Exodus 13 — FBV
13Verse 1The Lord told Moses,Verse 2“Every firstborn male is to be dedicated to me. The firstborn from every Israelite family belongs to me, and also every firstborn animal.”Verse 3So Moses told the people, “Remember this is the day you left Egypt, the land of your slavery, for the Lord led you out of it by his amazing power. (Nothing with yeast in it shall be eaten.)Verse 4Today you are on your way, this day in the month of Abib.Verse 5The Lord is going to take you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites, and Jebusites, the land he promised your forefathers he would give you, a land flowing with milk and honey. So you are to observe this ceremony in this month.Verse 6For seven days you are to only eat bread without yeast, and on the seventh day hold a religious festival to honor the Lord.Verse 7Only bread without yeast is to be eaten during those seven days. You are not to have any yeast, in fact there is to be no yeast in any place where you live.Verse 8On that day tell your children, ‘This is because of what the Lord did for me when I left Egypt.’Verse 9When you celebrate this ceremony+it will be like a sign on your hand and a reminder between your eyes that this teaching of the Lord should be spoken about regularly. For the Lord led you out of Egypt with his great power.Verse 10That's why you are to observe this ceremony at the proper time every year.Verse 11Once the Lord takes you into the land of the Canaanites and gives it to you, as he promised you and your forefathers,Verse 12you are to present to the Lord all firstborn males, human or animal. The firstborn males of your livestock all belong to the Lord.Verse 13You must buy back every firstborn donkey with a lamb, and if you don't do so, you have to break its neck. You must buy back every firstborn of your sons.Verse 14When in the future your children come to you and ask, ‘Why is this ceremony important to you?’ you are to tell them, ‘The Lord led us out of Egypt, the land of our slavery, by his amazing power.Verse 15Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us leave, so the Lord killed every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human and animal. That's the reason why I sacrifice to the Lord the firstborn male of every animal, and I buy back all the firstborn of my sons.’Verse 16In this way it will be like a sign on your hand and a reminder between your eyes, for the Lord led us out of Egypt by his amazing power.”Verse 17When Pharaoh let the Israelites leave, God did not lead them along the road through the land of the Philistines, even though that was a shorter way. For God said, “If they are forced to fight, they might change their minds and go back to Egypt.”Verse 18So God led the people by the longer way through the desert towards the Red Sea. When the Israelites left the land of Egypt they were like an army ready for battle.Verse 19Moses carried Joseph's bones with him because Joseph had made the sons of Israel swear a solemn promise, saying, “God will definitely take care of you, and then you must take my bones with you when you leave here.”Verse 20They traveled on from Succoth and camped at Etham on the edge of the desert.Verse 21The Lord went ahead of them as a pillar of cloud to show them the way during the day, and as a pillar of fire to provide them with light at night. Like this they could travel by day or night.Verse 22The pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire at night were always in front of the people.