Exodus
Chapter 13
1 God spoke to Moses, saying,
2 Set apart for me every firstborn, every first child or animal born among the Israelites: it belongs to me.
3 Moses told the people, “Remember this day when you left Egypt, the place of slavery. God freed you with his powerful hand: do not eat bread with yeast.”
4 Today you left in the month of Abib.
5 When God brings you to the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which he promised to your ancestors to give you, a land rich with milk and honey, you must do this service in this month.
6 Eat bread without yeast for seven days, and on the seventh day there will be a celebration for God.
7 Eat bread without yeast for seven days; no bread with yeast should be with you, nor yeast anywhere in your living areas.
8 On that day, you will explain to your son, saying, “We do this because of what God did for me when I left Egypt.”
9 This will be a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead to keep God’s law in your words, because God freed you from Egypt with great power.
10 You should therefore follow this rule at the right time every year.
11 When God brings you to the land of the Canaanites, as he promised you and your ancestors, and gives it to you,
12 You must dedicate to God everything that is the first to come from a mother, and every firstborn male animal you have; these males belong to God.
13 You must trade a lamb for every firstborn donkey; if you choose not to trade, then you must kill the donkey. You must also trade for every firstborn child.
14 When your son asks you in the future, “What is this?” you will tell him, “God freed us from Egypt, where we were slaves, with a strong hand.”
15 When Pharaoh almost didn’t let us leave, God killed all the firstborn in Egypt, both people and animals. That’s why I sacrifice to God all male firstborn livestock, but I save my firstborn sons.
16 It will be a sign on your hand and a reminder between your eyes because with strong hand, God brought us out of Egypt.
17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them through the Philistine land, even though it was close. God thought, “Maybe the people will change their minds when they see war and go back to Egypt.”
18 God guided the people through the desert toward the Red Sea, and the Israelites left Egypt prepared for battle.
19 Moses took Joseph’s bones with him because Joseph had made the Israelites promise, saying, “God will definitely come to help you, and you must take my bones from here with you.”
20 They traveled from Succoth and camped at Etham, on the border of the wilderness.
21 God led them during the day with a cloud pillar to show the way; and at night with a fire pillar to give them light, so they could travel day and night.
22 He did not remove the cloud pillar by day or the fire pillar by night from in front of the people.