The Passover

121 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, 2 Let this month be to you the first of months, the first month of the year. 3 Say to all the children of Israel when they are come together, In the tenth day of this month every man is to take a lamb, by the number of their fathers' families, a lamb for every family: 4 And if the lamb is more than enough for the family, let that family and its nearest neighbour have a lamb between them, taking into account the number of persons and how much food is needed for every man. 5 Let your lamb be without a mark, a male in its first year: you may take it from among the sheep or the goats: 6 Keep it till the fourteenth day of the same month, when everyone who is of the children of Israel is to put it to death between sundown and dark. 7 Then take some of the blood and put it on the two sides of the door and over the door of the house where the meal is to be taken. 8 And let your food that night be the flesh of the lamb, cooked with fire in the oven, together with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants. 9 Do not take it uncooked or cooked with boiling water, but let it be cooked in the oven; its head with its legs and its inside parts. 10 Do not keep any of it till the morning; anything which is not used is to be burned with fire. 11 And take your meal dressed as if for a journey, with your shoes on your feet and your sticks in your hands: take it quickly: it is the Lord's Passover. 12 For on that night I will go through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt: I am the Lord. 13 And the blood will be a sign on the houses where you are: when I see the blood I will go over you, and no evil will come on you for your destruction, when my hand is on the land of Egypt. 14 And this day is to be kept in your memories: you are to keep it as a feast to the Lord through all your generations, as an order for ever. 15 For seven days let your food be unleavened bread; from the first day no leaven is to be seen in your houses: whoever takes bread with leaven in it, from the first till the seventh day, will be cut off from Israel. 16 And on the first day there is to be a holy meeting and on the seventh day a holy meeting; no sort of work may be done on those days but only to make ready what is necessary for everyone's food. 17 So keep the feast of unleavened bread; for on this very day I have taken your armies out of the land of Egypt: this day, then, is to be kept through all your generations by an order for ever. 18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day, let your food be unleavened bread till the evening of the twenty-first day of the month. 19 For seven days no leaven is to be seen in your houses: for whoever takes bread which is leavened will be cut off from the people of Israel, if he is from another country or if he is an Israelite by birth. 20 Take nothing which has leaven in it; wherever you are living let your food be unleavened cakes.

21 Then Moses sent for the chiefs of Israel, and said to them, See that lambs are marked out for yourselves and your families, and let the Passover lamb be put to death. 22 And take some hyssop and put it in the blood in the basin, touching the two sides and the top of the doorway with the blood from the basin; and let not one of you go out of his house till the morning. 23 For the Lord will go through the land, sending death on the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the two sides and the top of the door, the Lord will go over your door and will not let death come in for your destruction. 24 And you are to keep this as an order to you and to your sons for ever. 25 And when you come into the land which the Lord will make yours, as he gave his word, you are to keep this act of worship. 26 And when your children say to you, What is the reason of this act of worship? 27 Then you will say, This is the offering of the Lord's Passover; for he went over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he sent death on the Egyptians, and kept our families safe. And the people gave worship with bent heads. 28 And the children of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had given orders to Moses and Aaron, so they did.

The Death of the Firstborn

29 And in the middle of the night the Lord sent death on every first male child in the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power to the child of the prisoner in the prison; and the first births of all the cattle. 30 Then Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and a great cry went up from Egypt; for there was not a house where someone was not dead. 31 And he sent for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Get up and go out from among my people, you and the children of Israel; go and give worship to the Lord as you have said. 32 And take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone; and give me your blessing. 33 And the Egyptians were forcing the people on, to get them out of the land quickly; for they said, We are all dead men. 34 And the people took their bread-paste before it was leavened, putting their basins in their clothing on their backs. 35 And the children of Israel had done as Moses had said; and they got from the Egyptians ornaments of silver and of gold, and clothing: 36 And the Lord had given the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians so that they gave them whatever was requested. So they took away all their goods from the Egyptians.

The Israelites Leave Egypt

37 And the children of Israel made the journey from Rameses to Succoth; there were about six hundred thousand men on foot, as well as children. 38 And a mixed band of people went with them; and flocks and herds in great numbers. 39 And they made unleavened cakes from the paste which they had taken out of Egypt; it was not leavened, for they had been sent out of Egypt so quickly, that they had no time to make any food ready. 40 Now the children of Israel had been living in Egypt for four hundred and thirty years. 41 And at the end of four hundred and thirty years, to the very day, all the armies of the Lord went out of the land of Egypt. 42 It is a watch-night before the Lord who took them out of the land of Egypt: this same night is a watch-night to the Lord for all the children of Israel, through all their generations.

