The First Passover (Numbers 9:1–14)
1 UDB Yahweh said to Aaron and Moses in Egypt, BSB BSB: Now the LORD said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
2 UDB "From now on, this month will be the first month of the year for you Israelites. BSB BSB: “This month is the beginning of months for you; it shall be the first month of your year.
3 UDB Tell all the Israelite people that in each family, the man who heads the family must take a lamb or a young goat for his household. BSB BSB: Tell 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.
4 UDB If there are not enough people in his family to eat a whole cooked lamb, then his family and the family that lives next door may share one animal. Decide how many lambs you need according to the number of people in each family and according to how much each person can eat. BSB BSB: If 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.
5 UDB The lambs or goats that you choose must be males, one year old, and they must not have any defects. BSB BSB: Your lamb must be an unblemished year-old male, and you may take it from the sheep or the goats.
6 UDB You must take special care of these animals until the fourteenth day of the month. On that day, all the Israelite people must kill the lambs or goats in the evening. BSB BSB: You 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.
7 UDB Then they must take some of the blood from the lambs or goats, and they must smear it on the two doorposts and on the tops of the doorframes of the houses in which they will eat the meat. BSB BSB: They 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.
8 UDB They must roast the animals immediately and eat the meat that night. They must eat it with bitter herbs and with bread that is baked without yeast. BSB BSB: They are to eat the meat that night, roasted over the fire, along with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.
9 UDB You must not eat any of the meat raw, and you must not boil the meat. You must roast it whole without cutting off the head or the legs or without removing the internal parts. BSB BSB: Do 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.
10 UDB You must eat all the meat that evening; do not let any of the meat remain to be eaten the next morning. If any of the meat is left the next morning, you must burn it all. BSB BSB: Do not leave any of it until morning; before the morning you must burn up any part that is left over.
11 UDB When you eat it, you must be dressed ready to travel. You must have your sandals on your feet and your walking staff in your hands. You must eat it hurriedly. It will be a festival called Passover to honor me, Yahweh. BSB BSB: This 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.
12 UDB On that night I will go through all the land of Egypt, and I will kill all the oldest males in Egypt, both humans and animals. By doing this, I will punish all the gods in Egypt. It is I, Yahweh God, who am speaking to you! BSB BSB: On 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.
13 UDB The blood that you smear on the doorways will be a mark to show me the houses in which you Israelites live. When I see the blood, I will pass over those houses, and I will not harm the people who live there when I come to punish the Egyptians. BSB BSB: The blood on the houses where you are staying will be a sign; 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.
The Feast of Unleavened Bread (Leviticus 23:4–8; Numbers 28:16–25; Deuteronomy 16:1–8)
14 UDB Each year, you must celebrate this festival on this day to remember what I, Yahweh, have done for you. In all the generations to come, each year you must celebrate this festival. It must continue forever. BSB BSB: And 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.
15 UDB For seven days you must eat bread that has no yeast in it. On the first day of that week, you must get rid of all the yeast that is in your houses. During those seven days, if anyone eats bread that is baked with yeast in it, you must drive that person out from your people. BSB BSB: For 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.
16 UDB On the first day of that week, you must have a holy meeting. You must do the same thing on the seventh day. People must not work on those two days. The only work they may do is to prepare food for you to eat. BSB BSB: On 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.
17 UDB Every year you must keep celebrating this Festival of Unleavened Bread because it will remind you that it was on this day that I brought your tribes out of the land of Egypt. So every year, in all the generations to come, you must celebrate this day as a festival. It must continue forever. BSB BSB: So 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.
18 UDB In the first month of the year, on the fourteenth day of that month, the only bread you may eat is bread that has no yeast in it. You must keep doing that each day until the twenty-first day of that month. BSB BSB: In the first month you are to eat unleavened bread, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day.
19 UDB For those seven days you must not have any yeast in your house. During that time, if anyone, either an Israelite or a foreigner, eats bread made with yeast, that person will no longer be an Israelite. BSB BSB: For 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.
20 UDB In your houses, do not eat anything that has yeast in it during those seven days." BSB BSB: You are not to eat anything leavened; eat unleavened bread in all your homes.”
21 UDB Then Moses summoned all the leaders of the Israelite people. He said to them, "Each family should select a lamb and kill it, in order that you may eat it to celebrate the festival that will be called 'Passover.' BSB BSB: Then 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.
22 UDB Let the lamb's blood drain into a bowl. Get a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood. Then wipe some of the blood on the top of the doorframe and on the doorposts of your houses. The people in each house must stay inside the house until the next morning. BSB BSB: Take 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.
23 UDB When Yahweh goes through Egypt to kill the oldest male in each Egyptian family, he will see the blood on your doorframes, and he will pass over those houses. He will not allow the angel who causes people to die to enter your houses and kill your oldest sons. BSB BSB: When 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.
24 UDB You and your descendants must celebrate this ritual forever. BSB BSB: And you are to keep this command as a permanent statute for you and your descendants.
25 UDB When you arrive in the land that Yahweh will give to you as he promised, you must keep celebrating this ritual every year. BSB BSB: When you enter the land that the LORD will give you as He promised, you are to keep this service.
