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UST EXO Chapter 12

◄ EXO 12 ► ║ ═ ©

12 Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses in Egypt, 2 “Start counting your months at this new moon. It will be the Israelites’ first month of the year. 3 Tell the whole Israelite community, ‘On the tenth day of this month every man who leads a family must take a young sheep or a young goat for his household. 4 If there are not enough people in his family to eat a whole cooked lamb, then his family and a family that lives nearby may kill one animal. Plan to share the lamb according to the number of people in each family and according to how much each person can eat. 5 You may choose a sheep or a goat; but it must be a one-year-old male, and it must be perfect, without any defects. 6 You must take special care of these animals until the fourteenth day of this month. On that day, all the Israelites must kill the young sheep or young goats in the evening. 7 Then they must take some of the blood from the young sheep or young goats, and they must smear it on the two doorposts and on the tops of the doorframes of the houses in which they will eat the meat. 8 They must roast the animals over a fire and eat the meat that same night. They must eat it with bitter herbs and with bread that does not have yeast in it. 9 You must not eat any of the meat uncooked, and you must not cook the meat in water. You must do this: cook the whole animal over a fire. Do not remove the head, legs, or inside parts. 10 Do not save any of the meat until the next morning. Any meat that you have not eaten by morning, you must burn to ash. 11 When you eat it, you must be dressed ready to travel. You must have your sandals on your feet and your walking staff in your hands. You must eat it hurriedly. It will be a festival called Passover to honor me, Yahweh.

12 On that night I will go throughout Egypt, and I will kill all the oldest males in Egypt, both humans and animals. I am punishing all the Egyptians’ gods. I am Yahweh. 13 The blood on your houses will show that you are obeying me. When I see the blood, I will go past those houses. I will not harm the people who are in those houses when I come to punish the Egyptians.

14 You will make this day a feast to remember and celebrate what I, Yahweh, will have done for you. This is a rule for you: every generation of Israelites must celebrate this annual feast for all of time. 15 For seven days you must eat bread that has no yeast in it. On the first day of that week, you must remove all the yeast that is in your houses. During those seven days, if anyone eats bread that has yeast in it, you must drive that person out from your people. 16 On the first day of that week, you must have a holy meeting. You must do the same thing on the seventh day. People must not work at all on those two days. The only work you may do is to prepare food to eat.

17 You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread on this day because this day is exactly when I am rescuing all your tribes from slavery in Egypt. This is a law for you: every generation of Israelites for all of time must celebrate to remember that I rescued you on this day. 18 On the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month of the year, you must stop eating bread that has yeast in it. You may not eat bread with yeast in it again until the evening of the twenty-first day of that month. 19 For those seven days you must not have any yeast in your house. During that time, if anyone—either a foreigner or an Israelite—eats bread that has yeast in it, you must drive that person out from your people. 20 Do not eat any yeast. Wherever you are living, you must eat bread that does not have yeast in it.’ ”

21 Then Moses summoned all the Israelite leaders. He said to them, “Each family should select a young sheep or young goat and kill it to eat it to celebrate the festival that you will call ‘Passover.’ 22 Let the lamb’s blood drain into a bowl. Get a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood. Then wipe some of the blood on the top of the doorframe and on the doorposts of your houses. The people in each house must stay inside the house until the next morning. 23 When Yahweh goes through Egypt to kill every oldest male, he will see the blood on your doorframes. Because of that, he will pass over those houses and will not allow the killing-destroyer to enter your houses to kill your oldest sons.

24 You and your descendants must celebrate this ritual forever; this is a law. 25 When you arrive in the land that Yahweh will give to you as he promised, you must keep celebrating this ritual every year. 26 When your children ask you, ‘What does this ritual mean?’ 27 you must tell them, ‘This ritual is to remember how your ancestors sacrificed lambs on the night that Yahweh’s angel passed over the houses of the Israelites when they were in Egypt. He killed the oldest males in all the Egyptian houses, but he did not kill the sons in our houses.” After Moses told them this, the elders all bowed their heads and worshiped Yahweh. 28 Then the Israelites did exactly what Yahweh told Moses and Aaron to tell them to do.

29 At midnight Yahweh killed all the Egyptians’ oldest sons, all over Egypt. This included the rich king’s oldest son, the oldest sons of the prisoners in the dungeons, and the oldest males of all the Egyptians’ livestock. 30 That night the king, all his officials, and all the rest of the Egyptians awoke and discovered what had happened. They wailed loudly all over Egypt, because in every house someone’s son had died.

31 That night the king summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Get up, you and all the other Israelites, and get away from my people and country now! Go and worship Yahweh, as you requested! 32 You may even take your flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle just as you requested. Just leave! Ask Yahweh to bless me also!”

33 The Egyptians helped the Israelites to leave their country quickly. They said, “Otherwise, we will all die!” 34 So the Israelites prepared to leave at once. They took the bowls in which they mixed the dough to make bread and the dough that was in the bowls without any yeast in it, and they wrapped the bowls in their cloaks. They put the bowls on their shoulders. 35 Then the Israelites did as Moses told them. They went to their Egyptian neighbors and asked them for silver, gold, and clothing. 36 Yahweh caused the Egyptians to greatly respect the Israelites, so they gave them what they asked for. In that way, the Israelites carried away the wealth of the Egyptians.

37 The Israelites walked from the city of Rameses to the town of Succoth. There were about 600, 000 men who went, in addition to the women and children. 38 Many other people who were not Israelites went along with them. There was also a large amount of livestock, including flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle. 39 Pharaoh forced the Israelites to leave Egypt so quickly that they did not have time to prepare food to take with them or to allow the bread dough to form yeast. When they made bread with the dough they brought from Egypt, they made flatbread because it did not have yeast.

40 The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. 41 On the day that those 430 years ended, on that very day, all the tribes of Yahweh’s people left Egypt. 42 It was a night when the Israelites stayed awake as Yahweh brought them out of Egypt. So this same night every year is a night that they dedicate to Yahweh, a night when the Israelites and their descendants in every generation remember how Yahweh kept their ancestors safe.

43 Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the law about the Passover ritual: Do not let foreigners eat the Passover meal. 44 But if anyone buys a slave and circumcises him, that slave may eat the Passover meal. 45 Do not let people who are living temporarily among you who are not Israelites or servants to whom you pay money eat the Passover meal. 46 You must eat the Passover meal inside one house. Do not take any of the meat outside the house. Do not break the lamb’s bones. 47 The whole Israelite community must celebrate this festival.

48 When someone from another country comes to live with you and wants to celebrate Yahweh’s Passover festival, circumcise all the males in his household. Then he can eat the Passover meal, and you should treat that man as though he had been born an Israelite. But do not allow men who are not circumcised to eat the Passover meal. 49 These rules apply to people who were born as Israelites and to foreigners who come and live among you.”

50 All the Israelites obeyed Moses and Aaron and did what Yahweh had commanded. 51 On that very day, Yahweh brought all the Israelite tribes out of Egypt.

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