“His word is in my heart like a fire, a fire shut up in my bones.” Jeremiah 20:9
When They Won’t Listen
Imagine seeing a friend driving toward a bridge that is out. You wave your arms. You shout. You call. You do everything you can to stop him. But instead of listening, he laughs at you. Then he tells others you are crazy. You would not keep warning him because you like being ignored. You would continue to warn him because you love him.
The prophet Jeremiah knew what it was like to have people ignore his warning. God had given him a message for his people. Danger was coming. Their sin was not harmless. Their idolatry, unbelief, and refusal to listen to the Lord were leading them toward destruction. God sent Jeremiah to turn them from sin and turn them back to him. But they would not listen.
They mocked Jeremiah. They hated his message. They beat him and put him in stocks. Jeremiah was exhausted and heartbroken. His grief was not just because people mistreated him. His grief came from love. He could see the danger clearly, but the people he loved were blind to it. At one point, Jeremiah wanted to stop speaking. But he could not. God’s Word was like a fire in his bones.
In Jeremiah’s suffering, we hear an echo of someone greater. Jesus came as the perfect Prophet, the very Word of God in human flesh. He warned sinners. He exposed hypocrisy. He called people to repentance. He wept over Jerusalem because they did not recognize the time of God’s coming.
And they rejected him, too. They mocked him. They beat him. They nailed him to a cross. But Jesus did more than warn us about judgment. He stepped under the judgment our sins deserved. He died for our stubbornness, blindness, unbelief, and sin. Then he rose to give us forgiveness, life, and certain deliverance.
God does not give up on sinners. Through his Word calls us to turn from sin and turn to him. He drives us to Christ, where mercy is full and free. He held on to Jeremiah. He holds on to you.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank you for warning me in love and saving me by grace. Keep your Word burning in my heart. Give me repentant faith, patient love for others, and confidence in your resurrection victory. Amen.
Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:2-5
A Cure for That Itch
Mosquito bites. Athlete’s Foot. Poison Ivy. If you’ve ever had to deal with these itchy ailments, you know they are no fun and very hard to get rid of. You try this lotion and that spray, but the itch doesn’t seem to go away. Time and patience are about the only answers that make the itch go away.
As the apostle Paul wrote these last words to his dear friend Timothy, Paul was preparing Timothy to deal with a situation far worse than bug bites and skin rashes. False teachings, lies about the faith and salvation, and personal religious opinions were infesting and infecting the hearts of people. Such things go beyond irritation; they hurt and kill saving faith. Paul knew that a time was coming when people would no longer desire to hear what God has to say in the Bible.
Paul’s words are quite prophetic for us since we are still living in similar times. Some books promote Jesus as a mere teacher of moral living. Others claim that Jesus was not and never claimed to be God. Why all the promotion of these and many other false teachings? Because people who don’t want to believe the Bible have an itch—an itch against God. They don’t want to feel accountable to God or live their lives according to his Word. So, the only way to calm that itch is to reduce God to nothing more than a lucky rabbit’s foot or a curse word.
What is the salve for this itch? “Preach the Word!” the apostle Paul encourages. Preach and proclaim the Bible—the whole Bible. Let God work through the Word to do the rebuking and correcting. Let God set the record straight. And even if people will not listen, God still calls us to be faithful to the Word and proclaim it “in season and out of season.” May God strengthen us to do this always!
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me to always faithfully proclaim your word for your Word is truth and life. Amen.
When [Jesus] saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Matthew 9:36
Compassion
Jesus was a man in motion. He healed a paralytic, a sick woman, and two blind men. He raised another man’s daughter from the dead. He called men to be his disciples. The Gospel of Matthew tells us that, “Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness.”
Why this activity, this urgency? Because the people were harassed by false prophets and the forces of evil. Because they were harassed by the guilt of their own sin and the fear of eternal death. And by themselves, they were helpless to do anything about it.
Sound familiar? Aren’t we tempted by false prophets who promise a way to heaven other than through Christ? Aren’t we besieged by forces of evil that want to drag us away into the deadly sins of laziness, selfishness, greed, pornography, adultery, idolatry, and the like? Don’t we get depressed by our own sinfulness and guilt and wonder whether heaven can really be our home? And by ourselves, we are helpless to do anything about it.