26 UDB When your children ask you, 'What does this ritual mean?' BSB BSB: When your children ask you, ‘What does this service mean to you?’
27 UDB you must tell them, 'This ritual is to remember how your ancestors sacrificed lambs on the night that Yahweh's angel passed over the houses of the Israelite people when they were in Egypt. He killed the oldest males in all the Egyptian houses, but he did not kill the sons in our houses." After Moses told them this, the people all bowed their heads and worshiped Yahweh. BSB BSB: you 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.
28 UDB Then the Israelite people did exactly what Yahweh told Aaron and Moses to tell them to do. BSB BSB: And the Israelites went and did just what the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
The Tenth Plague: Death of the Firstborn 29 UDB At midnight Yahweh killed all the oldest sons of the Egyptian people, all over Egypt. This included the king's oldest son, the oldest sons of the prisoners in the dungeons, and the oldest sons of everyone else. He also killed the oldest males of all the Egyptians' livestock. BSB BSB: Now 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.
30 UDB That night the king, all his officials, and all the rest of the Egyptian people awoke and discovered what had happened. They wailed loudly all over Egypt because in every house someone's son had died. BSB BSB: During 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.
The Exodus Begins 31 UDB That night the king called Aaron and Moses and said, "Get up, you and all the other Israelite people, and leave my country now! Go and worship Yahweh, as you requested! BSB BSB: Then 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.
32 UDB Take your flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle, and leave! And ask Yahweh to bless me, also!" BSB BSB: Take your flocks and herds as well, just as you have said, and depart! And bless me also.”
33 UDB The Egyptians asked the Israelite people to leave their country quickly. They said, "If you do not do that, we will all die!" BSB BSB: And 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!”
34 UDB So the Israelite people prepared to leave at once. They took the bowls in which they mixed the dough to make bread and the dough that was in the bowls without any yeast in it, and they wrapped the bowls in their cloaks. They put the bowls on their shoulders and left. BSB BSB: So the people took their dough before it was leavened, carrying it on their shoulders in kneading bowls wrapped in clothing.
35 UDB Then the Israelite people did as Moses told them. They went to their Egyptian neighbors and asked them for silver and gold jewelry and clothing. BSB BSB: Furthermore, the Israelites acted on Moses’ word and asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold, and for clothing.
36 UDB Yahweh caused the Egyptian people to greatly respect the Israelite people, so they gave them what they asked for. In that way, the Israelites carried away the wealth of the Egyptian people. BSB BSB: And 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.
38 UDB Many other people who were not Israelites went along with them. There was also a large amount of livestock, including flocks of sheep and goats and herds of cattle. BSB BSB: And a mixed multitude also went up with them, along with great droves of livestock, both flocks and herds.
39 UDB On their way, they baked bread with the dough that they carried with them when they had been told to leave Egypt. The dough did not have yeast in it because they were told to leave Egypt so quickly that they did not have enough time to get food ready to take with them or enough time to mix yeast in the dough. BSB BSB: Since 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.
40 UDB The Israelite people had lived in Egypt for 430 years. BSB BSB: Now the duration of the Israelites’ stay in Egypt was 430 years.
41 UDB On the day that those 430 years ended, on that very day, all the tribes of Yahweh's people left Egypt. BSB BSB: At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions went out of the land of Egypt.
42 UDB It was a night when the Israelites stayed awake as Yahweh brought them out of Egypt. So this same night every year is a night that is dedicated to Yahweh, a night when the Israelite people in every generation remember how Yahweh kept their ancestors safe. BSB BSB: Because 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.
Instructions for the Passover 43 UDB Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "These are my instructions about the Passover ritual: Do not let foreigners eat the Passover meal. BSB BSB: And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: No foreigner is to eat of it.
44 UDB But any male slaves that you have bought may eat it after you have circumcised them. BSB BSB: But any slave who has been purchased may eat of it, after you have circumcised him.
45 UDB Do not let people who are living among you that are not Israelites, or servants whom you pay money to and who stay only for a while, eat the Passover meal. BSB BSB: A temporary resident or hired hand shall not eat the Passover.
46 UDB Each family must eat the Passover meal inside its own house. Do not take any of the food outside the house. Do not break the bones of the lamb. BSB BSB: It 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.
47 UDB All the Israelite people must celebrate this festival. BSB BSB: The whole congregation of Israel must celebrate it.
48 UDB When someone from another country comes to live with you and wants to celebrate the Passover festival, circumcise all the males in his household. Then he can eat the Passover meal, and you should treat that man as though he had been born an Israelite. But do not allow men who have not been circumcised to eat the Passover meal. BSB BSB: If 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.
49 UDB These rules apply to people who were born as Israelites and to foreigners who come and live among you." BSB BSB: The same law shall apply to both the native and the foreigner who resides among you.”
50 UDB All the Israelite people obeyed Moses and Aaron and did what Yahweh had commanded. BSB BSB: Then all the Israelites did this—they did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
51 UDB On that very day, Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israelite people out of Egypt. BSB BSB: And on that very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt by their divisions.