Shemot 12

1. And Hashem spoke unto Moshe and Aharon in Eretz Mitzrayim saying,

2. Hachodesh hazeh (this month) shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.

3. Speak ye unto kol Adat Yisroel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a seh (lamb [see Yeshayah 53:7]), according to the bais avot, a seh for each bais;

4. And if the household be too small for the seh (lamb [see Yeshayah 53:7]), let him and his neighbor next unto his bais take according to the number of the nefashot; every ish according to what he eats shall make up your count for the seh.

5. Your seh (lamb [see Yeshayah 53:7]) shall be tamim (without blemish), a zachar (male) within its first year; ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats;

6. And it will be with you for mishmeret (examination, checking for blemishes) up until the fourteenth day of the same month; and kol Kehal Adat Yisroel shall slaughter (shachat) it in the afternoon [before dark].

7. And they shall take of the dahm, and strike it upon the two mezuzot (doorposts) and on the mashkof (lintel) of the batim (houses), wherein they shall eat it.

8. And they shall eat the basar in that night, roasted over eish, and matzot; and with maror they shall eat it. [See Yochanan 6:53-54 where Moshiach alludes to this verse and Isaiah 53:7.]

9. Eat not of it raw, nor soaked or boiled in mayim, but roasted over eish; this includes its rosh with its legs, and with the inner parts thereof.

10. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the boker; and that which remaineth of it until the boker ye shall burn with eish.

11. And thus shall ye eat it; with your robe girded up [i.e., pulled up and tucked in under the belt, for travel], your sandals on your feet, and your walking staff in your yad; and ye shall eat it with urgent haste; it is Hashem’s Pesach.

12. For I will pass through Eretz Mitzrayim balailah hazeh, and will strike fatally kol bechor Eretz Mitzrayim, both adam and behemah; and against all the elohei Mitzrayim I will execute judgment; I am Hashem.

13. And the dahm shall be for you, an ot (sign) upon the batim (houses) where ye are; and when I see the dahm, oofasachti (then I will pass over, skip, spare) you [plural], and the negef (plague, blow, striking, i.e., death of firstborn) shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I strike fatally with a blow against Eretz Mitzrayim.

14. And hayom hazeh shall be unto you for zikaron (remembrance, remembering); and ye shall keep it a Chag (Feast) to Hashem throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a Chag (Feast) by a chukkat olam.

15. Shivat yamim shall ye eat matzot; but the first day ye shall put away se’or (yeast, leaven) out of your batim (houses); for whosoever eateth chametz from the first day until the seventh day, that nefesh shall be cut off from Yisroel.

16. And in the yom harishon there shall be a mikra kodesh, and in the yom hashevi’i there shall be a mikra kodesh to you; no manner of melachah shall be done in them, except that which every nefesh must eat [i.e., activity necessary for the preparation of food], that only may be done of you.

17. And ye shall be shomer to safeguard the matzot; for on this very day I brought your tzva’os out of Eretz Mitzrayim; therefore shall ye be shomer over this day in your generations by a chukkat olam.

18. In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at erev, ye shall eat matzot, until the one and twentieth day of the month at erev.

19. Shivat yamim shall there be no se’or (yeast, leaven) found in your batim (houses); whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that nefesh shall be cut off from Adat Yisroel, whether he be a ger, or native born in ha’aretz.

20. Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellingplaces shall ye eat matzot.

21. Then Moshe called for all the Ziknei Yisroel, and said unto them, Draw out as separate and take for yourselves a lamb according to your mishpokhot, and slaughter (shachat) the Pesach [offering, i.e., Pesach lamb (see Yeshayah 53:7)].

22. And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the dahm that is in the basin, and strike the mashkof (lintel) and the two mezuzot (door sideposts) with the dahm that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out the door of his bais until boker.

23. For Hashem will pass through to strike the Mitzrayim; and when He seeth the dahm upon the mashkof, and on the two mezuzot, Hashem will pasach (pass over, spare, skip) the entrance, and will not permit the Mashkhit (Destroyer, i.e., Hashem’s emissary of judgment, [see Num 22:31 on the Malach Hashem]) to enter unto your batim to strike.

