Exodus 12
The Passover
1 Now the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
2 “This month shall be your beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year to you.†
3 Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, saying, ‘On the tenth day of this month every man shall take for himself a lamb, according to the family households, a lamb for each home.†
4 If there be too few in a household, let him and his neighbor next to his house take it according to the number of souls; he will make his count in lambs according to the needs of each one.
5 Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year. You shall take it from the sheep or the kids.
6 Then 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 twilight.
7 Then they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel of the houses where they eat it.†
8 They shall eat the flesh on that night, roasted in fire; with unleavened bread and bitter herbs they shall eat it.
9 Do not eat it raw, nor boiled at all with water, but roasted in fire—its head with its legs and its entrails.
10 You shall let none of it remain until morning, nor shall you break a bone of it; and what remains of it until morning you shall burn with fire.†
11 Thus you shall eat it: with a belt on your waist, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand. You shall eat it in haste. It is the Lord’s Pascha.†
12 For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute vengeance: I am the Lord.
13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.†
14 So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.†
15 ‘Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
16 On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No servile work shall be done on them; and whatever must be done by each soul, this only shall be done by you.†
17 So you shall keep this commandment, for on this same day I will bring your army out of the land of Egypt. Therefore, you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance.
18 In 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.
19 For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.
20 You shall eat nothing leavened; in all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened bread.’ ”
21 Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go away and take a lamb for yourselves according to your families, and sacrifice the Pascha.
22 Then you shall take a bunch of hyssop, dip it in the blood in the basin, and strike the lintel and the two doorposts with the blood in the basin. But none of you shall go out from the door of his house until morning.†
23 For 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 by the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.†
24 Now you shall observe this thing as an ordinance for you and your children forever.
25 So if you enter the land the Lord shall give you, as He promised, you shall keep this service.
26 Thus it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What does this service mean?’
27 that you shall say, ‘This is the Paschal sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ” So the people bowed down and worshiped.
28 Then the children of Israel went away and did as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron; so they did.
The Plague of the Death of the Firstborn
29 Now it came to pass 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 woman in the dungeon, and the firstborn of all the cattle.
30 So Pharaoh rose in the night, he, all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in all the land of Egypt, for there was not a house where there was not one dead.†
31 Then he called for Moses and Aaron by night and said, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. Go and serve the Lord as you said.
32 Take also your sheep and oxen and go, and bless me as well.”
33 The Egyptians also urged the people so as to send them out of the land in haste. For they said, “We shall all be dead.”†
34 So the people took their dough before it was leavened, having their kneading bowls bound up in their clothes on their shoulders.
35 Thus the children of Israel did as Moses commanded them, and they asked from the Egyptians articles of silver, gold, and clothing.
36 Now the Lord gave the people grace in the sight of the Egyptians, who lent to them. Thus they plundered the Egyptians.
The Exodus
37 Then the children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides their belongings.
38 A mixed multitude also went up with them, along with sheep, oxen, and a great deal of cattle.†
39 Then they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they brought out of Egypt; for it was not leavened, because the Egyptians drove them out; and they could not remain, nor had they prepared for themselves provisions for the journey.
40 Now the sojourn of the children of Israel who lived in Egypt and in the land of Canaan was four hundred and thirty years.
41 Then it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years that the entire army of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt by night.
42 It is a night of vigil to the Lord for bringing them out of the land of Egypt. This is that night of vigil to the Lord for all the children of Israel throughout their generations.
Paschal Regulations
43 Now the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the law of Pascha: no foreigner shall eat it.
44 But every man’s servant bought with money, when you circumcise him, then he may eat it.
45 A sojourner and a hired servant shall not eat it.
46 In one house it shall be eaten; you shall not carry any of the flesh outside the house, nor shall you break one of its bones.
47 All the congregation of the children of Israel shall keep it.
48 But when a stranger dwells with you and wants to keep the Lord’s Pascha, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and sacrifice it; and he shall be as a native of the land. For no uncircumcised person shall eat it.
49 One law shall be for the native-born and for the stranger who dwells among you.”
50 Thus all the children of Israel did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
51 So it came to pass, on that very same day, that the Lord brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their army.
Psalms 54
1 For the End; in hymns; concerning understanding; by David. †
2 Give ear to my prayer, O God, And do not despise my supplication;
3 Attend to me, and hear me. I am vexed in my prayer, and troubled
4 By the enemy’s voice and by the sinner’s affliction; For they turned their lawlessness upon me, And in wrath they were indignant with me.
5 My heart was troubled within me, And the terror of death fell on me.
6 Fear and trembling came upon me, And the darkness covered me.
7 I said, “Who will give me wings like a dove, And I will fly away, and be at rest?
8 Behold, I fled far away, And lodged in the wilderness.” (Pause)
9 I wait for the One who saves me From faintheartedness and storm.
10 Drown them in the sea, O Lord, and divide their tongues; For I see lawlessness and strife in the city.
11 Day and night, it shall surround her upon her walls; Lawlessness and trouble and wrongdoing are in her midst;
12 And usury and treachery Have not ceased from her squares.
Proverbs of Solomon 11
11 A double-tongued man reveals deliberations heard in council, But a man faithful in spirit conceals matters.
12 Those for whom there is no leadership fall like leaves, But there is salvation in much counsel.
13 A wicked man does evil whenever he meets a righteous man, And he hates the sound of stability.
14 A thankful woman raises up glory to her husband, But a throne of dishonor is a woman who hates righteousness.
15 Lazy men are in need of wealth, But courageous men support themselves with wealth.†
Mark 7
A Gentile Woman Believes
24 From there He arose and went to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And He entered a house and wanted no one to know it, but He could not be hidden.†
25 For a woman whose young daughter had an unclean spirit heard about Him, and she came and fell at His feet.
26 The woman was a Greek, a Syro-Phoenician by birth, and she kept asking Him to cast the demon out of her daughter.
27 But Jesus said to her, “Let the children be filled first, for it is not good to take the children’s bread and throw it to the little dogs.”
28 And she answered and said to Him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the little dogs under the table eat from the children’s crumbs.”
29 Then He said to her, “For this saying go your way; the demon has gone out of your daughter.”
30 And when she had come to her house, she found the demon gone out, and her daughter lying on the bed.
The Healing of a Deaf Man
31 Again, departing from the region of Tyre and Sidon, He came through the midst of the region of Decapolis to the Sea of Galilee.
32 Then they brought to Him one who was deaf and had an impediment in his speech, and they begged Him to put His hand on him.
33 And He took him aside from the multitude, and put His fingers in his ears, and He spat and touched his tongue.
34 Then, looking up to heaven, He sighed, and said to him, “Ephphatha,” that is, “Be opened.”†
35 Immediately his ears were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he spoke plainly.
36 Then He commanded them that they should tell no one; but the more He commanded them, the more widely they proclaimed it. †
37 And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.”