Êxodo 13

Firstborn and unleavened bread

¹The LORD said to Moses, ²“Set apart as holy to me every firstborn among the Israelites, each one that comes first from its mother’s womb, human and animal alike. It belongs to me.” ³Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, the day you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. The LORD brought you out of this place by the strength of his hand. No leavened bread may be eaten. ⁴You are going out today, in the month of Abib. ⁵When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, the land he swore to your ancestors that he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you are to perform this rite in this same month. ⁶You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days, and the seventh day is a feast in honor of the LORD. ⁷Throughout the seven days unleavened bread is to be eaten. No leavened bread may be found among you, and no leaven anywhere in all your territory. ⁸On that day tell your son what it means: ‘The LORD acted for me when I left Egypt, and that is why we do this.’^{a 9}This feast will be a sign for you, like a mark on your hand, and a reminder, like a mark between your eyes, so that the instruction of the LORD stays on your lips. For with a strong hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰So you are to keep this statute at its proper time every year.

Redeeming the firstborn

¹¹Once the LORD has brought you into the land of the Canaanites and handed it over to you, as he swore he would to you and to your ancestors, ¹²then you must hand over to the LORD every firstborn that opens the womb. Every firstling born to your animals that is a male belongs to the LORD. ¹³Every firstborn donkey you are to redeem by giving a lamb in its place; if you will not redeem it, you must break its neck. And you are to redeem every firstborn son of yours. ¹⁴Later on, when your son asks you, ‘What is this?’ you shall answer him, ‘By the strength of his hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. ¹⁵When Pharaoh hardened himself against letting us go, the LORD killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, the firstborn of people and of animals alike. So I offer to the LORD in sacrifice every male that first opens the womb, and I redeem each firstborn among my sons.’ ¹⁶It will be a sign for you, like a mark on your hand and a band between your eyes, for by the strength of his hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”^b

The pillar of cloud and fire

¹⁷Once Pharaoh had sent the people away, God did not guide them along the route to the land of the Philistines, though it was the nearer way. For God thought, “The people may regret leaving when they find themselves facing war, and go back to Egypt.”^{c 18}Instead, God took the people the long way round, through the wilderness toward the Red Sea, and the Israelites left the land of Egypt equipped for battle.^{d 19}Moses brought Joseph’s bones along, since Joseph had bound the Israelites by a solemn oath. “God will certainly come to help you,” he had said, “and when he does, you are to take my bones up from here with you.” ²⁰They moved on from Succoth and made camp at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹The LORD went in front of them, in a pillar of cloud by day so that he could guide them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to light their path. In that way they could keep moving both day and night. ²²By day the pillar of cloud, and by night the pillar of fire, never moved away from the front of the people.^e