Day 31 of 730

¹The Lord said to Moses, "Yet one plague more will I bring on Pharaoh, and on Egypt; afterwards he will let you go. When he lets you go, he will surely thrust you out altogether.

²Speak now in the ears of the people, and let them ask every man of his neighbor, and every woman of her neighbor, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold."

³The Lord gave the people favor 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.

⁴Moses said, "This is what the Lord says: 'About midnight I will go out into the midst of Egypt,

⁵and all the firstborn in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne, even to the firstborn of the female servant who is behind the mill; and all the firstborn of livestock.

⁶There shall be a great cry throughout all the land of Egypt, such as there has not been, nor shall be any more.

⁷But against any of the children of Israel a dog won't even bark or move its tongue, against man or animal; that you may know that the Lord makes a distinction between the Egyptians and Israel.

⁸All these your servants shall come down to me, and bow down themselves to me, saying, "Get out, with all the people who follow you;" and after that I will go out.'" He went out from Pharaoh in hot anger.

⁹The Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh won't listen to you, that my wonders may be multiplied in the land of Egypt."

¹⁰Moses 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.

¹The Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,

²"This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.

³Speak to all the congregation of Israel, saying, 'On 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 is too little for a lamb, then he and his neighbor next to his house shall take one according to the number of the souls; according to what everyone can eat you shall make your count for the lamb.

⁵Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male a year old. You shall take it from the sheep, or from the goats:

⁶and you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.

⁷They shall take some of the blood, and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they shall eat it.

⁸They shall eat the flesh in that night, roasted with fire, and unleavened bread. They shall eat it with bitter herbs.

⁹Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted with fire; with its head, its legs and its inner parts.

¹⁰You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; but that which remains of it until the morning you shall burn with fire.

¹¹This is how you shall eat it: with your waist girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you 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 strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and animal. Against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord.

¹³The blood shall be to you for a token on the houses where you are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and there shall no plague be on you to destroy you, when I strike the land of Egypt.

¹⁴This day shall be to you for a memorial, and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord: throughout your generations you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance forever.

¹⁵"'Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread; even the first day you shall put away yeast out of your houses, for whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.

¹⁶In 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, except that which every man must eat, that only may be done by you.

¹⁷You shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this same day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations by an ordinance forever.

¹⁸In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty first day of the month at evening.

¹⁹Seven days shall there be no yeast found in your houses, for whoever eats that which is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a foreigner, or one who is born in the land.

²⁰You shall eat nothing leavened. In all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.'"

²¹Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said to them, "Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and kill the Passover.

²²You shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip it in the blood that is in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts 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 strike the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the lintel, and on the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will not allow the destroyer to come in to your houses to strike you.

²⁴You shall observe this thing for an ordinance to you and to your sons forever.

²⁵It shall happen when you have come to the land which the Lord will give you, according as he has promised, that you shall keep this service.

²⁶It will happen, when your children ask you, 'What do you mean by this service?'

²⁷that you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he struck the Egyptians, and spared our houses.'" The people bowed their heads and worshiped.

²⁸The children of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

²⁹It happened at midnight, that the Lord struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of livestock.

³⁰Pharaoh 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.

³¹He called for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, "Rise up, get out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel; and go, serve the Lord, as you have said!

³²Take both your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also!"

³³The Egyptians were urgent with the people, to send them out of the land in haste, for they said, "We are all dead men."

³⁴The people took their dough before it was leavened, their kneading troughs being bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.

³⁵The children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they asked of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and clothing.

³⁶The Lord gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. They despoiled the Egyptians.

³⁷The children of Israel traveled from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot who were men, besides children.

³⁸A mixed multitude went up also with them, with flocks, herds, and even very much livestock.

³⁹They baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought forth out of Egypt; for it wasn't leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt, and couldn't wait, neither had they prepared for themselves any food.

⁴⁰Now the time that the children of Israel lived in Egypt was four hundred thirty years.

⁴¹It happened at the end of four hundred thirty years, even the same day it happened, that all the armies of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

⁴²It is a night to be much observed to the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt. This is that night of the Lord, to be much observed of all the children of Israel throughout their generations.

⁴³The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "This is the ordinance of the Passover. There shall no foreigner eat of it,

⁴⁴but every man's servant who is bought for money, when you have circumcised him, then shall he eat of it.

⁴⁵A foreigner and a hired servant shall not eat of it.

⁴⁶In one house shall it be eaten; you shall not carry forth anything of the flesh abroad out of the house; neither shall you break a bone of it.

