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Old Testament Reading -The First Passover

¹Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ²“From now on, this month will be the first and most important of the entire year. ^3-4Annually, on the tenth day of this month (announce this to all the people of Israel) each family shall get a lamb^a (or, if a family is small, let it share the lamb with another small family in the neighborhood; whether to share in this way depends on the size of the families). ⁵This animal shall be a year-old male, either a sheep or a goat, without any defects.

⁶“On the evening of the fourteenth day of this month, all these lambs shall be killed, ⁷and their blood shall be placed on the two side-frames of the door of every home and on the panel above the door. Use the blood of the lamb eaten in that home. ⁸Everyone shall eat roast lamb that night, with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹The meat must not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted, including the head, legs, heart, and liver.^{b 10}Don’t eat any of it the next day; if all is not eaten that night, burn what is left.

¹¹“Eat it with your traveling clothes on, prepared for a long journey, wearing your walking shoes and carrying your walking sticks in your hands; eat it hurriedly. This observance shall be called the Lord’s Passover. ¹² For I will pass through the land of Egypt tonight and kill all the oldest sons and firstborn male animals in all the land of Egypt, and execute judgment upon all the gods of Egypt — for I am Jehovah. ¹³The blood you have placed on the doorposts will be proof that you obey me, and when I see the blood I will pass over you and I will not destroy your firstborn children when I smite the land of Egypt.

¹⁴“You shall celebrate this event each year (this is a permanent law) to remind you of this fatal night.

1. The Hebrew word here translated “lamb” can also mean “kid”—a baby goat.
2. Literally, “inner parts.”