At the end of four hundred thirty years, on that very day, all the companies of the LORD went out from the land of Egypt.
That was for the LORD a night of vigil, to bring them out of the land of Egypt. That same night is a vigil to be kept for the LORD by all the Israelites throughout their generations.
43 The LORD said to Moses and Aaron: This is the ordinance for the passover: no foreigner shall eat of it,
but any slave who has been purchased may eat of it after he has been circumcised;
no bound or hired servant may eat of it.
It shall be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the animal outside the house, and you shall not break any of its bones.
The whole congregation of Israel shall celebrate it.
If an alien who resides with you wants to celebrate the passover to the LORD, all his males shall be circumcised; then he may draw near to celebrate it; he shall be regarded as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it;
there shall be one law for the native and for the alien who resides among you.
50 All the Israelites did just as the LORD had commanded Moses and Aaron.
That very day the LORD brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, company by company.
13 The LORD said to Moses:
Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals, is mine.
3 Moses said to the people, “Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the LORD brought you out from there by strength of hand; no leavened bread shall be eaten.
Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out.
When the LORD brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this observance in this month.
Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival to the LORD.
Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen in your possession, and no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory.
You shall tell your child on that day, ‘It is because of what the LORD did for me when I came out of Egypt.’
It shall serve for you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the teaching of the LORD may be on your lips; for with a strong hand the LORD brought you out of Egypt.
You shall keep this ordinance at its proper time from year to year.
11 “When the LORD has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and has given it to you,
you shall set apart to the LORD all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your livestock that are males shall be the LORD’s.
But every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. Every firstborn male among your children you shall redeem.
When in the future your child asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall answer, ‘By strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery.
When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborn to the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD every male that first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’
It shall serve as a sign on your hand and as an emblem[24 (#ulink_e8293fa1-55fb-5775-922a-7ba2a6f95c3d)] on your forehead that by strength of hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt.”
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.”
So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea.[25 (#ulink_00cacdfe-578c-5d22-bb8f-c6bcdd2afaf9)] The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt prepared for battle.
And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph who had required a solemn oath of the Israelites, saying, “God will surely take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones with you from here.”
They set out from Succoth, and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness.
The LORD went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night.
Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.
14 Then the LORD said to Moses:
Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall camp opposite it, by the sea.
Pharaoh will say of the Israelites, “They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has closed in on them.”
I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, so that I will gain glory for myself over Pharaoh and all his army; and the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD. And they did so.
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the minds of Pharaoh and his officials were changed toward the people, and they said, “What have we done, letting Israel leave our service?”
So he had his chariot made ready, and took his army with him;
he took six hundred picked chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.
The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out boldly.
The Egyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his chariot drivers and his army; they overtook them camped by the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.
For reflection: Exodus 14:8
In all discussions of Hell we should keep steadily before our eyes the possible damnation, not of our enemies nor our friends (since both of these disturb the reason) but of ourselves.
—from The Problem of Pain
10 As Pharaoh drew near, the Israelites looked back, and there were the Egyptians advancing on them. In great fear the Israelites cried out to the LORD.
They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?
Is this not the very thing we told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone and let us serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”
But Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid, stand firm, and see the deliverance that the LORD will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today you shall never see again.
The LORD will fight for you, and you have only to keep still.”