43 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the law of the Passover: no man who is not an Israelite is to take of it: 44 But every man's servant, whom he has got for money, may take of it, when he has had circumcision. 45 A man from a strange country living among you, and a servant working for payment, may not take part in it. 46 It is to be taken in one house; not a bit of the flesh is to be taken out of the house, and no bone of it may be broken. 47 All Israel is to keep the feast. 48 And if a man from another country is living with you, and has a desire to keep the Passover to the Lord, let all the males of his family undergo circumcision, and then let him come near and keep it; for he will then be as one of your people; but no one without circumcision may keep it. 49 The law is the same for him who is an Israelite by birth and for the man from a strange country who is living with you. 50 So the children of Israel did as the Lord gave orders to Moses and Aaron. 51 And on that very day the Lord took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

The Consecration of the Firstborn

131 And the Lord said to Moses, 2 Let the first male child of every mother among the children of Israel be kept holy for me, even the first male birth among man or beast; for it is mine. 3 And Moses said to the people, Let this day, on which you came out of Egypt, out of your prison-house, be kept for ever in memory; for by the strength of his hand the Lord has taken you out from this place; let no leavened bread be used. 4 On this day, in the month Abib, you are going out. 5 And it will be that, when the Lord takes you into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, the land which he made an oath to your fathers that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you will do this act of worship in this month. 6 For seven days let your food be unleavened cakes; and on the seventh day there is to be a feast to the Lord. 7 Unleavened cakes are to be your food through all the seven days; let no leavened bread be seen among you, or any leaven, in any part of your land. 8 And you will say to your son in that day, It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt. 9 And this will be for a sign to you on your hand and for a mark on your brow, so that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth: for with a strong hand the Lord took you out of Egypt. 10 So let this order be kept, at the right time, from year to year.

11 And when the Lord takes you into the land of Canaan, as he made his oath to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, 12 You are to put on one side for the Lord every mother's first male child, the first-fruit of her body, and the first young one of every beast; every male is holy to the Lord. 13 And for the young of an ass you may give a lamb in payment, or if you will not make payment for it, its neck is to be broken; but for all the first sons among your children, let payment be made. 14 And when your son says to you in time to come, What is the reason for this? say to him, By the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt, out of the prison-house: 15 And when Pharaoh made his heart hard and would not let us go, the Lord sent death on all the first sons in Egypt, of man and of beast: and so every first male who comes to birth is offered to the Lord; but for all the first of my sons I give a price. 16 And this will be for a sign on your hand and for a mark on your brow: for by the strength of his hand the Lord took us out of Egypt.

The Pillar of Cloud and the Pillar of Fire

17 Now after Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not take them through the land of the Philistines, though that was near: for God said, If the people see war, they may have a change of heart and go back to Egypt. 18 But God took the people round by the waste land near the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up in fighting order out of the land of Egypt. 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph had made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly keep you in mind; and you are to take my bones away with you. 20 Then they went on their journey from Succoth, and put up their tents in Etham at the edge of the waste land. 21 And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, guiding them on their way; and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light: so that they were able to go on day and night: 22 The pillar of cloud went ever before them by day, and the pillar of fire by night.

The Demand for a Sign

161 And the Pharisees and Sadducees came and, testing him, made a request to him to give them a sign from heaven. 2 But in answer he said to them, At nightfall you say, The weather will be good, for the sky is red. 3 And in the morning, The weather will be bad today, for the sky is red and angry. You are able to see the face of heaven, but not the signs of the times. 4 An evil and false generation is searching after a sign; and no sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah. And he went away from them.

The Leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees

5 And when the disciples came to the other side they had not taken thought to get bread. 6 And Jesus said to them, Take care to have nothing to do with the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees. 7 And they were reasoning among themselves, saying, We took no bread. 8 And Jesus, seeing it, said, O you of little faith, why are you reasoning among yourselves, because you have no bread? 9 Do you still not see, or keep in mind the five cakes of bread of the five thousand, and the number of baskets you took up? 10 Or the seven cakes of bread of the four thousand, and the number of baskets you took up? 11 How is it that you do not see that I was not talking to you about bread, but about keeping away from the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees? 12 Then they saw that it was not the leaven of bread which he had in mind, but the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

Peter's Confession

13 Now when Jesus had come into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he said, questioning his disciples, Who do men say that the Son of man is? 14 And they said, Some say, John the Baptist; some, Elijah; and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. 15 He says to them, But who do you say that I am? 16 And Simon Peter made answer and said, You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. 17 And Jesus made answer and said to him, A blessing on you, Simon Bar-jonah: because this knowledge has not come to you from flesh and blood, but from my Father in heaven. 18 And I say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock will my church be based, and the doors of hell will not overcome it. 19 I will give to you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatever is fixed by you on earth will be fixed in heaven: and whatever you make free on earth will be made free in heaven. 20 Then he gave orders to the disciples to give no man word that he was the Christ.

Jesus Foretells His Death

21 From that time Jesus went on to make clear to his disciples how he would have to go up to Jerusalem, and undergo much at the hands of those in authority and the chief priests and scribes, and be put to death, and the third day come again from the dead. 22 And Peter, protesting, said to him, Be it far from you, Lord; it is impossible that this will come about. 23 But he, turning to Peter, said, Get out of my way, Satan: you are a danger to me because your mind is not on the things of God, but on the things of men.

24 Then Jesus said to his disciples, If any man would come after me, let him give up all, and take up his cross, and come after me. 25 Because whoever has a desire to keep his life safe will have it taken from him; but whoever gives up his life because of me, will have it given back to him. 26 For what profit has a man, if he gets all the world with the loss of his life? or what will a man give in exchange for his life? 27 For the Son of man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he will give to every man the reward of his works. 28 Truly I say to you, There are some of those here who will not have a taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.