Exodus 11-16

International Children’s Bible

The Death of the Firstborn

11 Now the Lord had told Moses, “I have one more way to punish the king and the people of Egypt. After this, the king will send all of you away from Egypt. When he does, he will force you to leave completely. ² Tell the men and women of Israel to ask their neighbors for things made of silver and gold.” ³ The Lord had caused the Egyptians to respect the Israelites. The king’s officers and the Egyptian people already considered Moses to be a great man.

⁴ So Moses said to the king, “This is what the Lord says: ‘About midnight tonight I will go through all Egypt. ⁵ Every firstborn son in the land of Egypt will die. The firstborn son of the king, who sits on his throne, will die. Even the firstborn of the slave girl grinding grain will die. Also the firstborn farm animals will die. ⁶ There will be loud crying everywhere in Egypt. It will be worse than any time before or after this. ⁷ But not even a dog will bark at the Israelites or their animals.’ Then you will know that the Lord treats Israel differently from Egypt. ⁸ Then all your officers will come to me. They will bow facedown to the ground before me. They will say, ‘Leave and take all your people with you.’ After that, I will leave.” Then Moses very angrily left the king.

⁹ The Lord had told Moses, “The king will not listen to you and Aaron. This is so that I may do many miracles in the land of Egypt.” ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron did all these great miracles in front of the king. But the Lord made him stubborn. And the king would not let the people of Israel leave his country.

Passover

12 The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ² “This month will be the first month of the year for you. ³ Both of you are to tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth day of this month each man must get one lamb. It is for the people in his house. ⁴ There may not be enough people in his house to eat a whole lamb. Then he must share it with his closest neighbor. There must be enough lamb for everyone to eat. ⁵ The lamb must be a one-year-old male. It must have nothing wrong with it. This animal can be either a young sheep or a young goat. ⁶ Keep the animal with you to take care of it until the fourteenth day of the month. On that day all the people of the community of Israel will kill these animals. They will do this as soon as the sun goes down. ⁷ The people must take some of the blood. They must put it on the sides and tops of the doorframes. These are the doorframes of the houses where they eat the lambs. ⁸ On this night they must roast the lamb over a fire. Then they must eat it with bitter herbs and bread made without yeast. ⁹ Do not eat the lamb raw or boiled in water. Roast the whole lamb over a fire—with its head, legs and inner organs. ¹⁰ You must not leave any of it until morning. But if any of it is left over until morning, you must burn it with fire.

¹¹ “This is the way you must eat it: You must be fully dressed as if you were going on a trip. You must have your sandals on, and you must have your walking stick in your hand. You must eat it in a hurry. This is the Lord’s Passover.

¹² “That night I will go through the land of Egypt. I will kill all the firstborn of animals and people in the land of Egypt. I will punish all the gods of Egypt. I am the Lord. ¹³ But the blood will be a sign on the houses where you are. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Nothing terrible will hurt you when I punish the land of Egypt.

¹⁴ “You are always to remember this day. Celebrate it with a feast to the Lord. Your descendants are to honor the Lord with this feast from now on. ¹⁵ For this feast you must eat bread made without yeast for seven days. On the first day of this feast, you are to remove all the yeast from your houses. No one should eat any yeast for the full seven days of the feast. If anyone eats yeast, then that person will be separated from Israel. ¹⁶ You are to have holy meetings on the first and last days of the feast. You must not do any work on these days. The only work you may do on these days is to prepare your meals. ¹⁷ You must celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Do this because on this very day I brought your divisions of people out of Egypt. So all of your descendants must celebrate this day. This is a law that will last from now on. ¹⁸ You are to eat bread made without yeast. Start this on the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month of your year. Eat this until the evening of the twenty-first day. ¹⁹ For seven days there must not be any yeast in your houses. Anybody who eats yeast during this time must be separated from the community of Israel. This includes Israelites and non-Israelites. ²⁰ During this feast you must not eat yeast. You must eat bread made without yeast wherever you live.”

