A reading from the book of Exodus.

Although Moses and Aaron performed various wonders in Pharaoh's presence, the Lord made Pharaoh obstinate, and he would not let the children of Israel leave his

land. The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, this month shall stand at the head of your

calendar. You shall reckon it as the first month of the year. Tell the whole community of Israel,

on the tenth of this month, every one of your

families must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a family is too

small for a whole lamb, it shall join the nearest household in procuring one, and shall share

in the lamb, in proportion to the number of persons

who partake of it. The lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it

from either the sheep or the goats. You shall keep until the fourth-teenth day of the month, and then, with the whole assembly of Israel present, it shall be slaughtered during the evening twilight.

They shall take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of every house in which they partake of the lamb.

That same night, they shall eat it roasted flesh with unleavened bread. of every house in which they partake of the lamb.

That same night they shall eat it roasted flesh with unleavened bread and bitter herbs.

It shall not be eaten raw or boiled, but roasted whole, with its head and shanks and inner organs.

None of it must be kept beyond the next morning. Whatever is left over in the morning

shall be burned up. This is how you are to eat it. With your loins, girt, sandals on your feet,

and staff in your hand, you shall eat like those who are in flight. It is the Passover of the

lamb, for on this night night same night I will go through

Egypt, striking down every firstborn of the land, both man and beast, and executing judgment

all the gods of Egypt, I the Lord. But the blood which marks the houses where you are, seeing the blood I will pass

over you. Thus, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you. This day shall be a

memorial feast for you, which all generations shall celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord as a perpetual

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