The First Passover

(Numbers 9:1–14)

Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt 2 “This month is the beginning of months for you; it [shall be] the first month of your year.

3 

Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb[fn] for his family one per household. 4 If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly

5 

Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, [and] you may take it from the sheep or the goats. 6 You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter [the animals] at twilight.[fn] 7 They are to take some of the blood and put it on vvv the sides and tops of the doorframes[fn] of the houses where they eat [the lambs]

8 

They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs

9 

Do not eat any of [the meat] raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire— its head and legs and inner parts. 10 Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over.

11 

This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.

12 

On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. 13 The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

14