Moses called together all the
leaders of Israel, and said to them, "Take lambs from the herds
according to your families and kill the passover lamb. You shall
also take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the
basin and strike the lintel and the two door posts with the blood
that is in the basin. And not one of you shall go out of the door of
his house until morning, for God will pass through to kill the
Egyptians, and when he sees the blood upon the lintel and on the two
door posts, he will pass over the door and will not let the
destroyer come into your houses to destroy you. You and your
children shall observe this event as a custom forever.
"When your children shall say to you, 'What do you mean by this
service?' you shall say, 'It is the sacrifice of the passover of
God, for he passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt, when
he destroyed the Egyptians and released our people.'"
Then the people bowed their heads and worshipped; and the Israelites
went and did as God had commanded Moses and Aaron.
At midnight God destroyed all the eldest sons in the land of Egypt,
from the eldest son of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the eldest
son of the captive who was in prison. Then Pharaoh arose in the
night, together with all his servants and all the Egyptians, and
there was a great cry of sorrow, for there was not a house in Egypt
in which there was not one dead. Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron at
night and said, "Go away from among my people, both you and the
Israelites; go, worship God as you have asked. Also take with you
your sheep and your cattle, as you have asked, go and ask a blessing
for me also." The Egyptians also told the people to hasten out of
the land, for they said, "We shall all perish." So the people took
their dough before the yeast had worked, and their kneading-troughs
were bound up in their clothes upon their shoulders.
The Israelites went on foot from Rameses to Succoth; and a mixed
multitude went with them, and they had a great many flocks and
herds. They baked unraised cakes of the dough which they had brought
with them from Egypt, for there was no yeast in it, because they had
been driven out of Egypt and could not wait, neither had they
prepared for themselves any food for the journey.
And they went from Succoth and camped at Etham on the border of the
wilderness. God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud, to
show them the way, and at night in a pillar of fire, to give them
light, that they might march both by day and by night; the pillar of
cloud by day and the pillar of fire at night stayed in front of the
people.
When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the
feeling of Pharaoh and his servants toward them was changed, and
they said, "Why have we done this and let the Israelites escape from
serving us?" So he made ready his chariot and took his people with
him. He also took six hundred chosen chariots and the rest of the
chariots of Egypt with captains over all of them; and God let the
heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, remain stubborn, so that he
followed the Israelites, because they had defied him.
When Pharaoh drew near to them the Israelites looked up and saw the
Egyptians marching after them; and they were very much afraid and
cried to God. And they said to Moses, "Why have you misled us by
bringing us out of Egypt? Is not this what we told you in Egypt,
when we said, 'Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it
is better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the
wilderness.'" But Moses said to the people, "Do not be frightened,
remain quiet and you will see how God will save you to-day; for as
surely as you now see the Egyptians you shall never see them again.
God will fight for you, and you are to keep still."
Then the angel of God who went before the army of Israel changed his
position and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also changed its
position from in front of them and stood behind them, coming between
the army of the Egyptians and the army of the Israelites. On the one
side the cloud was dark and on the other side it lighted up the
night, so that throughout all the night neither army came near the
other.
Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and God by means of
a strong east wind caused the sea to go back all that night and made
the bed of the sea dry. And the Israelites crossed over on the dry
bed of the sea. The Egyptians followed and all of Pharaoh's horses,
his chariots, and his horsemen went after them into the sea. In the
morning before sunrise, God looked out through the pillar of fire
and of cloud upon the army of the Egyptians and threw them into
confusion. He also bound their chariot wheels, so that they dragged
heavily. Therefore the Egyptians said, "Let us flee from the
Israelites, for God fights for them against us."
Then God said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that
the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots,
and upon their horsemen." So Moses stretched out his hand over the
sea, and toward morning the sea returned to its ordinary level while
the Egyptians were flying before it. So God overthrew the Egyptians
in the midst of the sea, and the waters returned and covered the
chariots and the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that went
after them into the sea, so that not one of them was left. Thus God
saved the Israelites that day from the power of the Egyptians; and
they saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. When the Israelites
saw the great work which God did to the Egyptians, the people feared
God and believed in him and in his servant Moses.
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in
her hand; and as all the women followed her with tambourines and
with dancing, she sang with them:
"Sing to God, for he has triumphed gloriously:
Both horse and rider has he hurled into the sea."
Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to God:
"I will sing to God, for he has triumphed gloriously:
Both horse and rider he has hurled into the sea.
God is my strength and song, he has delivered me;
He is my God, I will praise him; my father's God whom I honor."