Study Desk

Now go and tell my people to ask their Egyptian neighbors for gold and silver jewelry.

But there won't be any need for the Israelites to cry. Things will be so quiet that not even a dog will be heard barking. Then you Egyptians will know that the Lord is good to the Israelites, even while he punishes you.

This month is to be the first month of the year for you.

Tell the people of Israel that on the tenth day of this month the head of each family must choose a lamb or a young goat for his family to eat.

If any family is too small to eat the whole animal, they must share it with their next-door neighbors. Choose either a sheep or a goat, but it must be a one-year-old male that has nothing wrong with it. And it must be large enough for everyone to have some of the meat.

For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. And on the first of these seven days, you must remove all yeast from your homes. If you eat anything made with yeast during this festival, you will no longer be part of Israel.

Meet together for worship on the first and seventh days of the festival. The only work you are allowed to do on either of these two days is that of preparing the bread.

Moses called the leaders of Israel together and said: Each family is to pick out a sheep and kill it for Passover.

During the night the king sent for Moses and Aaron and told them, "Get your people out of my country and leave us alone! Go and worship the Lord , as you have asked.

The Israelites had already done what Moses had told them to do. They had gone to their Egyptian neighbors and asked for gold and silver and for clothes.

The Lord had made the Egyptians friendly toward the people of Israel, and they gave them whatever they asked for. In this way they carried away the wealth of the Egyptians when they left Egypt.

On that night the Lord kept watch for them, and on this same night each year Israel will always keep watch in honor of the Lord .

The Lord gave Moses and Aaron the following instructions for celebrating Passover: No one except Israelites may eat the Passover meal.

but no foreigners who work for you are allowed to have any.

For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast, and on the seventh day you are to celebrate a festival in honor of the Lord .

So he led them around through the desert and toward the Red Sea. The Israelites left Egypt, prepared for battle.

I will make the king stubborn again, and he will try to catch you. Then I will destroy him and his army. People everywhere will praise me for my victory, and the Egyptians will know that I really am the Lord . The Israelites obeyed the Lord and camped where he told them.

When the Israelites saw the king coming with his army, they were frightened and begged the Lord for help.

The Lord will fight for you, and you won't have to do a thing."

The Lord said to Moses, "Why do you keep calling out to me for help? Tell the Israelites to move forward.