The blood on the door and the sea parted: Passover and the crossing

12Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, ²“This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year. ³Tell 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. ⁴If 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. ⁵Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats. ⁶You 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. ⁷They 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. ⁸They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹Do 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. ¹⁰Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over. ¹¹This 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. ¹²On 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. ¹³The blood on the houses where you are staying will distinguish them; 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. ¹⁴And 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. ¹⁵For 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. ¹⁶On 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. ¹⁷So 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. ¹⁸In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹For 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. ²⁰You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.” ²¹Then 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. ²²Take 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. ²³When 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. ²⁴And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants. ²⁵When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service. ²⁶When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’ ²⁷you 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. ²⁸And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. ²⁹Now 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. ³⁰During 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. ³¹Then 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. ³²Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.” ³³And 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!” ³⁴So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing. ³⁵Furthermore, the Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing. ³⁶And 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. ³⁷The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth with about 600,000 men on foot, besides women and children. ³⁸And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds. ³⁹Since 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. ⁴⁰Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years. ⁴¹At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt. ⁴²Because 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. ⁴³And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it. ⁴⁴But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him. ⁴⁵A temporary resident or hired hand shall not eat the Passover. ⁴⁶It 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. ⁴⁷The whole congregation of Israel must celebrate it. ⁴⁸If 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. ⁴⁹The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.” ⁵⁰Then all the Israelites did this—they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.

13Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Consecrate to Me every firstborn male. The firstborn from every womb among the Israelites belongs to Me, both of man and beast.” ³So Moses told the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; for the LORD brought you out of it by the strength of His hand. And nothing leavened shall be eaten. ⁴Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. ⁵And when the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites—the land He swore to your fathers that He would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you shall keep this service in this month. ⁶For seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the LORD. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten during those seven days. Nothing leavened may be found among you, nor shall leaven be found anywhere within your borders. ⁸And on that day you are to explain to your son, ‘This is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹It shall be a sign for you on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that the Law of the LORD is to be on your lips. For with a mighty hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰Therefore you shall keep this statute at the appointed time year after year. ¹¹And after the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as He swore to you and your fathers, ¹²you are to present to the LORD the firstborn male of every womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock belong to the LORD. ¹³You must redeem every firstborn donkey with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. And every firstborn of your sons you must redeem. ¹⁴In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you are to tell him, ‘With a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹⁵And when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both of man and beast. This is why I sacrifice to the LORD the firstborn male of every womb, but I redeem all the firstborn of my sons.’ ¹⁶So it shall serve as a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead, for with a mighty hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.” ¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, though it was shorter. For God said, “If the people face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸So God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the Israelites left the land of Egypt arrayed for battle. ¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear a solemn oath when he said, “God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones with you from this place.” ²⁰They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹And the LORD went before them in a pillar of cloud to guide their way by day, and in a pillar of fire to give them light by night, so that they could travel by day or night. ²²Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place before the people.

14Then the LORD said to Moses, ²“Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. You are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon. ³For Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, ‘They are wandering the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.’ ⁴And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. But I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So this is what the Israelites did. ⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.” ⁶So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him. ⁷He took 600 of the best chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. ⁸And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out defiantly. ⁹The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi-hahiroth, opposite Baal-zephon. ¹⁰As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were terrified and cried out to the LORD. ¹¹They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the wilderness to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” ¹³But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. ¹⁴The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” ¹⁵Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. ¹⁶And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. Then I will gain honor by means of Pharaoh and all his army and chariots and horsemen. ¹⁸The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I am honored through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.” ¹⁹And the angel of God, who had gone before the camp of Israel, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰so that it came between the camps of Egypt and Israel. The cloud was there in the darkness, but it lit up the night. So all night long neither camp went near the other. ²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove back the sea with a strong east wind that turned it into dry land. So the waters were divided, ²²and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left. ²³And the Egyptians chased after them—all Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen—and followed them into the sea. ²⁴At morning watch, however, the LORD looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and cloud, and He threw their camp into confusion. ²⁵He caused their chariot wheels to wobble, so that they had difficulty driving. “Let us flee from the Israelites,” said the Egyptians, “for the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!” ²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” ²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal state. As the Egyptians were retreating, the LORD swept them into the sea. ²⁸The waters flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had chased the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived. ²⁹But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰That day the LORD saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore. ³¹When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.