The First Passover

¹The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, ²"This month will mark a new beginning for you. It will be the 1st month of your year. ³Tell the whole community of Israel: On the 10th day of this month, every family must select a lamb — one lamb per household. ⁴If a family is too small to eat a whole lamb, they should share one with their nearest neighbor. Divide it based on how much each person will eat. ⁵The lamb must be a 1-year-old male with no defects. You may choose it from either the sheep or the goats. ⁶Keep the animal until the 14th day of the month. Then the entire assembly of Israel must slaughter their lambs at twilight. ⁷They must take some of the blood and spread it on the two doorposts and the top beam of the doorframe of every house where the lamb will be eaten. ⁸That night they must eat the meat roasted over fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹Don't eat any of it raw or boiled in water. Roast the whole animal over fire — head, legs, and internal organs. ¹⁰Don't let any of it remain until morning. If anything is left over by morning, burn it. ¹¹Here is how you must eat it: with your belt fastened, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it quickly — this is the LORD's Passover. ¹²That night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn — both human and animal. I will bring judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD. ¹³The blood on your houses will be a sign that marks where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt. ¹⁴This day will be a memorial for you. You must celebrate it as a feast to the LORD — a permanent observance for every generation to come. ¹⁵For 7 days you must eat unleavened bread. On the very first day, remove all leaven from your houses. Whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶On the 1st day, hold a sacred assembly, and do the same on the 7th day. No work of any kind may be done on those days, except for preparing food — that is the only exception. ¹⁷You must observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your armies out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a permanent observance for every generation. ¹⁸Starting on the evening of the 14th day of the 1st month, eat unleavened bread until the evening of the 21st day of the month. ¹⁹For seven days, no leaven shall be found in your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or born in the land. ²⁰Eat nothing with yeast in it. Wherever you live, eat only unleavened bread.'" ²¹Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, "Go, select lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover lamb. ²²Take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that's in the basin, and brush the blood on the top beam and both doorposts of your doorframe. Then no one is to step outside their house until morning. ²³The LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians, but when he sees the blood on the top beam and the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your homes and strike you. ²⁴You must observe these instructions as a permanent law for you and your descendants. ²⁵When you enter the land the LORD will give you, just as he promised, you must continue to observe this ceremony. ²⁶And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean?' ²⁷you must tell them, 'This is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when he struck the Egyptians but spared our families.'" When the people heard this, they bowed down and worshiped. ²⁸The Israelites went and did exactly what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.