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Exodus 12

1Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2“This month is to be the beginning of months for you; it is to be the first of the months of the year for you. 3Speak to the whole congregation of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth of this month each man is to take an animal from the flock for his father's household, one animal for each house. 4If the household is too small for an animal, he and his neighbor nearest his house are to take one according to the number of persons. You are to count each person's share in the animal according to what he eats. 5Your animal is to be without defect, a male a year old. You may take it from the sheep or from the goats. 6You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel is to slaughter it at twilight. 7They are to take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they are to eat it. 9Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over fire, its head with its legs and its inner parts. 10You must not leave any of it until morning; whatever remains of it until morning you are to burn in the fire. 11This is how you are to eat it: your belts fastened around your waists, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You are to eat it in haste. It is Yahweh's Passover.

12“‘I will pass through the land of Egypt that night and strike every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human to animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will carry out judgments. I am Yahweh. 13The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you, and no destructive plague will be among you when I strike the land of Egypt.

14“‘This day is to be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a festival to Yahweh. Throughout your generations you are to celebrate it as a lasting statute. 15For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread. On the first day you must remove leaven from your houses, for anyone who eats what is leavened from the first day through the seventh day—that person will be cut off from Israel. 16On the first day there is to be a holy gathering, and on the seventh day a holy gathering for you. No work may be done on them, except what each person needs to eat; that alone may be prepared for you. 17You are to keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your companies out of the land of Egypt. You are to keep this day throughout your generations as a lasting statute. 18In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month, you are to eat unleavened bread. 19For seven days no leaven may be found in your houses, for anyone who eats anything leavened—that person will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether a resident foreigner or a native of the land. 20You must not eat anything leavened. In all the places where you live, you are to eat unleavened bread.’”

21Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Select and take animals from the flock for your families, and slaughter the Passover. 22Take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin. Touch the lintel and the two doorposts with some of the blood in the basin. None of you is to go out through the doorway of his house until morning. 23Yahweh will pass through to strike Egypt. When he sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, Yahweh will pass over the doorway and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike. 24You are to keep this observance as a statute for you and your sons forever. 25When you enter the land that Yahweh will give you, as he has spoken, you are to keep this service. 26When your sons say to you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ 27you are to say, ‘It is a Passover sacrifice to Yahweh, who passed over the houses of the sons of Israel in Egypt when he struck Egypt but delivered our houses.’” The people bowed down and worshiped. 28The sons of Israel went and did so. Just as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

29At midnight Yahweh struck every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive in the dungeon, and every firstborn of the livestock. 30Pharaoh rose in the night, he and all his servants and all Egypt. There was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone had not died. 31He called Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up! Go out from among my people, both you and the sons of Israel. Go, serve Yahweh, as you have said. 32Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go. And bless me too!” 33The Egyptians pressed the people to send them out of the land quickly, for they said, “We are all dying!” 34The people carried their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls wrapped in their clothing on their shoulders. 35The sons of Israel had done as Moses said: they had asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and articles of gold and clothing. 36Yahweh gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that they granted their requests. Thus they plundered Egypt.

37The sons of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides the little ones. 38A large mixed company also went up with them, along with flocks and herds, very abundant livestock. 39They baked the dough that they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened cakes, for it had not been leavened. They had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay, nor had they prepared provisions for themselves.

40The time that the sons of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 41At the end of four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all Yahweh's companies went out from the land of Egypt. 42It was a night of watching for Yahweh, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This very night is a night of watching for Yahweh for all the sons of Israel throughout their generations.

43Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute for the Passover: no foreigner may eat it. 44But any man's slave purchased with silver—when you have circumcised him, then he may eat it. 45A temporary resident or a hired worker may not eat it. 46It is to be eaten in one house. You must not carry any of the meat outside the house, and you must not break a bone of it. 47The whole congregation of Israel is to observe it. 48When a foreigner resides with you and wishes to observe the Passover for Yahweh, every male belonging to him must be circumcised. Then he may come near to observe it, and he will be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. 49There is to be one law for the native and for the foreigner residing among you.” 50All the sons of Israel did so. Just as Yahweh commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. 51On that very day Yahweh brought the sons of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their companies.

Translation notes 11

12:3–5 — The Passover animal. The Hebrew seh can be a sheep or a goat, as verse 5 explicitly states. “Animal from the flock” avoids restricting the command to a lamb. “Persons” in verse 4 renders nephashoth, which here counts people, not disembodied souls.

12:6 — Twilight. Literally, “between the evenings.” The exact boundaries of the slaughter time have been interpreted differently; the translation does not specify a clock time.

12:11, 13, 23, 27 — Passover. The narrative connects the festival's name with Yahweh's action toward the marked houses. “Pass over” is retained; protect or spare is a significant interpretation of the verb in this setting. Verse 23 distinguishes Yahweh from “the destroyer” without supplying the latter's identity.

12:15, 19 — Cut off. The expression marks removal from the people but does not here specify how this penalty is carried out. “Leaven” means the fermenting material used to raise dough; “unleavened” means made without it.

12:17, 41, 51 — Companies. The Hebrew word also means armies or hosts. It depicts the people going out in organized bodies; the wording does not independently establish that every member was an armed soldier.

12:22 — Hyssop and basin. Hyssop is the traditional plant name; the exact botanical identification is uncertain. “Basin” is one interpretation of a word that can also mean threshold, which would locate the blood at the doorway itself.

12:35–36 — Requests and plunder. The people ask and the Egyptians grant their requests, yet the narrative also calls the result plundering. Both descriptions are retained rather than making the valuables a loan or explaining away the conquest image.

12:37 — Six hundred thousand. The text gives this approximate number of men on foot, besides the little ones. The translation retains the figure rather than reducing it through a disputed interpretation of “thousand” as a smaller social unit.

12:40 — Four hundred thirty years. The Hebrew base names residence in Egypt. The Samaritan Hebrew text compared includes the ancestors and residence in Canaan and Egypt; the ancient Greek edition consulted includes Egypt and Canaan, without that ancestors phrase. This draft retains the Hebrew base provisionally without using the variants to construct a harmonized chronology.

12:42 — Watching. The repeated expression may concern Yahweh's watch over the departing people and their subsequent observance of the night for him. The translation keeps its repetition and does not assign a different subject to each occurrence in the text.

12:43–49 — Participation. The passage distinguishes outsiders, temporary residents, hired workers, purchased slaves, and resident foreigners. It permits participation under its stated circumcision requirement; it does not erase the slave's ownership status.