Thankfully, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who has come to guide, strengthen, and protect us. He lived the perfect life we couldn’t. He gave his life, taking the curse for all our sins. He moved beyond death and the grave, rising on Easter Sunday morning, and then returned to his throne in heaven. He assures us that his victory is ours. Because of all he has done, we are fully forgiven and headed for heaven.
He did all this because of his compassion. Compassion has been defined as love in motion. That’s why Jesus was a man on the move. His love did not allow him to see us in our need and leave us there. He took action. Aren’t you glad he did?
Prayer:
Dear Jesus, I am amazed by your love and compassion. Thank you for taking action when I needed you to. Amen.
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22 Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days in the wilderness but found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they were not able to drink the waters of Marah, because they were bitter. That is why they named the place Marah. [1]24 The people grumbled against Moses, and they said, “What will we drink?” 25 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him some wood. Moses threw it into the water, and the water became fit to drink.
There the Lord made a decree and ruling for them, and there he tested them. 26 So he said, “If only you would listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his eyes, and pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his regulations, I would not place on you any of the diseases that I placed on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.”
27 Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.
The Lord Provides Manna and Quail
Exodus 16
1 On the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt, the entire Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, [2] which is between Elim and Sinai. 2 The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat around pots of meat and ate as much food as we wanted, but now you have brought us out into this wilderness to have this whole community die of hunger.”
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Watch what I will do. I will rain down bread from heaven for you, and the people will go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test whether they will follow my instructions or not. 5 On the sixth day they will prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “At evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the Glory of the Lord, because he has heard your constant grumbling against the Lord. Who are we that you should grumble against us?”
8 Moses said, “Now the Lord will give you meat to eat in the evening and as much bread as you want in the morning, because the Lord has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”
9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Tell the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 As Aaron spoke to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and suddenly the Glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud.
11 The Lord spoke to Moses: 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Say to them, ‘At evening you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
13 So in the evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning a layer of dew surrounded the camp. 14 When the layer of dew was gone, there were thin flakes on the surface of the wilderness, thin as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” [3] because they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “This is the bread which the Lord has given to you as food to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: All of them are to gather as much of it as they need to eat. You are to take an omer [4] per person based on the number of people each of you has in your tents.”
17 The Israelites did this, and some gathered more, some less. 18 When they measured it with an omer, the one who gathered more did not have too much, and the one who gathered less did not have too little. All of them gathered as much as they needed to eat. 19 Moses said to them, “No one is to leave any of it until morning.” 20 However, they did not listen to Moses. Some of them left part of it until morning, and it became full of worms and stank. So Moses was angry with them.
21 They gathered it each morning. All of them gathered as much as they needed to eat. When the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers for each person, and all the leaders of the community came and reported to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: Tomorrow is a complete rest, a holy sabbath [5] to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, but set aside for yourselves all the rest of it to be kept until morning.”
24 So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Today eat whatever is left over, for today is a sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find any around the camp. [6]26 Six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”
27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather it, but they did not find any. 28 The Lord said to Moses, “How long will you people refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions? 29 Look, the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days’ worth of bread. All of you are to stay where you are. None of you are to leave your places on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.
31 The house of Israel called it manna. [7] It looked like white coriander seed, and it tasted like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: A full omer [8] of it is to be kept throughout your generations so that they may see the bread which I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.”
33 Moses said to Aaron, “Take a container, and put a full omer of manna in it. Place it before the Lord, to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 To obey the Lord’s command to Moses, Aaron placed an omer before the Testimony, [9] to be preserved. 35 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to a land that was inhabited. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer, by the way, is one-tenth of an ephah.)
Footnotes
Exodus 15:23 Marah means bitter.
Exodus 16:1 Sin is a geographic name like Sinai. It does not refer to Israel’s sin.
Exodus 16:15 The Hebrew for What is it? sounds like the word for manna.
Exodus 16:16 An omer is a container that holds approximately two quarts. Since the term here means both the container and the amount that it holds, and an omer is compared with an ephah, another ancient measurement, the translation retains the Hebrew term rather than converting it to a present-day measurement. See verse 36.
Exodus 16:23 The Hebrew word shabbat means a day of rest. Here the Hebrew reads a shabbaton, a holy shabbat to the Lord.
Exodus 16:25 Literally in the field
Exodus 16:31 Manna sounds like the Hebrew for What is it? See verse 15.
