Exodus 12:1-28 ▼

1 THEN the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

2 This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.

3 Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, On the tenth day of this month they shall take to themselves every man a lamb for his own household, and a lamb for his father's household;

4 And if the household is too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of the persons; every man according to the portion of his eating shall make your count for the lamb.

5 The lamb shall be without blemish. a male of the first year; you shall take it from the lambs or from the kids:

6 And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at sunset

7 And they shall take some of the blood thereof and sprinkle it on the two door posts and on the lintel and on the houses wherein they shall eat it.

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

9 You shall not eat any of it raw, nor cooked with water, but roasted with fire; its head with its legs, and the entrails thereof.

10 And you shall leave none of it remaining until morning; and that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.

11 And thus you shall eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste; for it is the LORD'S passover.

12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and all the first-born of the land of Egypt shall die, both man and beast; and against all the idols of Egypt I will execute judgment; I am the LORD.

13 And the blood shall be to you for a sign upon the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will make you glad, and the plague shall not be among you to destroy you when I smite the land of Egypt.

14 And this day shall be to you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the LORD, a festival throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever.

15 Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; and from the first day you shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eats leavened bread from your houses from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall perish from Israel.

16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them; except that which every man must eat, that only may be prepared by you.

17 And you shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for on this very day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever.

18 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

19 Seven days there shall be no leaven found in your houses; for whoever eats that which is leavened, that person shall perish from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.

20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.

21 Then Moses called all the eiders of the children of Israel and said to them, Hasten, take lambs for yourselves according to your families and kill the passover lamb.

22 And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood of the lamb and sprinkle the lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning.

23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood upon the lintel and on the two side posts, the LORD will bring joy to the doors and will not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses to smite you.

24 And you shall observe this rite and this ordinance for yourselves and your sons for ever.

25 And it shall come to pass, when you come to the land which the LORD will give you, as he has promised, you shall observe this service.

26 And it shall come to pass when your children shall say to you, What is the meaning of this service?

27 You shall say, It is the sacrifice of the LORD'S passover, who brought joy to the house of the children of Israel in Egypt when he smote the Egyptians and delivered our houses. Then the people bowed their heads and worshipped the LORD.

28 And the children of Israel went away and did as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron; so did they.