²¹ Then Moses called all the elders of Israel together. He told them, “Get the animals for your families. Kill the animals for the Passover. ²² Take a branch of the hyssop plant and dip it into the bowl filled with blood. Wipe the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes. No one may leave his house until morning. ²³ The Lord will go through Egypt to kill the Egyptians. He will see the blood on the sides and tops of the doorframes. Then the Lord will pass over that house. He will not let the one who brings death come into your houses and kill you.

²⁴ “You must keep this command. This law is for you and your descendants from now on. ²⁵ Do this when you go to the land the Lord has promised to give to you. ²⁶ When your children ask you, ‘Why are we doing these things?’ ²⁷ you will say, ‘This is the Passover sacrifice to honor the Lord. When we were in Egypt, the Lord passed over the houses of Israel. The Lord killed the Egyptians, but he saved our homes.’” So now the people bowed down and worshiped the Lord. ²⁸ They did just as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron.

²⁹ At midnight the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt. The firstborn of the king, who sat on the throne, died. Even the firstborn of the prisoner in jail died. Also all the firstborn farm animals died. ³⁰ The king, his officers and all the Egyptians got up during the night. Someone had died in every house. So there was loud crying everywhere in Egypt.

Israel Leaves Egypt

³¹ During the night the king called for Moses and Aaron. He said to them, “Get up and leave my people. You and your people may do as you have asked. Go and worship the Lord. ³² Take all of your sheep and cattle as you have asked. Go. And also bless me.” ³³ The Egyptians also asked the Israelites to hurry and leave. They said, “If you don’t leave, we will all die!”

³⁴ The people of Israel took their dough before the yeast was added. They wrapped the bowls for making dough in clothing and carried them on their shoulders. ³⁵ The people of Israel did what Moses told them to do. They asked their Egyptian neighbors for things made of silver and gold and for clothing. ³⁶ The Lord caused the Egyptians to think well of the Israelites. So the Israelites took rich gifts from the Egyptians.

³⁷ The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men walking. This does not include the women and children. ³⁸ Many other people who were not Israelites went with them. A large number of sheep, goats and cattle went with them. ³⁹ The Israelites used the dough they had brought out of Egypt. They baked loaves of bread without yeast. The dough had no yeast in it because they had been rushed out of Egypt. So they had no time to get food ready for their trip.

⁴⁰ The people of Israel had lived in Egypt for 430 years. ⁴¹ On the day the 430 years ended, the Lord’s divisions of people left Egypt. ⁴² That night the Lord kept watch to bring them out of Egypt. So on this same night the Israelites are to keep watch. They are to do this to honor the Lord from now on.

⁴³ The Lord told Moses and Aaron, “Here are the rules for Passover: No foreigner is to eat the Passover. ⁴⁴ Suppose a person buys a slave and circumcises him. Then the slave may eat the Passover. ⁴⁵ But no one who lives for a short time in your country may eat it. No hired worker may eat it.

⁴⁶ “The meal must be eaten inside the house. None of the meat is to be taken outside the house. Don’t break any of the bones. ⁴⁷ The whole community of Israel must take part in this feast. ⁴⁸ A foreigner who lives with you may share in the Lord’s Passover. But first all the males in his house must be circumcised. Then, since he will be like a citizen of Israel, he may share in the meal. But a man who is not circumcised may not eat the Passover meal. ⁴⁹ The same rules apply to an Israelite born in the country. And they apply to a foreigner living there.”

⁵⁰ So all the Israelites did just as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ Then on that same day, the Lord led the Israelites out of Egypt. The people left by divisions.

The Law of the Firstborn

13 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Give every firstborn male to me. Every firstborn male among the Israelites belongs to me, whether human or animal.”

³ Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, the day you left Egypt. You were slaves in that land. The Lord with his great power brought you out of it. You must not eat bread made with yeast. ⁴ Today, in the month of Abib, you are leaving Egypt. ⁵ The Lord made a promise to your ancestors. The Lord promised to give you the land of these people: the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites. The Lord will lead you to this land where much food grows. There you must celebrate this feast during the first month of every year. ⁶ For seven days you must eat bread made without yeast. On the seventh day there will be a feast to honor the Lord. ⁷ So for seven days you must not eat any bread made with yeast. There must be no bread made with yeast anywhere in your land. ⁸ On that day you should tell your son: ‘We are having this feast because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ This feast will help you remember. It will be like a mark on your hand. It will be like a reminder on your forehead. This feast will remind you to speak the Lord’s teachings. This is because the Lord used his great power to bring you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ So celebrate this feast every year at the right time.

¹¹ “The Lord will take you into the land of the Canaanites. He promised to give this land to you and your ancestors. ¹² Then you must give him every firstborn male. And every firstborn male animal must be given to the Lord. ¹³ Buy back every firstborn donkey by offering a lamb. If you don’t want to buy the donkey back, then break its neck. You must buy back from the Lord every firstborn of your sons.

¹⁴ “From now on your son will ask you: ‘What does this mean?’ You will answer, ‘With his great power, the Lord brought us out of Egypt. We were slaves in that land. ¹⁵ In Egypt the king was stubborn. He refused to let us leave. But the Lord killed every firstborn male in Egypt, both human and animal. That is why I sacrifice every firstborn male animal to the Lord. And that is why I buy back each of my firstborn sons from the Lord.’ ¹⁶ This feast is like a mark on your hand. And it is like a reminder on your forehead. It will help you remember that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his great power.”

The Way Out of Egypt

¹⁷ The king sent the people out of Egypt. God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country. That road is the shortest way. But God said, “They might think they will have to fight. Then they might change their minds and go back to Egypt.” ¹⁸ So God led them through the desert toward the Red Sea. The Israelites were dressed for fighting when they left the land of Egypt.

¹⁹ Moses carried the bones of Joseph with him. Before Joseph died, he had made the sons of Israel promise to do this. He had said, “When God saves you, remember to carry my bones with you out of Egypt.”

²⁰ The people of Israel left Succoth and camped at Etham. Etham was on the edge of the desert. ²¹ The Lord showed them the way. During the day he went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud. And during the night the Lord was in a pillar of fire to give them light. They could travel during the day or night. ²² The pillar of cloud was always with them during the day. And the pillar of fire was always with them at night.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, ² “Tell the Israelites to turn back to Pi Hahiroth. Tell them to camp for the night between Migdol and the Red Sea. This is near Baal Zephon. ³ The king will think, ‘The Israelites are lost, trapped by the desert.’ ⁴ I will make the king stubborn again so he will chase after them. But I will defeat the king and his army. This will bring honor to me. Then the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord.” The people of Israel did just as they were told.

The King Chases the Israelites

⁵ The king of Egypt was told that the people of Israel had already left. Then he and his officers changed their minds about them. They said, “What have we done? We have let the people of Israel leave. We have lost our slaves!” ⁶ So the king prepared his war chariot and took his army with him. ⁷ He took 600 of his best chariots. He also took all the other chariots of Egypt. Each chariot had an officer in it. ⁸ The Lord made the king of Egypt stubborn. So he chased the Israelites, who were leaving victoriously. ⁹ The king of Egypt came with his horses, chariot drivers and army. And they chased the Israelites. They caught up with the Israelites while they were camped by the Red Sea. This was near Pi Hahiroth and Baal Zephon.

¹⁰ The Israelites saw the king and his army coming after them. They were very frightened and cried to the Lord for help. ¹¹ They said to Moses, “What have you done to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? There were plenty of graves for us in Egypt. ¹² We told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone! Let us stay and serve the Egyptians.’ Now we will die in the desert.”

