Unleavened Bread and Dedication of Firstborn to Commemorate the Rescue from Egypt
13 And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Consecrate to me every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the Israelites,[a] among humans[b] and among domestic animals;[c] it belongs to me.”[d] 3 And Moses said to the people, “Remember this day when you went out from Egypt, from a house of slaves, because with strength of hand Yahweh brought you out from here, and food with yeast will not be eaten. 4 Today you are going out in the month of Abib. 5 And when Yahweh brings you to the land of the Canaanites[e] and the Hittites[f] and the Amorites[g] and the Hivites[h] and the Jebusites[i]—which he swore to your ancestors[j] to give to you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you will perform this service in this month. 6 Seven days you will eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day will be a feast for Yahweh. 7 Unleavened bread will be eaten the seven days; food with yeast will not be seen for you; and yeast will not be seen for you in all your territory. 8 And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘This is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out from Egypt.’ 9 And it will be as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes so that the law of Yahweh will be in your mouth, that with a strong hand Yahweh brought you out from Egypt. 10 And you will keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.[k]
11 “And when Yahweh brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as he swore to you and to your ancestors,[l] and he gives it to you, 12 you will hand over every first offspring of a womb to Yahweh, and every first offspring dropped by a domestic animal that will belong to you, the males will be for Yahweh. 13 And every first offspring of a donkey you will redeem with small livestock, and if you will not redeem it, then you will break its neck, and every firstborn human among your sons you will redeem. 14 And when your son asks you in the future,[m] saying, ‘What is this?’ you will say to him, ‘With strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt, from a house of slaves. 15 And when Pharaoh was stubborn to release us, Yahweh killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from firstborn human to firstborn domestic animal. Therefore I am sacrificing to Yahweh every first offspring of a womb, the males, and every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ 16 And it will be as a sign on your hand and as symbolic ornaments between your eyes that with strength of hand Yahweh brought us out from Egypt.”
Summary of Travel
17 And when Pharaoh released the people, God did not lead them the way of the land of the Philistines, though it was nearer, because God said, “Lest the people change their mind when they see war and return to Egypt.” 18 So God led the people around by the way of the desert to the Red Sea,[n] and the Israelites[o] went up in battle array from the land of Egypt. 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph[p] had made the Israelites[q] solemnly swear an oath, saying, “God will surely attend to you, and you will take up my bones from here with you.” 20 And they set out from Succoth, and they encamped at Etham on the edge of the desert. 21 And Yahweh was going before them by day in a column of cloud to lead them on the way and by night in a column of fire to give light to them to go by day and night. 22 The column of cloud by day and the column of fire by night did not depart from before the people.
Footnotes
- Exodus 13:2 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Exodus 13:2 Hebrew “human”
- Exodus 13:2 Hebrew “animal”
- Exodus 13:2 Literally “to/for me it”
- Exodus 13:5 Hebrew “Canaanite”
- Exodus 13:5 Hebrew “Hittite”
- Exodus 13:5 Hebrew “Amorite”
- Exodus 13:5 Hebrew “Hivite”
- Exodus 13:5 Hebrew “Jebusite”
- Exodus 13:5 Or “fathers”
- Exodus 13:10 Literally “from days to days”
- Exodus 13:11 Or “fathers”
- Exodus 13:14 Literally “tomorrow”
- Exodus 13:18 Literally “sea of reed”
- Exodus 13:18 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
- Exodus 13:19 Hebrew “he”
- Exodus 13:19 Literally “sons/children of Israel”