Exodus 16:32 An omer is a container that holds about two quarts. See the note on verse 16.
Exodus 16:34 The Testimony is another name for the Ten Commandments and for the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the Ten Commandments.
1 Then the Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to camp by the sea, facing Baal Zephon. 3 Then Pharaoh will say about the Israelites, ‘They are wandering around in the land. The wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them, and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and his entire army. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” So that is what the Israelites did.
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials had a change of heart concerning the people. They said, “What have we done? We have let Israel go! They will not serve us anymore!” 6 So Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his troops with him. 7 He also took six hundred of the best chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 The Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites. The Israelites were going out defiantly. [1]9 The Egyptians pursued them. All the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his charioteers, [2] and his army caught up with them where they were camping by the sea beside Pi Hahiroth, which faces Baal Zephon.
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians marching after them. The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the Lord. 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Wasn’t this what we said to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone. Let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
13 Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm, and see the salvation from the Lord, which he will perform for you today. For the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again. 14 The Lord will fight for you. You must wait quietly.”
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to set out. 16 As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide the sea so that the Israelites can go through the middle of the sea on dry ground. 17 I myself will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go into the sea after them, and I will gain glory through Pharaoh and his entire army, through his chariots and his charioteers. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord, when I have gained glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his charioteers.”
19 Then the Angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them. 20 It went between the Egyptian forces and the Israelite forces. The cloud was dark on one side, but it lit up the night on the other. Neither group approached the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all night long the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned the sea into dry land. The waters were divided. 22 The Israelites went into the middle of the sea on dry ground. The waters were like a wall for them on their right and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all of Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his charioteers went after them into the middle of the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night, the Lord looked down on the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud. Then he confused the Egyptian forces. 25 He jammed [3] their chariot wheels, and they had difficulty driving them. The Egyptians said, “We must flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt!”
26 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, and the waters will come back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their charioteers.” 27 So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal place. While the Egyptians were fleeing from it, the Lord threw the Egyptians into the middle of the sea. 28 The waters came back and covered the chariots and the charioteers, the entire army of Pharaoh that went into the sea after the Israelites. Not even one of them survived.
29 But the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry land, and the waters were like a wall for them on their right and on their left. 30 On that day the Lord saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 Israel saw the mighty hand which the Lord put into action against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord and believed in the Lord and in Moses, his servant.
The Song of Moses and Miriam
Exodus 15
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said:
I will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 The Lord [4] is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. 3 The Lord is a warrior. The Lord is his name. 4 He has cast Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea. His elite officers are drowned in the Red Sea. 5 The deep waters covered them. They sank down to the depths like a stone. 6 Lord, your right hand is glorious in power. Lord, your right hand has shattered the enemy. 7 In your great majesty you overthrew those who opposed you. You sent out your burning anger. It consumed them like stubble. 8 At the blast from your nostrils the waters piled up. The flowing waters stood up like a dam. The deep waters became solid in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, “I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. I will do whatever I want with them. I will draw my sword, and my hand will destroy them.” 10 But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 Lord, who is like you among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, awesome in praise, working wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed them. 13 In your mercy you will lead the people that you have redeemed. In your strength you will guide them to your holy pastureland. [5] 14 The nations will hear and tremble. Anguish will grip the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified. Trembling will seize the leaders of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away in despair. 16 Terror and dread will fall upon them. By the great power of your arm they will be as still as stone until your people pass by, O Lord, until the people whom you have purchased pass by. 17 You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain that belongs to you, the place, O Lord, that you have made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established. 18 The Lord will reign forever and ever.
19 When Pharaoh’s horses along with his chariots and charioteers went into the sea, the Lord brought the waters of the sea back on them, but the Israelites walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.
20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a hand drum, and all the women followed her with drums and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them,
Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.
Footnotes
Exodus 14:8 Literally with an upraised hand
Exodus 14:9 At this point of military history, the Hebrew word often translated horsemen very likely refers to chariot crews, not cavalry. It seems cavalry was not common before the Assyrian period.
Exodus 14:25 The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek and Syriac versions read bound up or jammed. The Hebrew reads removed.
Exodus 15:2 The divine name Yahweh here appears in the shortened form Yah.