¹³ But Moses answered, “Don’t be afraid! Stand still and see the Lord save you today. You will never see these Egyptians again after today. ¹⁴ You will only need to remain calm. The Lord will fight for you.”

¹⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Command the people of Israel to start moving. ¹⁶ Raise your walking stick and hold it over the sea. The sea will split. Then the people can cross the sea on dry land. ¹⁷ I have made the Egyptians stubborn so they will chase the Israelites. But I will be honored when I defeat the king and all of his chariot drivers and chariots. ¹⁸ I will defeat the king, his chariot drivers and chariots. Then Egypt will know that I am the Lord.”

¹⁹ The angel of God usually traveled in front of Israel’s army. Now the angel of God moved behind them. Also, the pillar of cloud moved from in front of the people and stood behind them. ²⁰ So the cloud came between the Egyptians and the people of Israel. The cloud made it dark for the Egyptians. But it gave light to the Israelites. So the cloud kept the two armies apart all night.

²¹ Moses held his hand over the sea. All that night the Lord drove back the sea with a strong east wind. And so he made the sea become dry ground. The water was split. ²² And the Israelites went through the sea on dry land. A wall of water was on both sides.

²³ Then all the king’s horses, chariots and chariot drivers followed them into the sea. ²⁴ Between two and six o’clock in the morning, the Lord looked down from the pillar of cloud and fire at the Egyptian army. He made them panic. ²⁵ He kept the wheels of the chariots from turning. This made it hard to drive the chariots. The Egyptians shouted, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them and against us Egyptians.”

²⁶ Then the Lord told Moses, “Hold your hand over the sea. Then the water will come back over the Egyptians, their chariots and chariot drivers.” ²⁷ So Moses raised his hand over the sea. And at dawn the water became deep again. The Egyptians were trying to run from it. But the Lord swept them away into the sea. ²⁸ The water became deep again. It covered the chariots and chariot drivers. So all the king’s army that had followed the Israelites into the sea was covered. Not one of them survived.

²⁹ But the people of Israel crossed the sea on dry land. There was a wall of water on their right and on their left. ³⁰ So that day the Lord saved the Israelites from the Egyptians. And the Israelites saw the Egyptians lying dead on the seashore. ³¹ When the people of Israel saw the great power that the Lord had used against the Egyptians, they feared the Lord. And they trusted the Lord and his servant Moses.

The Song of Moses

15 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

¹⁹ The horses, chariot drivers and chariots of the king of Egypt went into the sea. And the Lord covered them with water from the sea. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry land. ²⁰ Then Aaron’s sister Miriam, who was a prophetess, took a tambourine in her hand. All the women followed her, playing tambourines and dancing. ²¹ Miriam told them:

The Bitter Water

²² Moses led the people of Israel away from the Red Sea. The people went into the Desert of Shur. They traveled for three days in the desert but found no water. ²³ Then they came to Marah, where there was water. But they could not drink it because it was too bitter. That is why the place was named Marah.^{[a] 24} The people grumbled to Moses. They asked, “What will we drink?”

²⁵ Moses cried out to the Lord. So the Lord showed him a tree. Moses threw the tree into the water. And the water became good to drink.

There the Lord gave the people a rule and a law to live by. There he also tested their loyalty to him. ²⁶ He said, “You must obey the Lord, your God. You must do what the Lord said is right. You must obey all his laws and keep his rules. If you do these things, I will not give you any of the sicknesses I gave the Egyptians. I am the Lord. I am the Lord who heals you.”

²⁷ Then the people traveled to Elim. At Elim there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. So the people camped there near the water.

The People Demand Food

16 Then the whole Israelite community left Elim. They came to the Desert of Sin. This place was between Elim and Sinai. They came to this place on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. ² Then the whole Israelite community grumbled to Moses and Aaron in the desert. ³ The Israelites said to them, “It would have been better if the Lord had killed us in the land of Egypt. There we had meat to eat. We had all the food we wanted. But you have brought us into this desert. You will starve us to death here.”

⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will cause food to fall like rain from the sky. This food will be for all of you. Every day the people must go out and gather what they need for that day. I will do this to see if the people will do what I teach them. ⁵ On the sixth day of each week, they are to gather twice as much as they gather on other days. Then they are to prepare it.”

⁶ So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites: “This evening you will know that the Lord is the one who brought you out of Egypt. ⁷ Tomorrow morning you will see the greatness of the Lord. He has heard you grumble against him. We are nothing. You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.” ⁸ And Moses said, “Each evening the Lord will give you meat to eat. And every morning he will give you all the bread you want. He will do this because he has heard you grumble against him. You are not grumbling against Aaron and me. You are grumbling against the Lord.”

⁹ Then Moses said to Aaron, “Speak to the whole community of the Israelites. Say to them, ‘Meet together in front of the Lord because he has heard your grumblings.’”

¹⁰ So Aaron spoke to the whole community of the Israelites. While he was speaking, they looked toward the desert. There the greatness of the Lord appeared in a cloud.

¹¹ The Lord said to Moses, ¹² “I have heard the grumblings of the people of Israel. So tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat. And every morning you will eat all the bread you want. Then you will know I am the Lord, your God.’”

¹³ That evening, quail came and covered the camp. And in the morning dew lay around the camp. ¹⁴ When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost were on the desert ground. ¹⁵ When the Israelites saw it, they asked each other, “What is that?” They asked this question because they did not know what it was.

So Moses told them, “This is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. ¹⁶ The Lord has commanded, ‘Each one of you must gather what he needs. Gather about two quarts for every person in your family.’”

¹⁷ So the people of Israel did this. Some people gathered much, and some gathered little. ¹⁸ Then they measured it. The person who gathered more did not have too much. The person who gathered less did not have too little. Each person gathered just as much as he needed.

¹⁹ Moses said to them, “Don’t keep any of it to eat the next day.” ²⁰ But some of the people did not listen to Moses. They kept part of it to eat the next morning. But it became full of worms and began to stink. So Moses was angry with these people.

²¹ Every morning each person gathered as much food as he needed. But when the sun became hot, it melted away.

²² On the sixth day the people gathered twice as much food. They gathered four quarts for every person. So all the leaders of the community came and told this to Moses. ²³ Moses said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded. Tomorrow is the Sabbath, the Lord’s holy day of rest. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil today. But save the rest of the food until tomorrow morning.”

²⁴ So the people saved it until the next morning, as Moses had commanded. And none of it began to stink or have worms in it. ²⁵ Moses told the people, “Eat the food you gathered yesterday. Today is a Sabbath, the Lord’s day of rest. So you will not find any out in the field today. ²⁶ You should gather the food for six days. But the seventh day is a Sabbath day. On that day there will not be any food on the ground.”

²⁷ On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather food, but they couldn’t find any. ²⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will all you people refuse to obey my commands and teachings? ²⁹ Look, the Lord has made the Sabbath a day of rest for all of you. So on the sixth day he will give you enough food for two days. But on the Sabbath each of you must stay where you are. Do not leave your house.” ³⁰ So the people rested on the Sabbath.

³¹ The people of Israel called the food manna. The manna was like small white seeds. It tasted like wafers made with honey.

³² Then Moses said, “The Lord said, ‘Save two quarts of this food for your descendants. Then they can see the food that I gave you to eat. I did this in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.’”

³³ Moses told Aaron, “Take a jar and fill it with two quarts of manna. And save this manna for your descendants.” ³⁴ So Aaron did what the Lord had commanded Moses. Aaron put the jar of manna in front of the Ark of the Covenant. He did this so it could be kept. ³⁵ The Israelites ate manna for 40 years. They ate it until they came to the land where they settled. They ate manna until they came to the edge of the land of Canaan. ³⁶ The measure they used for the manna was two quarts. It was one-tenth of an ephah.^[b]