
12:4“If those in the house are too few to be sufficient for a sheep, he shall join with his nearest neighbor. According to the number of persons, each person’s sufficient portion shall be reckoned for the sheep.
12:5“Your sheep shall be unblemished, a male a year old. You shall take it from the lambs or the kids.
12:6“You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. The whole multitude of the congregation of the sons of Israel shall slaughter it toward evening.
12:7“They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat them.
12:8“They shall eat the meat that night, roasted over fire, and eat unleavened bread with bitter herbs.
12:9“Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over fire, its head with its legs and its inner parts.
12:10“You shall leave none of it until morning, and you shall not break a bone of it. Whatever remains until morning you shall burn with fire.
12:11“This is how you shall eat it: with your waists belted, sandals on your feet, and staffs in your hands. You shall eat it in haste. It is a Passover to the Lord.
12:12“I will go through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. Against all the Egyptians’ gods I will execute vengeance. I am the Lord.
12:13“The blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. I will see the blood and shelter you. No plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
The Festival of Unleavened Bread
12:14“This day shall be a memorial for you. You shall celebrate it as a feast to the Lord throughout all your generations; you shall celebrate it as a perpetual statute.
12:15“You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. From the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. Whoever eats leaven from the first day through the seventh day, that person shall be destroyed from among Israel.
12:16“The first day shall be called holy, and the seventh day shall be a holy appointed day for you. You shall do no servile work on them, except what must be done for each person; that alone may be done for you.
12:17“You shall keep this commandment, for on this day I will bring your host out of the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day throughout your generations as a perpetual statute.
12:18“Beginning on the fourteenth day of the first month, from evening until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you shall eat unleavened bread.
12:19“For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened, that person shall be destroyed from among the congregation of Israel, whether a sojourner or a native of the land.
12:20“You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.”
The Lord’s Final Warning
12:21Moses called the whole council of elders of the sons of Israel and said to them, “Go and take a sheep for your families, and slaughter the Passover.
12:22“Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood beside the door, and touch the lintel and both doorposts with the blood beside the door. None of you shall go out of the door of his house until morning.
12:23“The Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians. He will see the blood on the lintel and both doorposts, and the Lord will pass by the doorway. He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike.
12:24“You shall keep this word as a statute for you and your sons forever.
12:25“When you enter the land that the Lord gives you, as He has spoken, you shall keep this service.
12:26“When your sons say to you, ‘What is this service?’
12:27“you shall say to them, ‘This Passover is a sacrifice to the Lord, because He sheltered the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our houses.’” The people bowed down and worshiped.
12:28The sons of Israel went and did so. As the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn
12:29At midnight the Lord struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the firstborn of the captive woman in the pit, and the firstborn of every animal of the livestock.
12:30Pharaoh rose during the night, with all his attendants and all the Egyptians. There was a great cry throughout the land of Egypt, for there was no house without someone dead.
12:31Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron during the night and said to them, “Rise and leave my people, both you and the sons of Israel! Go, serve the Lord your God, as you say.
12:32“Take your sheep and your cattle, and go. Bless me also.”
12:33The Egyptians pressed the people hard to drive them quickly out of the land, for they said, “We are all dying!”
12:34The people took their dough before it was leavened, with their kneaded batches wrapped in their garments on their shoulders.
12:35The sons of Israel did as Moses had instructed them. They asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing.
12:36The Lord gave His people favor in the Egyptians’ sight, and they lent to them. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
The Exodus
12:37The sons of Israel departed from Rameses for Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, apart from the household company.
12:38A great mixed multitude also went up with them, together with sheep and cattle and very many livestock.
12:39They baked the dough they had brought from Egypt into unleavened hearth-cakes, because it was not leavened. The Egyptians had driven them out, and they could not stay; nor had they prepared provisions for the journey.
12:40The time the sons of Israel lived in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan was four hundred and thirty years.
12:41After the four hundred and thirty years, all the Lord’s host went out from the land of Egypt.
12:42It is a night vigil for the Lord, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is a vigil for the Lord for all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.
The Instructions About the Passover
12:43The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the law of the Passover: no foreigner shall eat of it.
12:44“Every household slave or one bought with money, you shall circumcise; then he may eat of it.
12:45“A resident alien or a hired worker shall not eat of it.
12:46“It shall be eaten in one house. You shall not take any of the meat outside the house, and you shall not break a bone of it.
12:47“The whole congregation of the sons of Israel shall observe it.
12:48“If a sojourner comes to you to observe the Passover to the Lord, you shall circumcise every male belonging to him. Then he may approach to observe it, and he shall be as a native of the land. No uncircumcised person shall eat of it.
12:49“There shall be one law for the native and for the sojourner who has come among you.”
12:50The sons of Israel did so. As the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron concerning them, so they did.
12:51On that day the Lord brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their host.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.