24. And ye shall be shomer over this word as a chok (ordinance) to thee and your children ad olam (forever).

25. And it shall come to pass, when ye come to ha’aretz which Hashem will give to you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall be shomer over this avodah.

26. And it shall come to pass, when your banim shall say unto you, Mah haavodah hazot lachem (What is this avodah to you)?

27. That ye shall say, It is the zevach of Hashem’s Pesach, who pasach (passed over, skipped, spared) the batim (households) of the Bnei Yisroel in Mitzrayim, when He struck down the Egyptians, and spared bateinu (our houses). And the people bowed down and worshiped.

28. And the Bnei Yisroel went away, and did as Hashem had commanded Moshe and Aharon, so did they.

29. And it came to pass, that at midnight Hashem struck down kol bechor in Eretz Mitzrayim, from the bechor of Pharaoh sitting on his throne unto the bechor of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the bechor behemah.

30. And Pharaoh rose up in the lailah, he, and all his avadim, and kol Mitzrayim; and there was a tze’akah gedolah (great wail) in Mitzrayim; for there was not a bais where there was not one dead.

31. And he called for Moshe and Aharon by night, and said, Rise up, and get you forth, leave from among my people, both ye and the Bnei Yisroel; and go, serve Hashem, as ye have said.

32. Also take your tzon and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.

33. And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, that they might send them out of ha’aretz in haste; for they said, Kullanu mesim (We are all dead ones).

34. And the people took their batzek (deaf dough, having no indication of fermentation [see 1C 5:7 OJBC]) before it was leavened, their kneading pans being wrapped up in their clothes [and carried] upon their shoulders.

35. And the Bnei Yisroel did according to the devar Moshe; they requested of the Egyptians k’lei kesef, and k’lei zahav, and garments;

36. And Hashem gave the people favor in the sight of the Mitzrayim, so that they granted their request. So they plundered the Egyptians.

37. And the Bnei Yisroel journeyed from Rameses towards Sukkot, about 600,000 gevarim on foot, not counting women and children.

38. And an erev rav (mixed multitude, a mixed company that was large) went along also with them; and tzon, and herds, even very many domestic animals.

39. And they baked the batzek (deaf dough) which they brought forth out of Mitzrayim, into round flat cakes of matzot; ki lo chametz, because they were thrust out of Mitzrayim, and could not tarry (linger), neither had they prepared for tzeidah (supply of food, provision).

40. Now the moshav (time period of residence) of the Bnei Yisroel dwelling in Mitzrayim was four hundred and thirty shanah.

41. And it came to pass at the ketz (end) of the four hundred and thirty shanah, even the exact day it came to pass, that kol Tzivos Hashem went out from Eretz Mitzrayim.

42. It is a night of shimmurim (keepings, watchings, vigils) for Hashem to keep watch to bring them out from Eretz Mitzrayim; this is halailah hazeh unto Hashem; shimmurim (watchings, vigils) for kol Bnei Yisroel in their dorot.

43. And Hashem said unto Moshe and Aharon, This is the Chukkat HaPesach: there shall no ben nekhar eat thereof;

44. But every man’s eved that is bought for kesef, when thou hast given him bris milah, then shall he eat thereof.

45. A toshav and a sachir shall not eat thereof.

46. In bais echad shall it be eaten; thou shalt not carry forth any of the basar outside the bais; neither shall ye break a bone thereof [see Yochanan 19:36 OJBC].

47. Kol Adat Yisroel shall celebrate it.

48. And when a ger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Pesach unto Hashem, let all his zachar receive bris milah, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is native born in ha’aretz; for no arel (uncircumcised person) shall eat thereof.

49. Torah echad shall be to him that is native-born, and unto the ger that sojourneth among you.

50. Thus did kol Bnei Yisroel; as Hashem commanded Moshe and Aharon, so did they.

51. And it came to pass the very same day, that Hashem did bring the Bnei Yisroel out of Eretz Mitzrayim by their tzivos.