Read the Modern Pastor’s Version

The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, "This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year for you.

Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying: On the tenth day of this month, every man is to take a lamb according to their families' households. They are to select a male lamb, one year old and without defect, from either sheep or goats.

You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month, and on that evening, the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel must kill it. They shall take some of its blood and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses where they will eat it.

In that night, they are to eat the flesh roasted with fire, accompanied by unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Eat the whole animal, including its head and legs and internal organs. Let nothing remain until morning; any leftover meat must be burned in fire.

Eat it quickly, with your belts fastened, sandals on your feet, and staff in hand. It is the Lord's Passover. I will pass through the land of Egypt tonight, striking down every firstborn son and animal, executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt, for I am the Lord.

The blood shall serve as a sign on the houses where you are; when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague will not touch those inside to destroy them when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a memorial to you, and you must observe it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.

For seven days, you are to eat unleavened bread; on the first day, remove leaven from your houses. Anyone who consumes leavened bread from the first to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel. In these two days, there shall be holy convocations, and no manner of work is allowed except for what is necessary for sustenance.

You must observe the feast of unleavened bread, as on this very day I brought your armies out of Egypt. Commemorate it in every generation by an ordinance forever. Eat unleavened bread from the fourteenth to the twenty-first day of the month at evening.

Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; whoever eats what is leavened will be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or born in the land. You must eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings, you will eat unleavened bread.

Moses called out to all the elders of Israel and instructed them: "Take a lamb from your families according to their numbers and slaughter it. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood from the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side posts with that blood; none of you may leave your house until morning.

The Lord will pass through to strike the Egyptians; when he sees the blood on the lintel and the two side posts, he will pass over the door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you. You must observe this thing as an ordinance to you and your sons forever.

When you come to the land that the Lord will give you, as he has promised, you are to observe this service. When your children ask about this ritual, tell them it is the Passover sacrifice to honor God's deliverance of our ancestors from slavery in Egypt.

This is what you shall say: 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when he struck down the Egyptians and delivered our homes.' The people bowed their heads and worshiped.

The children of Israel went away and did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, from Pharaoh's eldest son on his throne to the youngest of the captives in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of livestock.

Pharaoh and all his servants, along with every Egyptian, got up in the night; there was a loud outcry throughout Egypt, for not a single house remained untouched by death. Moses and Aaron were summoned by night and he said to them: 'Rise up and depart from among my people, both you and the Israelites, and go serve the Lord as you have promised.

Take your flocks and herds, just as you have said, and be gone; also bless me.' The Egyptians pressed the people to leave quickly, saying, 'We are all doomed men.'

The people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying their kneading troughs bound up in their clothes on their shoulders. The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; they borrowed from the Egyptians precious items such as silver and gold jewelry, and fine clothing.

The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so they lent them what they needed, and they plundered the Egyptians. The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, numbering about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides their children.

A mixed multitude went up with them, accompanied by large flocks and herds of cattle. They baked unleavened cakes of the dough they had brought out of Egypt, since it was not leavened; for they were forced to leave in haste and had no time to prepare provisions.

The sojourning of the Israelites in Egypt lasted four hundred and thirty years. At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on that very same day, all the Lord's people left Egypt.

It is a night to be observed with great reverence before the Lord, marking His deliverance of Israel from Egypt; it shall be commemorated by all generations of God's people. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: 'This is the ordinance of the Passover: no outsider may eat it.'

Every man's servant who is bought with money, when you have circumcised him, shall then eat of it. A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat of it. In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth anything of the flesh out of the house, nor break a bone thereof.

The entire congregation of Israel is to observe it. When a stranger sojourns with you and wishes to observe the Passover to the Lord, let all his male offspring be circumcised, then he may draw near and keep it; he shall be treated as one born in the land, for no uncircumcised person is allowed to partake of it.

One law shall apply to both those born in the land and to foreigners living among you. Thus did all the children of Israel, following the Lord's instructions to Moses and Aaron. On that very day, the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.