37 The Israelites set out from Rameses to Sukkoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides their families. 38 A mixed group of non-Israelites also went up along with them, as well as a large amount of livestock, both flocks and herds. 39 The Israelites baked the dough which they had brought out of Egypt into unleavened loaves, for it had not been leavened, because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not delay. They also had not prepared any provisions for themselves.
40 The amount of time that the Israelites lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years. 41 At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the very day, all of the Lord’s divisions went out from the land of Egypt. 42 It was a night that the Lord kept vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This same night is dedicated to the Lord. All the Israelites are to keep vigil throughout their generations.
Passover Restrictions
43 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the regulation concerning the Passover: No foreigner may eat it. 44 But any slave whom you have purchased may eat it if you circumcise him. 45 A temporary resident or a hired servant may not eat it. 46 It must be eaten inside one house. You are not to carry any of the meat outside of the house. Do not break any of its bones. 47 The whole community of Israel shall do this. 48 If a resident alien among you wants to observe the Passover to the Lord, every male in his household must be circumcised. Then he may take part in it. He will be treated like a native-born of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. 49 The same law will apply to the native-born and to the alien who resides among you.” 50 So that is what all the Israelites did. They did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 That same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, lined up by their divisions.
Instructions for Remembering the Passover
Exodus 13
1 The Lord spoke to Moses: 2 “Set apart all the firstborn for me, the firstborn of every mother [1] among the Israelites, both people and animals. The firstborn belongs to me.”
3 Then Moses said this to the people:
Remember this day when you came out of Egypt, where you were slaves. [2] For by the strength of his hand the Lord brought you out from there. Nothing with leaven [3] may be eaten. 4 Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving. 5 So when the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites—the land he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to perform this ceremony during this month: 6 Seven days you must eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there is to be a festival to the Lord. 7 Unleavened bread must be eaten throughout the seven days. No leavened bread is to be seen among you. No yeast is to be seen among you, anywhere in your entire territory. 8 On that day you are to explain this to your son, “It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.” 9 This will serve as a sign for you on your wrist and a reminder on your forehead [4] so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a mighty hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. 10 You must keep this regulation at its appointed time from year to year.
11 When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites—just as he swore to you and to your fathers—and gives it to you, 12 then you must dedicate the firstborn of every mother to the Lord. Every firstborn of your livestock, the ones that are males, will belong to the Lord. 13 Every firstborn donkey you are to redeem with a lamb. But if you do not want to redeem it, then you are to break its neck. However, you must redeem all the firstborn among your sons.
14 In the future, when your son asks you, “What is this about?” you will say to him, “By the strength of his hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, where we were slaves. 15 When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, the firstborn of people and animals. That is why I sacrifice to the Lord the firstborn of every mother, the males, but I redeem every firstborn of my sons.” 16 It will serve as a sign on your wrist and a symbol on your forehead. For by the strength of his hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.
Pillars of Cloud and Fire
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by the way that goes to the land of the Philistines, although it was more direct, for God said, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people by the way that goes through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. [5] The Israelites went up from the land of Egypt in battle formation.
19 Moses also took the bones of Joseph with him, because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. Joseph had said, “God will surely come to your aid. Then you must bring up my bones with you from Egypt.” 20 They set out from Sukkoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the wilderness. 21 The Lord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on their way and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light. In this way they could travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night never left its place in front of the people.
Footnotes
Exodus 13:2 Literally the opener of every womb. Jewish tradition, however, focuses more on the firstborn sons of fathers. This verse seems to be a general statement of a principle, for which details are given later. It is not clear how the principle was to be applied to flocks.
Exodus 13:3 Literally the house of slaves
Exodus 13:3 Yeast is the most common kind of leaven, but the terms are not synonymous. Yeast is an organism. Leaven is any agent that causes bread to rise. Leaven in the Bible was frequently a clump of fermented dough that had been reserved.
Exodus 13:9 Since the ceremony could not be literally worn on the wrist or forehead, this seems to mean that the ceremony would be a visual aid in the same way that objects worn on the wrist or forehead would be (Deuteronomy 6:8).
Exodus 13:18 The Hebrew name for the sea, Yam Suf, seems to mean Sea of Reeds and includes the present Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez west of the Sinai Peninsula, and the Gulf of Aqaba east of the Sinai Peninsula.
