Side by side
Exodus 12
Our retelling next to the Bible text it comes from. Each row lines up one scene with the verses it retells.
Scene 1: A Lamb for Each FamilyVerses 1 to 6
God spoke to Moses and Aaron in Egypt. He said, "This month is the beginning of months for you" (12:2). From now on, their year would start with this month. Something new was beginning.
On the tenth day of the month, each family was to choose a lamb. If a family was too small to eat a whole lamb, they were to share with their neighbors.
The lamb had to be a one-year-old male, with nothing wrong with it. It could be a young sheep or a young goat.
The families would keep their lambs for four days. Then, on the fourteenth day, at twilight, every family would kill its lamb. Twilight is the time right after the sun goes down.
1Now 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.
Scene 2: Blood on the DoorVerses 7 to 13
God told them to take some of the lamb's blood. They were to put it on the sides and the top of the doorframe of their house.
That night, they were to roast the lamb over a fire and eat it. They would eat it with flat bread made without yeast, and with bitter herbs. Nothing was to be left until morning. Anything left over had to be burned.
God told them how to eat it. They should be dressed for travel, with sandals on their feet and a walking stick in their hand. They should eat in a hurry. God said, "It is the LORD's Passover" (12:11).
That night God would go through Egypt and strike down every firstborn son. God would also judge all the gods of Egypt.
Then God said, "When I see the blood, I will pass over you" (12:13). No plague would destroy them. That is why this night is called the Passover.
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.
Scene 3: A Night to RememberVerses 14 to 28
God said, "This day will be a memorial for you" (12:14). A memorial is something that helps people remember. They were to keep this feast every year, forever.
For seven days each year, they would eat only bread made without yeast. This part is called the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
Moses called the elders of Israel. He told them to kill the Passover lambs. They were to dip a bunch of hyssop, a small bushy plant, into the blood. Then they would brush the blood on the top and sides of the doorframe. No one was to go outside until morning.
God would see the blood and pass over that door. God would not let the destroyer come into their houses. The Bible does not say who the destroyer was.
They were to keep this command always, even after they entered the land God had promised them.
Moses said that in years to come, their children would ask, "What does this service mean to you?" (12:26). The parents would answer that it is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD. The LORD passed over their homes in Egypt and spared them.
The people bowed down and worshiped. Then the Israelites went and did what God had commanded Moses and Aaron.
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.
Scene 4: MidnightVerses 29 to 30
At midnight, the LORD struck down every firstborn son in Egypt. It reached from Pharaoh's own firstborn son to the firstborn son of a prisoner in the dungeon. The firstborn animals died too.
Pharaoh got up in the night. So did his officials and all the Egyptians.
There was loud crying all over Egypt. Someone was dead in every house.
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.
Scene 5: "Get Up and Leave"Verses 31 to 36
That same night, Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron. He said, "Get up, leave my people, both you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested" (12:31).
Pharaoh told them to take their flocks and herds too. Then he said, "And bless me also."
The Egyptians hurried the Israelites out. "Otherwise we will all die," they said.
The Israelites picked up their bread dough before it could rise. They carried the dough on their shoulders, in mixing bowls wrapped in clothing.
They asked the Egyptians for silver, gold, and clothing, as Moses had told them. The LORD made the Egyptians kind toward them. So the Egyptians gave them what they asked.
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.
Scene 6: Out of EgyptVerses 37 to 42
So the Israelites set out on foot, from the city of Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men, plus women and children. People from other nations went with them too. They brought large flocks and herds.
They had left in such a hurry that they had not made food for the trip. So they baked their dough into flat bread without yeast.
The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. At the end of those years, on that very day, the LORD brought all his people out of Egypt.
The Bible says the LORD kept watch that night to bring them out. So every year, the Israelites would keep watch on this night too, to honor the LORD.
On the night he struck Egypt, God kept watch over his people. They walked out free.
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.
Between scenesVerses 43 to 51
This part isn't retold as its own scene.
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.
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