⁴⁷All the congregation of Israel shall keep it.

⁴⁸When a stranger shall live as a foreigner with you, and will keep the Passover to the Lord, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one who is born in the land: but no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

⁴⁹One law shall be to him who is born at home, and to the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you."

⁵⁰All the children of Israel did so. As the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.

⁵¹It happened the same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by their armies.

¹In you, Lord, I take refuge. Let me never be disappointed. Deliver me in your righteousness.

²Bow down your ear to me. Deliver me speedily. Be to me a strong rock, a house of defense to save me.

³For you are my rock and my fortress, therefore for your name's sake lead me and guide me.

⁴Pluck me out of the net that they have laid secretly for me, for you are my stronghold.

⁵Into your hand I commend my spirit. You redeem me, Lord, God of truth.

⁶I hate those who regard lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord.

⁷I will be glad and rejoice in your loving kindness, for you have seen my affliction. You have known my soul in adversities.

⁸You have not shut me up into the hand of the enemy. You have set my feet in a large place.

⁹Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am in distress. My eye, my soul, and my body waste away with grief.

¹⁰For my life is spent with sorrow, my years with sighing. My strength fails because of my iniquity. My bones are wasted away.

¹¹Because of all my adversaries I have become utterly contemptible to my neighbors, A fear to my acquaintances. Those who saw me on the street fled from me.

¹²I am forgotten from their hearts like a dead man. I am like broken pottery.

¹³For I have heard the slander of many, terror on every side, while they conspire together against me, they plot to take away my life.

¹⁴But I trust in you, Lord. I said, "You are my God."

¹⁵My times are in your hand. Deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

¹⁶Make your face to shine on your servant. Save me in your loving kindness.

¹⁷Let me not be disappointed, Lord, for I have called on you. Let the wicked be disappointed. Let them be silent in Sheol.

¹⁸Let the lying lips be mute, which speak against the righteous insolently, with pride and contempt.

¹⁹Oh how great is your goodness, which you have laid up for those who fear you, which you have worked for those who take refuge in you, before the sons of men!

²⁰In the shelter of your presence you will hide them from the plotting of man. You will keep them secretly in a dwelling away from the strife of tongues.

²¹Praise be to the Lord, for he has shown me his marvelous loving kindness in a strong city.

²²As for me, I said in my haste, "I am cut off from before your eyes." Nevertheless you heard the voice of my petitions when I cried to you.

²³Oh love the Lord, all you his holy ones! The Lord preserves the faithful, and fully recompenses him who behaves arrogantly.

²⁴Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who hope in the Lord.

¹The words of king Lemuel; the oracle which his mother taught him.

²"Oh, my son! Oh, son of my womb! Oh, son of my vows!

³Do not give your strength to women, nor your ways to that which destroys kings.

⁴It is not for kings, Lemuel; it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes to say, 'Where is strong drink?'

⁵lest they drink, and forget the decree, and pervert the justice due to anyone who is afflicted.

⁶Give strong drink to him who is ready to perish; and wine to the bitter in soul:

⁷Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.

⁸Open your mouth for the mute, in the cause of all who are left desolate.

⁹Open your mouth, judge righteously, and serve justice to the poor and needy."

¹⁰Who can find a worthy woman? For her price is far above rubies.

¹¹The heart of her husband trusts in her. He shall have no lack of gain.

¹²She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.

¹³She seeks wool and flax, and works eagerly with her hands.

¹⁴She is like the merchant ships. She brings her bread from afar.

¹⁵She rises also while it is yet night, gives food to her household, and portions for her servant girls.

¹⁶She considers a field, and buys it. With the fruit of her hands, she plants a vineyard.

¹⁷She girds her waist with strength, and makes her arms strong.

¹⁸She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp doesn't go out by night.

¹⁹She lays her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.

²⁰She opens her arms to the poor; yes, she extends her hands to the needy.

²¹She is not afraid of the snow for her household; for all her household are clothed with scarlet.

²²She makes for herself carpets of tapestry. Her clothing is fine linen and purple.

²³Her husband is respected in the gates, when he sits among the elders of the land.

²⁴She makes linen garments and sells them, and delivers sashes to the merchant.

²⁵Strength and dignity are her clothing. She laughs at the time to come.

²⁶She opens her mouth with wisdom. Faithful instruction is on her tongue.

²⁷She looks well to the ways of her household, and doesn't eat the bread of idleness.

²⁸Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:

²⁹"Many women do noble things, but you excel them all."

³⁰Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman who fears the Lord, she shall be praised.

³¹Give her of the fruit of her hands! Let her works praise her in the gates!