While still in Egypt, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron: "This month will be for you the first of months, the beginning of your year. Tell the whole community of Israel that on the tenth day each household must choose a lamb, one for every family. If a family is too small for a whole lamb, they may share with their nearest neighbor, based on what each person can eat. The lamb must be a year-old male without defect, taken from either sheep or goats.
Keep the lamb until the fourteenth day, when the entire community will slaughter their lambs at twilight. Then take some of the blood and put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes where the lamb is eaten. That same night, the lamb is to be roasted and eaten with bitter herbs and unleavened bread. Nothing must be left until morning; any remains must be burned. Eat it ready to depart—your cloak tucked in, sandals on your feet, and staff in your hand. This is the Lord's Passover.
"For on that night I will pass through Egypt and strike down every firstborn, both human and animal. I will bring judgment on all the gods of Egypt. But when I see the blood on your houses, I will pass over you. No plague will touch you."
The Lord commanded that this day be remembered forever. For seven days, they were to eat unleavened bread, removing all yeast from their homes. On the first and seventh day, they were to hold a sacred assembly and do no work except to prepare food. This Feast of Unleavened Bread was to remind them for generations that on this very day the Lord brought Israel out of Egypt.
Moses summoned the elders and told them: "Select your lambs, slaughter the Passover, take hyssop dipped in blood, and mark your doorframes. Do not leave your houses until morning. When the Lord passes through Egypt, He will see the blood and not allow the destroyer to strike you down. Keep this ceremony forever, and when your children ask what it means, tell them it is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, for He passed over our homes when He struck Egypt." The people bowed and worshiped, and they obeyed exactly as the Lord commanded.
At midnight, the Lord struck down all the firstborn in Egypt—from Pharaoh's firstborn to the prisoner's child, and even the livestock. There was loud wailing everywhere, for no house was without death. Pharaoh rose in the night and summoned Moses and Aaron: "Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go worship the Lord as you have asked. Take your flocks and herds, and bless me also."
The Egyptians urged the Israelites to leave quickly, fearing further death. So the people took their unleavened dough, carried in kneading troughs wrapped in clothing. As Moses had instructed, they asked the Egyptians for silver, gold, and clothing. The Lord made the Egyptians favor them, and they gave freely—so Israel plundered Egypt.
That very day, about six hundred thousand men, besides women and children, set out from Rameses to Succoth, with flocks, herds, and many others who joined them. They baked unleavened bread with the dough they carried, for they had no time to add yeast.
The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years, and on the very day that period ended, the Lord's divisions marched out. Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out, the Israelites were to keep vigil in honor of Him for all generations.
The Lord gave regulations for the Passover: No foreigner may eat it, unless a slave or foreigner living among them is circumcised. It must be eaten in one house, with no bones broken. The same law applied to native-born and foreigners who desired to join.
The Israelites obeyed everything the Lord commanded through Moses and Aaron. And on that day, the Lord brought His people out of Egypt by their divisions.