The First Passover

1 Remember the commandment which the Lord commanded you concerning the passover, that you should celebrate it in its season on the fourteenth of the first month, that you should kill it before it is evening, and that they should eat it by night on the evening of the fifteenth from the time of the setting of the sun. 2 For on this night — the beginning of the festival and the beginning of the joy — you were eating the passover in Egypt, when all the powers of Mastema had been let loose to kill all the firstborn⁠a in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh to the firstborn of the captive female servant in the mill, and to the cattle.⁠b 3 And this is the sign which the Lord gave them: Into every house on the lintels of which they saw the blood of a lamb of the first year, into (that) house they should not enter to kill, but should pass by (it), so that all those should be saved that were in the house because the sign of the blood was on its lintels. 4 And the powers of the Lord did everything just as the Lord commanded them, and they passed by all the children of Israel, and the plague did not come upon them to destroy from among them any living being either of cattle, or man, or dog.⁠c 5 And the plague was very severe in Egypt, and there was no house in Egypt where there was not one dead, and weeping and lamentation. 6 And all Israel was eating the flesh of the Passover lamb, and drinking the wine, and was praising, and blessing, and giving thanks to the Lord God of their ancestors, and was ready to go out from under the yoke of Egypt, and from the evil slavery.

The Time for Celebrating Passover

7 And remember this day all the days of your life, and observe it from year to year all the days of your life, once a year, on its day, according to all the commandments of it, and do not postpone (it) from day to day, or from month to month. 8 For it is an eternal ordinance, and engraved on the heavenly tablets regarding all the children of Israel that they should observe it every year on its day once a year, throughout all their generations; and there is no limit of days, for this is ordained forever. 9 And the man who is free from impurity, and does not come to observe it on its appointed day, so as to bring an acceptable offering before the Lord, and to eat and to drink before the Lord on the day of its festival, that man who is clean and nearby shall be cut off: because he did not offer the offering of the Lord in its appointed season, he shall take the guilt upon himself. 10 Let the children of Israel come and observe the passover on the day of its fixed time, on the fourteenth day of the first month, between the evenings, from the third part of the day to the third part of the night, for two portions of the day are given to the light, and a third part to the evening. 11 This is that which the Lord commanded you that you should observe it between the evenings. 12 And it is not permissible to slaughter it during any period of the light, but during the period bordering on the evening, and let them eat it at the time of the evening, until the third part of the night, and whatever is left over of all its flesh from the third part of the night and onwards, let them burn it with fire. 13 And they shall not cook it with water, nor shall they eat it raw, but roast on the fire: they shall eat it carefully, they shall roast its head with its entrails and its feet with fire, and not break any bone of it; for of the children of Israel no bone shall be crushed. 14 For this reason the Lord commanded the children of Israel to observe the passover on the day of its fixed time, and they shall not break a bone of it; for it is a festival day, and a day commanded, and there may be no passing over from day to day, and month to month, but on the day of its festival let it be observed. 15 And command the children of Israel to observe the passover throughout their days, every year, once a year on the day of its fixed time, and it shall come for a memorial well pleasing before the Lord, and no plague shall come upon them to kill or to strike in that year in which they celebrate the passover in its season in every respect according to His command.⁠d

The Place for Celebrating Passover

16 And they shall not eat it outside the sanctuary of the Lord, but before the sanctuary of the Lord, and all the people of the congregation of Israel shall celebrate it in its appointed season. 17 And every man who has come upon its day shall eat it in the sanctuary of your God before the Lord from twenty years old and upward; for thus it is written and ordained that they should eat it in the sanctuary of the Lord. 18 And when the children of Israel come into the land which they are to possess, into the land of Canaan, and set up the tabernacle of the Lord in the midst of the land in one of their tribes until the sanctuary of the Lord has been built in the land, let them come and celebrate the passover in the midst of the tabernacle of the Lord, and let them slaughter it before the Lord from year to year. 19 And in the days when the house has been built in the name of the Lord in the land of their inheritance, they shall go there and slaughter the passover in the evening, at sunset, at the third part of the day. 20 And they shall offer its blood on the threshold of the altar, and shall place its fat on the fire which is upon the altar, and they shall eat its flesh roasted with fire in the court of the house which has been sanctified in the name of the Lord. 21 And they may not celebrate the passover in their cities, nor in any place except before the tabernacle of the Lord, or before His house where His name has resided; and they shall not go astray from the Lord.

The Festival of Unleavened Bread

22 And you, Moses, command the children of Israel to observe the ordinances of the passover, as it was commanded to you; declare to them every year and the day of its days, and the festival of unleavened bread, that they should eat unleavened bread seven days, (and) that they should observe its festival, and that they bring an offering every day during those seven days of joy before the Lord on the altar of your God. 23 For you celebrated this festival with haste when you went out from Egypt until you entered into the wilderness of Shur; for on the shore of the sea you completed it.