A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Exodus 12
Exodus 12 is the twelfth chapter of the book of Exodus and the chapter that institutes the Passover and records the death of the firstborn and the exodus from Egypt. The 51-verse chapter is the load-bearing chapter of the book. It contains the founding instructions for Israel's first national feast, the climactic plague that breaks Pharaoh's resistance, and the actual departure of the Israelites from Egypt after 430 years.
The chapter opens with the LORD speaking to Moses and Aaron. This month is to be the beginning of months for Israel. On the tenth day, each household is to take a year-old male lamb without blemish, sharing one with a smaller household if needed. They are to keep it until the fourteenth day, slaughter it at twilight, and put some of the blood on the two doorposts and the lintel of the house. They are to roast it whole over fire and eat it that same night with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, in haste, dressed for travel with sandals on their feet and staff in hand. It is the LORD's Passover.
"On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast. I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD." The blood on the doorposts will be the sign: "When I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt."
The LORD then gives the perpetual Feast of Unleavened Bread to follow: seven days of unleavened bread, with all leaven removed from Israel's houses on the first day, and sacred assemblies bookending the week.
Moses summons the elders of Israel and gives them the instructions. He tells them what to say when their children ask later what the ceremony means: "It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes." The people bow and worship and go and do as the LORD has commanded.
At midnight the LORD strikes down every firstborn in Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. Pharaoh and all his officials and all the Egyptians get up in the night. There is loud wailing throughout Egypt, for there is not a house without someone dead. Pharaoh summons Moses and Aaron during the night. "Up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you said, and go."
The Egyptians press the Israelites to leave the country quickly, fearing that they will all die. The Israelites take their dough before it has leavened and their kneading troughs on their shoulders. They have already asked the Egyptians for silver and gold articles and clothing, and the Egyptians have given them what they ask. The Israelites plunder Egypt.
They set out from Rameses for Succoth, about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children, with a mixed multitude that goes up with them, and very large flocks and herds. They bake unleavened cakes from the dough they brought, because they were driven out of Egypt and could not delay.
The chapter notes that the Israelites have lived in Egypt 430 years; to the very day, all the LORD's hosts go out from Egypt. The chapter closes with perpetual regulations for the Passover: it is eaten in one house, no bone of the lamb is broken, foreigners may keep it only after circumcision, and one law applies to native-born and foreigner alike.
Verse 1. Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
Verse 2. “This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.
Verse 3. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man must select a lamb for his family, one per household.
Verse 4. If the household is too small for a whole lamb, they are to share with the nearest neighbor based on the number of people, and apportion the lamb accordingly.
Verse 5. Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.
Verse 6. You must keep it until the fourteenth day of the month, when the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel will slaughter the animals at twilight.
Verse 7. They are to take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs.
Verse 8. They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
Verse 9. Do not eat any of the meat raw or cooked in boiling water, but only roasted over the fire—its head and legs and inner parts.
Verse 10. Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over.
Verse 11. This is how you are to eat it: You must be fully dressed for travel, with your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. You are to eat in haste; it is the LORD’s Passover.
Verse 12. On that night I will pass through the land of Egypt and strike down every firstborn male, both man and beast, and I will execute judgment against all the gods of Egypt. I am the LORD.
Verse 13. The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will fall on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.
Verse 14. And this day will be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a feast to the LORD, as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
Verse 15. For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the first day you are to remove the leaven from your houses. Whoever eats anything leavened from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel.
Verse 16. On the first day you are to hold a sacred assembly, and another on the seventh day. You must not do any work on those days, except to prepare the meals—that is all you may do.
Verse 17. So you are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your divisions out of the land of Egypt. You must keep this day as a permanent statute for the generations to come.
Verse 18. In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
Verse 19. For seven days there must be no leaven found in your houses. If anyone eats something leavened, that person, whether a foreigner or native of the land, must be cut off from the congregation of Israel.
Verse 20. You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”
Verse 21. Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and told them, “Go at once and select for yourselves a lamb for each family, and slaughter the Passover lamb.
Verse 22. Take a cluster of hyssop, dip it into the blood in the basin, and brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. None of you shall go out the door of his house until morning.
Verse 23. When the LORD passes through to strike down the Egyptians, He will see the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe and will pass over that doorway; so He will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses and strike you down.
Verse 24. And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants.
Verse 25. When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service.
Verse 26. When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’
Verse 27. you are to reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when He struck down the Egyptians and spared our homes.’” Then the people bowed down and worshiped.
Verse 28. And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
Verse 29. Now at midnight the LORD struck down every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn among the livestock.
Verse 30. During the night Pharaoh got up—he and all his officials and all the Egyptians—and there was loud wailing in Egypt; for there was no house without someone dead.
Verse 31. Then Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested.
Verse 32. Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.”
Verse 33. And in order to send them out of the land quickly, the Egyptians urged the people on. “For otherwise,” they said, “we are all going to die!”
Verse 34. So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing.
Verse 35. Furthermore, the Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing.
Verse 36. And the LORD gave the people such favor in the sight of the Egyptians that they granted their request. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.
Verse 37. The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children.
Verse 38. And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
Verse 39. Since their dough had no leaven, the people baked what they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves. For when they had been driven out of Egypt, they could not delay and had not prepared any provisions for themselves.
Verse 40. Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years.
Verse 41. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
Verse 42. Because the LORD kept a vigil that night to bring them out of the land of Egypt, this same night is to be a vigil to the LORD, to be observed by all the Israelites for the generations to come.
Verse 43. And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it.
Verse 44. But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.
Verse 45. A temporary resident or hired hand shall not eat the Passover.
Verse 46. It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of the bones.
Verse 47. The whole congregation of Israel must celebrate it.
Verse 48. If a foreigner resides with you and wants to celebrate the LORD’s Passover, all the males in the household must be circumcised; then he may come near to celebrate it, and he shall be like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it.
Verse 49. The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”
Verse 50. Then all the Israelites did this—they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
Verse 51. And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.
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