The Daily Audio Bible

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.”

Jesus Heals Two Blind Men

²⁹ When Jesus and his followers were leaving Jericho, a great many people followed Jesus. ³⁰ There were two blind men sitting by the road. The blind men heard that Jesus was going by, so they shouted, “Lord, Son of David, please help us!”

³¹ All the people criticized the blind men. They told them to be quiet. But the blind men shouted more and more, “Lord, Son of David, please help us!”

³² Jesus stopped and said to the blind men, “What do you want me to do for you?”

³³ They answered, “Lord, we want to be able to see.”

³⁴ Jesus felt sorry for the blind men. He touched their eyes, and at once they were able to see. Then the men followed Jesus.

Jesus Enters Jerusalem as a King

21 Jesus and his followers were coming closer to Jerusalem. But first they stopped at Bethphage at the hill called the Mount of Olives. From there Jesus sent two of his followers into the town. ² He said to them, “Go to the town you can see there. When you enter it, you will find a donkey tied there with its colt. Untie them and bring them to me. ³ If anyone asks you why you are taking the donkeys, tell him, ‘The Master needs them. He will send them back soon.’” ⁴ This was to make clear the full meaning of what the prophet said:

⁶ The followers went and did what Jesus told them to do. ⁷ They brought the donkey and the colt to Jesus. They laid their coats on the donkeys, and Jesus sat on them. ⁸ Many people spread their coats on the road before Jesus. Others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. ⁹ Some of the people were walking ahead of Jesus. Others were walking behind him. All the people were shouting,

¹⁰ Then Jesus went into Jerusalem. The city was filled with excitement. The people asked, “Who is this man?”

¹¹ The crowd answered, “This man is Jesus. He is the prophet from the town of Nazareth in Galilee.”

Jesus Goes to the Temple

¹² Jesus went into the Temple. He threw out all the people who were buying and selling there. He turned over the tables that belonged to the men who were exchanging different kinds of money. And he upset the benches of those who were selling doves. ¹³ Jesus said to all the people there, “It is written in the Scriptures, ‘My Temple will be a house where people will pray.’^[b] But you are changing God’s house into a ‘hideout for robbers.’”^[c]

¹⁴ The blind and crippled people came to Jesus in the Temple, and Jesus healed them. ¹⁵ The leading priests and the teachers of the law saw that Jesus was doing wonderful things. They saw the children praising him in the Temple. The children were saying, “Praise^[d] to the Son of David.” All these things made the priests and the teachers of the law very angry.

¹⁶ They asked Jesus, “Do you hear the things these children are saying?”

Jesus answered, “Yes. Haven’t you read in the Scriptures, ‘You have taught children and babies to sing praises’?”^[e]

¹⁷ Then Jesus left and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the night.

The Power of Faith

¹⁸ Early the next morning, Jesus was going back to the city. He was very hungry. ¹⁹ He saw a fig tree beside the road. Jesus went to it, but there were no figs on the tree. There were only leaves. So Jesus said to the tree, “You will never again have fruit!” The tree immediately dried up.

²⁰ His followers saw this and were amazed. They asked, “How did the fig tree dry up so quickly?”

²¹ Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth. If you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to this tree. And you will be able to do more. You will be able to say to this mountain, ‘Go, mountain, fall into the sea.’ And if you have faith, it will happen. ²² If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer.”