Instructions for the Passover and the Festival of Unleavened Bread
1 The Lord told Moses and Aaron this in the land of Egypt: [1]
2 This month is to be the beginning of your calendar. It is to be the first month of the year for you. 3 Tell the entire Israelite community that on the tenth day of this month, they are to take a lamb or a young goat [2] for themselves, according to their fathers’ households, one lamb per household. 4 But if the household is too small for a whole lamb, then that person and his neighbor next door to him must select one, based on the number of people. Determine what size lamb is needed according to how much each person will eat.
5 Your lamb must be unblemished, a year-old male. You may take it from the sheep or the goats. 6 You are to keep it until the fourteenth day of this month. Then the whole assembly of the Israelite community is to slaughter the lambs at sunset. [3]7 They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses where they eat the lamb. 8 That night they shall eat the meat that has been roasted over a fire, along with unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs. 9 Do not eat it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over a fire—with its head, its legs, and its internal organs. 10 You shall not leave any of it until the morning. Whatever remains until the morning, you shall burn in the fire. 11 This is how you are to eat it: with your cloak tucked into your belt ready for travel, [4] your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. Eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Passover.
12 For on that night I will pass through the land of Egypt. I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both people and animals. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment. I am the Lord. 13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. There will be no plague among you to destroy you when I strike down the land of Egypt.
14 This day shall be a memorial for you, and you are to celebrate it as a festival to the Lord. Throughout your generations you must celebrate it as a permanent regulation. 15 For seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you must be sure to remove all yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything leavened from the first day until the seventh day will be cut off from Israel. 16 On the first day you are to have a holy convocation; also on the seventh day there is to be a holy convocation. You shall not do any work, except to prepare what everybody needs to eat. That is all you may do.
17 You shall observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because on this very day I brought your divisions out from the land of Egypt. You shall observe this day throughout your generations as a permanent regulation. 18 In the first month, you shall eat unleavened bread from the evening of the fourteenth day of the month until the evening of the twenty-first day of the month. 19 No yeast is to be found in your houses for seven days, for whoever eats something leavened must be cut off from the Israelite community, whether a foreigner or native-born of the land. 20 You shall not eat anything leavened. You shall eat unleavened bread in every place you live.
21 Then Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and take lambs for yourselves according to your family size, and slaughter the Passover lamb. 22 You shall take a bundle of hyssop, dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and paint the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood that is in the basin. None of you are to go out of the door of your house until morning. 23 When the Lord passes through to strike Egypt and sees the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and will not allow the destroyer to enter your houses to strike you.
24 “You shall observe these instructions as a perpetual regulation for you and your descendants. 25 When you enter the land that the Lord will give you just as he said he would, you shall observe this ceremony. 26 So when your children ask you, ‘What does this ceremony mean to you?’ 27 you will say, ‘It is the sacrifice of the Passover to the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt. When he struck the Egyptians, he spared our houses.’”
The people bowed down and worshipped. 28 The Israelites went and did all this. They did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
The Exodus
29 At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sat on his throne, to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon, even all the firstborn of the livestock. 30 During the night Pharaoh got up—he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians—and there was a loud outcry in Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not someone dead. 31 Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron that night and said, “Get up, get away from my people! Both you and the Israelites, go, serve the Lord, as you have said! 32 Take also your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and go! But also bless me!”
33 The Egyptians urged the people to leave the land quickly, for the Egyptians said, “We are all going to die!” 34 The Israelites took their dough before it was leavened. They carried their kneading bowls, which were wrapped in their clothing, on their shoulders. 35 The Israelites did just as Moses had said, and they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver, articles of gold, and clothing. 36 The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians so that they let the Israelites have what they asked for. In this way they plundered the Egyptians.
Footnotes
Exodus 12:1 Throughout the translation, long speeches, sets of instructions, and oracles are treated as single documents, not as sets of quotations. Such documents are not set off by quotation marks. Within these documents, regular rules for quotation marks apply.
Exodus 12:3 One Hebrew word means both lamb and kid.
