The Dedication of the Firstborn
(Deuteronomy 15:19–23)

1And the Lord spake vnto Moyses, saying: 2Sanctifie vnto me al the first borne, what so euer openeth the wombe among ye chyldren of Israel, aswell of man as of beast, for it is mine.

3And Moyses saide vnto the people: ye ought to remember this day in whiche ye came out of Egypt out of ye house of bondage: for through a myghtie hande the Lorde brought you from thence: there shall no leauened bread be eaten. 4This daye came ye out, in the month Abib 5When the Lorde hath brought thee into the lande of the Chanaanites, Hethites, Amorites, Heuites, and Iebusites, which he sware vnto thy fathers that he would geue thee, a lande wherin mylke and hony floweth: thou shalt kepe this seruice in this same month. 6Seuen dayes thou shalt eate vnleauened bread, and in the seuenth daye it is the feast of the Lorde. 7Unleauened bread shalbe eaten seuen dayes, and there shal no leauened bread be seene nor yet eaten with thee in al thy quarters. 8And thou shalt shewe thy sonne in that day, saying: This is done because of that whiche the Lorde dyd vnto me when I came out of Egypt. 9And it shalbe as a signe vnto thee vppon thyne hande, and as a remembraunce betweene thyne eyes, that the Lordes lawe may be in thy mouth: for in a strong hande the Lorde brought thee out of Egypt. 10Kepe therfore this ordinaunce in his season from yere to yere.

11And it wyll come to passe that ye Lord shal bryng the land of the Chanaanites, which he sware vnto thee and to thy fathers, and shall geue it thee. 12And then thou shalt appoynt vnto the Lorde all that openeth the matrice, and euery firstlyng that commeth of a beast which thou hast, yf it be a male, it shalbe the Lordes. 13And euery firstlyng of an asse, thou shalt redeeme with a lambe: yf thou redeeme hym not, thou shalt breake his necke: All the first borne amongst thy chyldren also shalt thou bye out. 14And when thy sonne aske thee in time to come, saying: what is this? Thou shalt saye vnto hym: With a myghtie hande the Lorde brought vs out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 15And when Pharao was very loth to let vs go, the Lorde slewe all the first borne in the lande of Egypt, aswell the first borne of man, as the firstlyng of beast: Therefore I sacrifice vnto the Lorde all the males that open the matrice: but all the first borne of my chyldren I redeeme. 16This shalbe as a token vppon thyne hande, & as a remembraunce betweene thyne eyes, that the Lorde brought vs out of Egypt through a myghtie hande.

The Pillars of Cloud and Fire

17It came to passe, that when Pharao had let the people go, God caryed them not through the way of the lande of the Philistines, which was the more nygh way. But God saide: lest peraduenture the people repent whe they see warre, and so turne agayne to Egypt. 18But God led the people about through the way of the wyldernesse of the redde sea, and the chyldren of Israel went vp harnessed out of the lande of Egypt. 19And Moyses toke the bones of Ioseph with him: for he made the children of Israel sweare, saying: God wyl surely visite you, and ye shall take my bones away hence with you. 20And they toke their iourney from Sucoth, and abode in Etham in the edge of the wyldernesse. 21And the Lorde went before them by day in a pyller of a cloude to leade them the way, and by nyght in a pyller of fire to geue them lyght, that they myght go both by day and nyght. 22The piller of the cloude departed not by daye, nor the pyller of fire by nyght, out of the syght of the people.