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Exodus 12:1-13

1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in Egypt: 2 ‘This month will be the first of your months; it will be the first month of your year.

3 Tell the whole assembly of Israel that on the tenth of this month each man must obtain a lamb (or kid) for his family, one lamb (or kid) for each dwelling.  4 If a home is too small, then it must share a lamb (or kid) with a neighbouring home, and you must divide up the lamb according to the number of people who are to eat it.

5 Your lamb must be a one year old male with no defects; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats.  6 You must keep it until the fourteenth day of this same month, and then the whole assembled community of Israel will slaughter it at twilight.  7 They must take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it.  8 They must eat the meat that same night, roasted over the fire together with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.  9 It must not be eaten raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its head, legs, and inner parts.  10 None of it must be left until the morning, and you must burn what remains of it.

11 You must eat it in this way: clothed and ready, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it hastily. It is the Passover of the Lord.  12 For I will pass through Egypt that night, striking down all the firstborn in Egypt, both human beings and animals; I will execute judgments on all the gods of Egypt: I am the Lord.  13 The blood will mark out the houses where you live, and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No plague will destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.’

 

Exodus 12:14-20

14 This day will be a day for you to remember.  You will celebrate it for generations to come as the Lord’s festival; it is a decree for all time.  15 You will eat unleavened bread for seven days; on the first day you will clear the leaven from your homes, and whoever eats leavened bread from the first to the seventh day will be cut off from Israel.  16 You will hold a holy assembly on the first and also on the seventh day, and no work will be done on those days except the preparation of what you must eat, that is all you are allowed to do.

17 You will keep this as the Festival of Unleavened Bread, for on this very day I brought you like an army out of Egypt: you will keep this day throughout the generations, it is a decree for all time.  18 From the evening of the fourteenth day to the evening of the twenty first day of the first month, you will eat unleavened bread.  19 For seven days no leaven must be found in your homes, and anyone, whether a resident foreigner or a native to the land, whoever eats leavened bread will be cut off from the community of Israel.  20 You will eat nothing with leaven; wherever you live, you will eat unleavened bread.

 

Exodus 12:21-36

21 Moses called all the elders of Israel and said to them, ‘Choose and take a lamb for each of your families and slaughter them for the Passover meal.  22 Take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood in the basin and smear this on the lintel and both doorposts.  Not one of you must go outside the house until morning.  23 For the Lord will pass by to strike down the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and both doorposts, He will pass by that door and not allow the Destroyer to enter your homes to strike you.  24 You will keep this ceremony as a binding requirement on you and your children for ever.  25 So when you come to the land which the Lord has promised He will give you, you will keep this duty.  26 And when your children ask you, “what do you mean by this ceremony?”  27 you will reply, “This is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, because He passed over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt.  He struck down the Egyptians but He spared our homes.”’

Then the people bowed down low in worship.  28 The Israelites went and did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

29 Then, in the middle of the night, the Lord struck down all the first-born of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh on the throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, and also the firstborn of all the livestock.  30 Pharaoh, all his officials and all the Egyptians got up in the night, and there was a great cry throughout Egypt for there was not a house without someone who had died.  31 He summoned Moses and Aaron during the night and said, ‘Get up and go away from my people, both you and the Israelites.  Go and worship the Lord as you intend.’  32 Take your flocks and herds as well, and as you intend to do, be gone, and bless me as well!

33 The Egyptians urged the people to hurry and leave the land, for they feared that they would all die.  34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carried on their shoulders in kneading-bowls wrapped in cloaks.  35 The Israelites did as Moses told them, and they asked the Egyptians for items of silver and gold, and for clothing.  36 The Lord made the Egyptians favourably disposed towards the people, and they let them have whatever they asked for.  In this way, they obtained wealth from the Egyptians.

 

Exodus 12:37-51

37 The Israelites journeyed from Rameses to Succoth.  There were around six hundred thousand men on foot besides the women and children; 38 a racially mixed crowd of people went with them, as well as numerous livestock, both flocks and herds.  39 They baked the dough they brought with them out of Egypt into unleavened bread.  It was unleavened because they had to leave Egypt and could not wait, and they had not prepared provisions for themselves.  40 The time that the Israelites had dwelt in Egypt was four hundred and thirty years.  41 At the end of this time, exactly, the Lord’s entire army of people left Egypt. 42 The Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, so this same night is a night of vigil in honour of the Lord to be kept by all Israelites throughout time.