Exodus 12:6 Literally between the evenings, very likely between sunset and darkness
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have made his heart unyielding, and his officials’ hearts too, so that I may perform these signs of mine in their midst, 2 and so that you may tell your children and your grandchildren how harshly I dealt with Egypt and about my signs which I did among them. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”
3 Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said to him, “This is what the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, says: How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go so that they may serve me. 4 But if you refuse to let my people go, watch out, because tomorrow I will bring locusts into your territory. 5 They will cover the surface of the ground so that no one will be able to see the ground. The locusts will eat what little you have left after the hail. They will also eat every tree that you have growing in the field. 6 Your houses, your officials’ houses, and every Egyptian’s house will be filled with them, something neither your fathers nor your fathers’ fathers have seen, from the day that they settled in this land up to this day.” Then he turned and went out from Pharaoh.
7 Pharaoh’s officials said to him, “How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the men go so that they may serve the Lord, their God. Do you not yet realize that Egypt is ruined?”
8 So Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, “Go, serve the Lord your God. But who exactly would be going?”
9 Moses said, “We will go with our young and old, with our sons and daughters. We will go with our flocks and herds, for we are celebrating a festival to the Lord.”
10 But he said to them, “May the Lord be with you if I would ever let you and your families go! I see you are determined to do evil. 11 No! The men may go and serve the Lord, for that is what you have been asking for!” Then they were driven out from Pharaoh’s presence.
12 So the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt so that locusts come up over the land and eat every plant in the land, everything left by the hail.”
13 Moses stretched out his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord made an east wind blow over the land all that day and all through the night. When morning came, the east wind had brought the locusts. 14 The locusts came up over the entire land of Egypt and settled down in the entire territory of Egypt. There had never been such a large number of locusts before, and there would never be again. 15 They covered the surface of the ground so completely that the land was dark. They ate every plant of the land and all the fruit of the trees—everything left after the hail. Nothing green was left on the trees or on the plants in the field throughout the entire land of Egypt.
16 Then Pharaoh quickly summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you. 17 Now please forgive my sin once more, and plead to the Lord your God so that he may also remove this death from me.”
18 So Moses went out from Pharaoh and pleaded with the Lord. 19 The Lord changed the wind to a very strong west wind. That wind lifted up the locusts and drove them into the Red Sea. Not one locust remained in the entire territory of Egypt. 20 But the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard, and he did not let the Israelites go.
The Ninth Plague: Darkness
21 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward the sky, so that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, darkness that can be felt.” 22 Moses stretched out his hand toward the sky, and there was a thick darkness in the entire land of Egypt for three days. 23 No one could see anyone else, and for three days none of them moved from where they were. Yet all the Israelites had light where they lived.
24 Pharaoh called to Moses and said, “Go, serve the Lord. Even your families may also go with you. But you must leave your flocks and herds behind.”
25 But Moses said, “You must also let us take sacrifices with us and burnt offerings to present to the Lord our God. 26 Our livestock must also go with us. Not a hoof is to be left behind, for we must take some of them to serve the Lord our God. We will not know, however, what we will need to serve the Lord until we get there.”
27 But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he would not let them go. 28 Pharaoh said to Moses, “Get out of my sight! Make sure you do not see my face again, for on the day you see my face, you will die!”
29 Moses said, “Just as you have spoken: I will never see your face again.”
The Tenth Plague: The Death of the Firstborn
Exodus 11
1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will bring one more plague on Pharaoh and on Egypt. After that, he will let you go from here. When he lets you go, he will certainly drive you completely out of here. 2 Now tell the people that both the men and the women are to ask their neighbors for articles of silver and gold.” 3 (The Lord had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Even the man Moses was highly regarded in the land of Egypt in the sight of Pharaoh’s officials and the people.)
4 So Moses said, “This is what the Lord says. About midnight I will go throughout Egypt, 5 and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh, who sits on his throne, to the firstborn of the female slave who is behind the hand mill, even all the firstborn of the livestock. 6 There will be a loud outcry in the entire land of Egypt, unlike anything that happened before or anything that will take place again. 7 But among all the Israelites, not a dog will bark [1] at a person or animal, so that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel. 8 All these officials of yours will come and bow down to me, saying, ‘Get out, you and all the people who follow you!’ After that, I will leave.” Then Moses, hot with anger, went out from Pharaoh.
9 The Lord said to Moses, “Pharaoh will not listen to you so that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.” 10 Moses and Aaron performed all these wonders before Pharaoh, but the Lord made Pharaoh’s heart hard, and he did not let the Israelites go out of his land.
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