The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: “This month shall be the first month of the year for you. Speak to all Israel, ‘On the tenth day of this month, each man must choose either a lamb or young goat, but only a one-year-old male without any defects for his household. If his family is too small to eat a whole animal, he and his next-door neighbor may share an animal. On the evening of the fourteenth day of the month, the community of Israel will kill the animals. They will be able to take some of the blood and put it on the doorposts and above the doors of the houses in which the animals are to be eaten. Then they shall eat roasted meat with bitter herbs and with bread made with yeast. Don’t eat it raw or boiled. You must not leave any of it till morning; if any is left over, it must be burned. You will eat it quickly, for you are to dress for travel with sandals on your feet and your walking stick in your hand. It is the Passover Festival to honor me, the Lord.
“On that night, I will go through the land of Egypt and will kill every firstborn male, both human and animal, and punish all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. The blood on the doorposts shall be a sign to mark the houses in which you live. I will pass over you. You must celebrate this day as a religious festival to remind you of what I, the Lord, have done.”
The Lord said, “For seven days, you will eat only unleavened bread, not any bread made with yeast. From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month, you are to get rid of all the yeast in your houses until the evening of the twenty-first day, you must not eat any bread made with yeast. On the first and seventh days, you will meet for worship. No work will be done on those days, but you shall prepare food. Keep the festival, because on this day, I have brought the tribes out of Egypt. You must celebrate this day as a festival for all time to come.”
Moses called all the leaders of Israel and said to them, “Each of you will select either a lamb or a young goat to kill it so that your families will celebrate Passover. Wipe the blood on the doorposts and the beam above your house. No one leaves the house until morning. When the Lord goes through Egypt to kill the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the beams and doorposts and won’t kill you. You and your children will remember these rules forever. When you enter the Promised Land that the Lord gave you, you must perform this ritual. When your children ask you about the ritual and what it means, you will say to them that it is the sacrifice of Passover to honor the Lord, because He killed the Egyptians, but spared us.” The people knelt down and worshiped. Then they did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
At midnight, the Lord killed all of Egypt’s firstborn sons and animals. That night, the king, officials, and the Egyptians were awakened and they heard loud cries through Egypt, because there was not one home in which there was not a dead son. The king brought Moses and Aaron and said, “Get out, you and your Israelites! Leave my country; go and worship the Lord, as you asked. Take your sheep, goats and cattle with you. Pray for a blessing on me.”
The Egyptians urged the people to leave the country and said, “We shall be dead.” So the people took the unleavened dough wrapped in their clothes on their shoulders. The Israelites carried away the wealth of the Egyptians because they gave them gold and silver jewelry and clothing. The Israelites set out on foot from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men, not including women and children and large numbers of sheep, cattle and goats. They baked dough of the unleavened bread from Egypt because they did not have time to leaven the dough or to get the food ready. The Israelites lived in Egypt for 430 years. When 430 years ended, all of the Lord’s people left Egypt. It was a night dedicated to the Lord when He kept watch to bring the Israelites out of Egypt.
The Lord told Moses and Aaron, “This is the Passover ordinance: No foreigner shall eat the Passover meal, but any slave that you have brought may eat it after circumcision. No temporary resident or hired worker may eat it. The meal must be eaten in the house, not outside. Don’t break any animal’s bones. All the community of Israel shall celebrate this festival to honor the Lord. The same regulations apply to native-born Israelites and foreigners who settle among you.” The Israelites obeyed and did what the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. The Lord brought the Israelite tribes out of Egypt on that day.