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Exodus 12:2-20
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Exodus 12:2-20
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
2 [a]This month will stand at the head of your calendar; you will reckon it the first month of the year.(A) 3 Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every family must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. 4 If a household is too small for a lamb, it along with its nearest neighbor will procure one, and apportion the lamb’s cost[b] in proportion to the number of persons, according to what each household consumes. 5 Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. 6 You will keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight. 7 They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. 8 They will consume its meat that same night, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat any of it raw or even boiled in water, but roasted, with its head and shanks and inner organs. 10 You must not keep any of it beyond the morning; whatever is left over in the morning must be burned up.
11 This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you will eat it in a hurry. It is the Lord’s Passover. 12 For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn in the land, human being and beast alike, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the Lord!(B) 13 But for you the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.(C)
14 This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord; you will celebrate it as a statute forever. 15 For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. From the very first day you will have your houses clear of all leaven. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh will be cut off[c] from Israel. 16 On the first day you will hold a sacred assembly, and likewise on the seventh. On these days no sort of work shall be done, except to prepare the food that everyone needs. 17 Keep, then, the custom of the unleavened bread,(D) since it was on this very day that I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever. 18 From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of this month you will eat unleavened bread. 19 For seven days no leaven may be found in your houses; for anyone, a resident alien or a native, who eats leavened food will be cut off from the community of Israel. 20 You shall eat nothing leavened; wherever you dwell you may eat only unleavened bread.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 12:2 As if to affirm victory over Pharaoh and sovereignty over the Israelites, the Lord proclaims a new calendar for Israel. This month: Abib, the month of “ripe grain.” Cf. 13:4; 23:15; 34:18; Dt 16:1. It occurred near the vernal equinox, March–April. Later it was known by the Babylonian name of Nisan. Cf. Neh 2:1; Est 3:7.
- 12:4 The lamb’s cost: some render the Hebrew, “reckon for the lamb the number of persons required to eat it.” Cf. v. 10.
- 12:15 Cut off: a common Priestly term, not easily reduced to a simple English equivalent, since its usage appears to involve a number of associated punishments, some or all of which may come into play in any instance of the term’s use. These included the excommunication of the offender from the Israelite community, the premature death of the offender, the eventual eradication of the offender’s posterity, and finally the loss by the offender of all ancestral holdings.
Exodus 12:2-20
New International Version
Exodus 12:2-20
New International Version
2 “This month is to be for you the first month,(A) the first month of your year. 3 Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day of this month each man is to take a lamb[a](B) for his family, one for each household.(C) 4 If any household is too small for a whole lamb, they must share one with their nearest neighbor, having taken into account the number of people there are. You are to determine the amount of lamb needed in accordance with what each person will eat. 5 The animals you choose must be year-old males without defect,(D) and you may take them from the sheep or the goats. 6 Take care of them until the fourteenth day of the month,(E) when all the members of the community of Israel must slaughter them at twilight.(F) 7 Then they are to take some of the blood(G) and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. 8 That same night(H) they are to eat the meat roasted(I) over the fire, along with bitter herbs,(J) and bread made without yeast.(K) 9 Do not eat the meat raw or boiled in water, but roast it over a fire—with the head, legs and internal organs.(L) 10 Do not leave any of it till morning;(M) if some is left till morning, you must burn it. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt, your sandals on your feet and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste;(N) it is the Lord’s Passover.(O)
12 “On that same night I will pass through(P) Egypt and strike down(Q) every firstborn(R) of both people and animals, and I will bring judgment on all the gods(S) of Egypt. I am the Lord.(T) 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are, and when I see the blood, I will pass over(U) you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.(V)
14 “This is a day you are to commemorate;(W) for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance.(X) 15 For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast.(Y) On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off(Z) from Israel. 16 On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work(AA) at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do.
17 “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread,(AB) because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt.(AC) Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.(AD) 18 In the first month(AE) you are to eat bread made without yeast, from the evening of the fourteenth day until the evening of the twenty-first day. 19 For seven days no yeast is to be found in your houses. And anyone, whether foreigner(AF) or native-born, who eats anything with yeast in it must be cut off(AG) from the community of Israel. 20 Eat nothing made with yeast. Wherever you live,(AH) you must eat unleavened bread.”(AI)
Footnotes
- Exodus 12:3 The Hebrew word can mean lamb or kid; also in verse 4.
New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)
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