43 Now, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘These are the instructions for keeping the Passover: no-one of foreign race may eat it, 44 but every bonded servant bought for money may eat it after he has been circumcised; 45 no temporary resident or hired servant may eat it.  46 It must be eaten in one household, and you must not take any of the meat outside the house; and you must not break any of its bones.  47 The entire community of Israel will celebrate it.  48 If a temporary resident who lives among you wants to keep the Passover, then all his men must be circumcised. He may then join in the celebration of it like one who is a native of the land.  No uncircumcised male may eat of it.  49 There will be one law for the native born resident and the foreign born resident who lives among you.  50 All the people of Israel did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, 51 and on that very day, the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt like an army.

 

Exodus 13:1-16

1 The Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Dedicate all the first-born to me; the first offspring of the womb among the Israelites, whether human or animal, is mine.’

3 Moses said to the people, ‘Call to mind this very day on which you came out of Egypt, from the place of slavery, for the Lord brought you out of it with a strong hand.  Eat no bread containing yeast, 4 for today, in the month of Abib, you are to leave; 5 and when the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey which He swore to your fathers He would give you, you will perform this duty in this very month.  6 You will eat unleavened bread for seven days, and on the seventh day there will be a feast to the Lord.  7 Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread or yeast will be found amongst you within all your borders.  8 On that day you will tell your son, “This is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.”  9 And it will be like a sign for you on your hand and as a reminder between your eyes, so that the Lord‘s commands will be on your lips; for the Lord has brought you out of Egypt with a strong hand.  10 You will therefore keep this instruction in due season from year to year.’

11 ‘When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he swore to you and your fathers, 12 you will dedicate to the Lord everything that is first to open the womb.  All the male first-born of your cattle will belong to the Lord.  13 Every firstborn donkey you will redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you must break its neck.  You will redeem every first-born male child, 14 and when your son asks you in the future, “What does this mean?” you will say to him, “The Lord brought us out of Egypt, the house of bondage, by the strength of His hand.  15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the first-born in Egypt, the first-born of both people and cattle.  I therefore sacrifice to the Lord everything that opens the womb; but all my first-born sons I will redeem.”  16 It will be like a sign on your hand or a pendant between your eyes; for the Lord brought us out of Egypt by a strong hand.’

 

Exodus 13:17-14:4

17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through Philistine land although it was close by, because he thought that the people would change their minds and return to Egypt if they faced the possibility of fighting. 18 Instead, God led them by the desert road towards the Red Sea (‘Sea of Reeds’).  The Israelites came up from Egypt in battle formation. 19 Moses took with him Joseph’s bones, because Joseph has made the Israelites swear a solemn oath that when God remembered them, they were under obligation to carry his bones away with them. 20 They set out from Succoth and camped at Etham close to the edge of the desert. 21 The Lord went ahead of them during the day in a pillar of cloud to show the way, and during the night as a pillar of fire to give them light.  They were therefore able travel by day or by night. 22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night changed its position at the front of the people.

14:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 ‘Tell the Israelites to go back and set up camp near to Pi-Hahiroth, between Migdol and the Sea.  They must encamp directly opposite Baal-Zephon, by the Sea. 3 Then Pharaoh will think that the Israelites are wandering around the region without direction and the desert has trapped them! 4 So I will harden Pharaoh’s heart and he will pursue them; and in this way I will gain glory at the expense of Pharaoh and his army, and all the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord!’ This is what the Israelites did.

 

Exodus 14:5-20

5 When 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 by allowing Israel to leave our service?’ 6 So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him; 7 six hundred of the best chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites as they left in triumph. 9 The Egyptians pursued them, the whole army of Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and charioteers; and they overtook them while they were camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked back and saw the Egyptians coming nearer to them and were terrified, so they cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, ‘Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us into the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Did we not tell you this back in Egypt; “Leave us alone to serve the Egyptians”? It would be far better to serve the Egyptians than die in the wilderness!’ 13 But Moses answered the people, ‘Don’t be afraid, take your stand, and see the salvation the Lord will bring about for you today; for these Egyptians you see today you shall never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you, and you only need to stop speaking!’

15 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Why do you call out to me? Tell the Israelites to go forward. 16 You must raise your staff and stretch your hand out over the sea and divide it, so that the Israelites may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 Then I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them; so I will obtain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army, his chariots, and his chariot drivers. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory for myself over Pharaoh, his chariots and his charioteers.’

19 The angel of God who had been moving ahead of the Israelite army changed position and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud also moved from in front of them and took its place behind them, 20 coming between the Egyptian and the Israelite camp. There, the cloud and the darkness were the only light during the night, so one side did not come near the other all night long.

 

Exodus 14:21-31

21 Then Moses stretched his hand out over the sea, and the Lord swept back the sea with a strong east wind all through the night, turning the sea into dry land.  When the waters were divided, 22 the Israelites went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.  23 The Egyptians followed and went in after them into the sea, all of Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and horsemen.  24 During the morning watch the Lord looked down on the Egyptian army from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian army into panic. 25 He clogged up their chariot wheels so that they could hardly be manoeuvred.  The Egyptians said, ‘Flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!’

