1 Jehovah said to Moses:

2 »Consecrate appointsanctify all the first-born males to me. Every first-born male Israelite and every first-born male animal belongs to me!«

3 Moses said to the people: »Remember this day in the month of Abib. It is the day Jehovah’s mighty power rescued you from slavery in Egypt. Do not eat anything made with yeast.

4 »You are going out this day in the month Abib.

5 »Jehovah shall bring you into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. He swore to your fathers to give you this land flowing with milk and honey. You shall observe this rite in this month.

6 »You must eat unleavened bread seven days. The seventh day will be a feast to Jehovah.

7 »Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days. No leavened bread shall be seen with you or in all your borders.

8 »On that day tell your children: ‘We do this because of what Jehovah did for us when we left Egypt.’«

9 »This festival will be like a mark on your hand. It will be a reminder on your forehead that the teachings of Jehovah are always to be a part of your conversation! Jehovah used his mighty hand to bring you out of Egypt.

10 »You must follow these rules every year at this time.

11 »When Jehovah brings you to the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he swore to you and your ancestors,

12 sacrifice every firstborn male offspring to Jehovah. The firstborn male offspring of each of your animals belongs to Jehovah.

13 »It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy any firstborn donkey back from Jehovah. You must break the donkey’s neck if you do not buy it back. You must also buy every firstborn son back from Jehovah.

14 »In the future when your children ask you, ‘What does this mean?’ tell them: ‘Jehovah used his mighty hand to bring us out of slavery in Egypt.’’«

15 »Pharaoh was too stubborn to let us go. Because of this every firstborn male in Egypt-human and animal was killed. This is why we sacrifice every firstborn male to Jehovah and buy every firstborn son back from Jehovah.

16 »This festival will be like a mark on your hand and like a band on your forehead, because Jehovah used his mighty hand to bring us out of Egypt.«

17 »When the king of Egypt let the people go God did not take them on the road that goes up the coast to Philistia, although it was the shortest way. God thought: I do not want the people to change their minds and return to Egypt when they see that they are going to have to fight.«

18 He led them by way of the desert by the Red Sea. The Israelites were armed for battle.

19 Moses took the body of Joseph with him. Joseph made the Israelites solemnly promise to do so. Joseph said: When God rescues you, you must carry my body with you from this place.

20 The Israelites left Sukkoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.

21 Jehovah went in front of them in a pillar of cloud to show them the way during the day. He went in front of them in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel at night.

22 The pillar of cloud was always in front of the people during the day, and the pillar of fire at night.