The Tanakh. Various Authors

and there remained not any green thing, either tree or herb of the field, through all the land of Egypt. ¹⁶Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said: 'I have sinned against the Lord your God, and against you. ¹⁷Now therefore forgive, I pray thee, my sin only this once, and entreat the Lord your God, that He may take away from me this death only.' ¹⁸And he went out from Pharaoh, and entreated the Lord. ¹⁹And the Lord turned an exceeding strong west wind, which took up the locusts, and drove them into the Red Sea; there remained not one locust in all the border of Egypt. ²⁰But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go.

      ²¹And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Stretch out thy hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.' ²²And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days; ²³they saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days; but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. ²⁴And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and said: 'Go ye, serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed; let your little ones also go with you.' ²⁵And Moses said: 'Thou must also give into our hand sacrifices and burnt-offerings, that we may sacrifice unto the Lord our God. ²⁶Our cattle also shall go with us; there shall not a hoof be left behind; for thereof must we take to serve the Lord our God; and we know not with what we must serve the Lord, until we come thither.' ²⁷But the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he would not let them go. ²⁸And Pharaoh said unto him: 'Get thee from me, take heed to thyself, see my face no more; for in the day thou seest my face thou shalt die.' ²⁹And Moses said: 'Thou hast spoken well; I will see thy face again no more.'

       11And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharaoh, and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence; when he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out hence altogether. ²Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbour, and every woman of her neighbour, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold.' ³And the Lord gave the people favour in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants, and in the sight of the people.

      ⁴And Moses said: 'Thus saith the Lord: About midnight will I go out into the midst of Egypt; ⁵and all the first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sitteth upon his throne, even unto the first-born of the maid-servant that is behind the mill; and all the first-born of cattle. ⁶And there shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there hath been none like it, nor shall be like it any more. ⁷But against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog whet his tongue, against man or beast; that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. ⁸And all these thy servants shall come down unto me, and bow down unto me, saying: Get thee out, and all the people that follow thee; and after that I will go out.' And he went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

      ⁹And the Lord said unto Moses: 'Pharaoh will not hearken unto you; that My wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt.' ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron did all these wonders before Pharaoh; and the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out of his land.

       12And the Lord spoke unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying: ²'This month shall be unto you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you. ³Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying: In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to their fathers' houses, a lamb for a household; ⁴and if the household be too little for a lamb, then shall he and his neighbour next unto his house take one according to the number of the souls; according to every man's eating ye shall make your count for the lamb. ⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year; ye shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats; ⁶and ye shall keep it unto the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at dusk. ⁷And they shall take of the blood, and put it on the two side-posts and on the lintel, upon the houses wherein they shall eat it. ⁸And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; with bitter herbs they shall eat it. ⁹Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; its head with its legs and with the inwards thereof. ¹⁰And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. ¹¹And thus shall ye eat it: with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste—it is the Lord's passover. ¹²For I will go through the land of Egypt in that night, and will smite all the first-born in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. ¹³And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. ¹⁴And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and ye shall keep it a feast to the Lord; throughout your generations ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. ¹⁵Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; howbeit the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses; for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. ¹⁶And in the first day there shall be to you a holy convocation, and in the seventh day a holy convocation; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you. ¹⁷And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your hosts out of the land of Egypt; therefore shall ye observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance for ever. ¹⁸In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. ¹⁹Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses; for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a sojourner, or one that is born in the land. ²⁰Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.'

      ²¹Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said unto them: 'Draw out, and take you lambs according to your families, and kill the passover lamb. ²²And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two side-posts with the blood that is in the basin; and none of you shall go out of the door of his house until the morning. ²³For the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side-posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. ²⁴And ye shall observe this thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. ²⁵And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye shall keep this service. ²⁶And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you: What mean ye by this service? ²⁷that ye shall say: It is the sacrifice of the Lord's passover, for that He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when He smote the Egyptians, and delivered our houses.' And the people bowed the head and worshipped. ²⁸And the children of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so did they.

      ²⁹And it came to pass at midnight, that the Lord smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the first-born of the captive that was in the dungeon; and all the first-born of cattle. ³⁰And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for there was not a house where there was not one dead. ³¹And he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said: 'Rise up, get you forth from among my people, both ye and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as ye have said. ³²Take both your flocks and your herds, as ye have said, and be gone; and bless me also.' ³³And the Egyptians were urgent upon the people, to send them out of the land in haste; for they said: 'We are all dead men.' ³⁴And the people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading-troughs being bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.