26 Then the Lord told Moses, ‘Stretch your hand out over the sea, so that the water may flow back over the Egyptians, their chariots and horsemen.’  27 So Moses stretched his hand out over the sea, and at dawn the sea returned to its normal depth; and as the Egyptians fled before the sea, the Lord tossed the Egyptians into the middle of it.  28 The waters returned, covering the chariots and the horsemen and the entire army of Pharaoh that had pursued the Israelites into the sea; not one of them survived.  29 But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

30 So the Lord saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore.  31 When Israel saw the great hand of God against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and believed in Him and His servant Moses.

 

Exodus 15:1-12

1 At that time, Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

 ‘I will sing to the Lord,

for He has risen up in triumph;

 He has thrown both horse and rider

into the sea.

2  My strength and my song; the Lord!

   He is salvation for me!

 this is my God, I will honour Him;

  my father's God, I will acclaim Him.

3  The Lord is a warrior;

  the Lord is His name.

4  Pharaoh's chariots and all his forces

He cast into the sea;

 his best officers have drowned

in the Red Sea.

5  The deep waters covered them;

  they went down into the depths like stone.

6  Your right hand, O Lord, majestic in strength;

  Your right hand, O Lord,

shattered the enemy.

7  In the awesomeness of Your majesty

You threw down Your opponents;

  you sent out Your wrath,

it consumed them like stubble.

8  At the blast of Your anger the waters piled up,

  the currents stopped and stood still;

  the waters became solid

in the heart of the sea.

9  The enemy said,

  “I will chase,

  I will catch up,

  I will plunder,

  I will fill up with what I want.

  I will draw my sword to kill,

  I will destroy them myself.”

10  You blew with Your wind,

the sea covered them over;

  they sank like lead in the wide waters.

11  ’Who is like You, among the gods O Lord?

  Who is like You, magnificent in holiness,

  Fearfully to be praised

and doing wonders?

12  You stretched out Your right hand,

  The earth swallowed them up!

 

Exodus 15:13-21

13 In Your faithful love

  You led the people You redeemed;

 You guided them by Your strength

  to where You dwell in holiness.

14 The nations heard and were troubled;

  the people of Philistia

were seized with anguish,

15  whereupon the chiefs of Edom were terrified,

  the leaders of Moab

were gripped with trembling,

   and all who dwelt in Canaan melted away.

16 Terror and dread fell on them;

  Because of the strength of your arm,

   they were as still as stone

 until Your people passed by, O Lord,

  until the people who You obtained

passed by.

17 You have brought them in,

  You have planted them,

   on the mountain which You own,

  the fixed place, O Lord,

   Where You have made Your dwelling,

  the holy Place O Lord,

   established by Your hands.

18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.’

19 When Pharaoh’s horses with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord made the waters of the sea flow back on them; but the Israelites walked on dry ground through the middle of the sea.

20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron's sister, took up a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:

 ‘Sing to the Lord,

  for he has risen up in triumph;

 He has thrown both horse and rider

  Into the sea.

 

Exodus 15:22-27

22 Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness but found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter; which is why it was named Marah. 24 So the people grumbled against Moses and said, ‘What are we to drink?’ 25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree branch. He threw it into the water and the water became sweet.

It was there that the Lord made for them rules and regulations and put them to the test; 26 He said, ‘If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and if you pay attention to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring on you any of the diseases that I afflicted on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.’

27 They then arrived at Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.

 

Exodus 16:1-12

1 The entire Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from Egypt.  2 In the desert, the whole community of the Israelites continued to complain against Moses and Aaron.  3 They said to them; ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, where we sat around our meat stew pots and had all the food we could want, but you have brought us out into the desert to make the whole community die of hunger!’

4 So the Lord said to Moses, ‘Look, I am going to rain down bread from heaven for you.  Each day, the people must go out and gather a portion which is sufficient for that day.  I will test them in this way to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.  5 On the sixth day when they prepare to gather, it will be twice as much as on other days.’

6 Moses and Aaron then said to all the Israelites, ‘In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt; 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord in response to your complaining against Him.  And who are we that you complain against us?’  8 Moses went on to say, ‘When the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you could want in the morning in response to your complaining against Him, what is that to do with us?  Your complaint is not against us but against the Lord!’

9 Then Moses said to Aaron ‘Say to the entire congregation of Israel, “Draw near to the Lord so that he may hear your complaining.”’ 10 When Aaron announced this to the whole Israelites community, they turned towards the desert, and right there, the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud!  11 At that moment the Lord spoke to Moses, 12 ‘I have heard the complaining of the Israelites.  Say to them, ”In the evening twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have plenty of bread.  You will then come to know that I am the Lord your God.”’