שמות י״ב:ה׳

GOD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month shall mark for you the beginning of the months; it shall be the first of the months of the year for you. Speak to the whole community of Israel^awhole community of Israel Or the leadership, on everyone’s behalf; cf. v. 21. and say that on the tenth of this month each family shall take for itself a lamb,^blamb Or “kid.” Heb. seh means either “sheep” or “goat”; cf. v. 5. a lamb to a household. But if the household is too small for a lamb, let it share one with a neighbor who dwells nearby, in proportion to the number of persons: you shall contribute for the lamb according to what each household will eat. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a yearling male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw, or cooked in any way with water, but roasted—head, legs, and entrails—over the fire. You shall not leave any of it over until morning; if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it. This is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hurriedly: it is a passover offering^cpassover offering Or “protective offering”; Heb. pesaḥ. to GOD. For that night I will go through the land of Egypt and strike down every [male] first-born in the land of Egypt, both human and animal; and I will mete out punishments to all the gods of Egypt, I GOD. And the blood on the houses where you are staying shall be a sign for you: when I see the blood I will pass over^dpass over Or “protect”; cf. v. 11 and note there. you, so that no plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be to you one of remembrance: you shall celebrate it as a festival to GOD throughout the ages; you shall celebrate it as an institution for all time. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; on the very first day you shall remove leaven from your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. You shall celebrate a sacred occasion on the first day, and a sacred occasion on the seventh day; no work at all shall be done on them; only what every person is to eat, that alone may be prepared for you. You shall observe the [Feast of] Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought your ranks out of the land of Egypt; you shall observe this day throughout the ages as an institution for all time. In the first month, from the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. No leaven shall be found in your houses for seven days. For whoever eats what is leavened, that person—whether a stranger or a citizen of the country—shall be cut off from the community of Israel. You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your settlements you shall eat unleavened bread. Moses then summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go, pick out lambs for your families, and slaughter the passover offering. Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and apply some of the blood that is in the basin to the lintel and to the two doorposts. None of you shall go outside the door of your house until morning. For GOD, when going through to smite the Egyptians, will see the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, and GOD will pass over^epass over See note at v. 13. the door and not let the Destroyer enter and smite your home. “You shall observe this as an institution for all time, for you and for your descendants. And when you enter the land that GOD will give you, as promised, you shall observe this rite. And when your children ask you, ‘What do you mean by this rite?’ you shall say, ‘It is the passover sacrifice to GOD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt when smiting the Egyptians, but saved our houses.’”
Those assembled then bowed low in homage. And the Israelites went and did so; just as GOD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. In the middle of the night GOD struck down all the [male] first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle. And Pharaoh arose in the night, with all his courtiers and all the Egyptians—because there was a loud cry in Egypt; for there was no house where there was not someone dead. He summoned Moses and Aaron in the night and said, “Up, depart from among my people, you and the Israelites with you! Go, worship GOD as you said! Take also your flocks and your herds, as you said, and begone! And may you bring a blessing upon me also!” The Egyptians urged the people on, impatient to have them leave the country, for they said, “We shall all be dead.” So the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks upon their shoulders. The Israelites had done Moses’ bidding and borrowed from the Egyptians objects of silver and gold, and clothing. And GOD had disposed the Egyptians favorably toward the people, and they let them have their request; thus they stripped the Egyptians. The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand fighting men on foot, aside from noncombatants. Moreover, a mixed multitude went up with them, and very much livestock, both flocks and herds. And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough that they had taken out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, since they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay; nor had they prepared any provisions for themselves. The length of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years; at the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, to the very day, all the ranks of GOD departed from the land of Egypt. That was for GOD a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is GOD’s, one of vigil for all the children of Israel throughout the ages. GOD said to Moses and Aaron: This is the law of the passover offering: No foreigner shall eat of it. But any [male] slave you have bought may eat of it once he has been circumcised. No bound or hired laborer shall eat of it. It shall be eaten in one house: you shall not take any of the flesh outside the house; nor shall you break a bone of it. The whole community of Israel^fwhole community of Israel Or the heads of its households, on everyone’s behalf. shall offer it. If a stranger who dwells with you would offer the passover^gstranger … would offer the passover Which is done on a per-household basis; cf. vv. 3–4. to GOD, all his males must be circumcised; then he shall be admitted to offer it; he shall then be as a citizen of the country. But no uncircumcised man may eat of it. There shall be one law for the citizen and for the stranger who dwells among you. And all the Israelites did so; as GOD had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did. That very day GOD freed the Israelites from the land of Egypt, troop by troop.