³⁶ and as he watched Jesus walk by, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God.”^[a]

Chapter 12

The Passover Ritual Prescribed.^{[a] 1} The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: ^2 [b]This month will stand at the head of your calendar; you will reckon it the first month of the year.^{(A) 3} Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every family must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. ⁴ If a household is too small for a lamb, it along with its nearest neighbor will procure one, and apportion the lamb’s cost^[c] in proportion to the number of persons, according to what each household consumes. ⁵ Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. ⁶ You will keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight. ⁷ They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. ⁸ They will consume its meat that same night, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. ⁹ Do not eat any of it raw or even boiled in water, but roasted, with its head and shanks and inner organs. ¹⁰ You must not keep any of it beyond the morning; whatever is left over in the morning must be burned up.

¹¹ This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you will eat it in a hurry. It is the Lord’s Passover. ¹² For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn in the land, human being and beast alike, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt—I, the Lord!^{(B) 13} But for you the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.^(C)

¹⁴ This day will be a day of remembrance for you, which your future generations will celebrate with pilgrimage to the Lord; you will celebrate it as a statute forever. ¹⁵ For seven days you must eat unleavened bread. From the very first day you will have your houses clear of all leaven. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day to the seventh will be cut off^[d] from Israel. ¹⁶ On the first day you will hold a sacred assembly, and likewise on the seventh. On these days no sort of work shall be done, except to prepare the food that everyone needs. ¹⁷ Keep, then, the custom of the unleavened bread,^(D) since it was on this very day that I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. You must observe this day throughout your generations as a statute forever. ¹⁸ From the evening of the fourteenth day of the first month until the evening of the twenty-first day of this month you will eat unleavened bread. ¹⁹ For seven days no leaven may be found in your houses; for anyone, a resident alien or a native, who eats leavened food will be cut off from the community of Israel. ²⁰ You shall eat nothing leavened; wherever you dwell you may eat only unleavened bread.

Promulgation of the Passover. ²¹ Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, “Go and procure lambs for your families, and slaughter the Passover victims. ^22 (E)Then take a bunch of hyssop,^[e] and dipping it in the blood that is in the basin, apply some of this blood to the lintel and the two doorposts. And none of you shall go outdoors until morning. ²³ For when the Lord goes by to strike down the Egyptians, seeing the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, the Lord will pass over that door and not let the destroyer come into your houses to strike you down.

²⁴ “You will keep this practice forever as a statute for yourselves and your descendants. ²⁵ Thus, when you have entered the land which the Lord will give you as he promised, you must observe this rite. ^26 (F)When your children ask you, ‘What does this rite of yours mean?’ ²⁷ you will reply, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice for the Lord, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt; when he struck down the Egyptians, he delivered our houses.’”

Then the people knelt and bowed down, ²⁸ and the Israelites went and did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.

Death of the Firstborn. ^29 (G)And so at midnight the Lord struck down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh sitting on his throne to the firstborn of the prisoner in the dungeon, as well as all the firstborn of the animals. ³⁰ Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and there was loud wailing throughout Egypt, for there was not a house without its dead.

Permission to Depart. ³¹ During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Leave my people at once, you and the Israelites! Go and serve the Lord as you said. ³² Take your flocks, too, and your herds, as you said, and go; and bless me, too!”^[f]

³³ The Egyptians, in a hurry to send them away from the land, urged the people on, for they said, “All of us will die!” ³⁴ The people, therefore, took their dough before it was leavened, in their kneading bowls wrapped in their cloaks on their shoulders. ^35 (H)And the Israelites did as Moses had commanded: they asked the Egyptians for articles of silver and gold and for clothing. ³⁶ Indeed the Lord had made the Egyptians so well-disposed toward the people that they let them have whatever they asked for. And so they despoiled the Egyptians.

Departure from Egypt. ³⁷ The Israelites set out from Rameses^(I) for Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, not counting the children. ³⁸ A crowd of mixed ancestry^[g] also went up with them, with livestock in great abundance, both flocks and herds. ³⁹ The dough they had brought out of Egypt they baked into unleavened loaves. It was not leavened, because they had been driven out of Egypt and could not wait. They did not even prepare food for the journey.

⁴⁰ The time the Israelites had stayed in Egypt^[h] was four hundred and thirty years.^{(J) 41} At the end of four hundred and thirty years, on this very date, all the armies of the Lord left the land of Egypt. ⁴² This was a night of vigil for the Lord, when he brought them out of the land of Egypt; so on this night all Israelites must keep a vigil for the Lord throughout their generations.

Law of the Passover. ⁴³ The Lord said to Moses and Aaron: This is the Passover statute. No foreigner may eat of it. ⁴⁴ However, every slave bought for money you will circumcise; then he may eat of it. ⁴⁵ But no tenant or hired worker may eat of it. ⁴⁶ It must be eaten in one house; you may not take any of its meat outside the house.^(K) You shall not break any of its bones.^{[i] 47} The whole community of Israel must celebrate this feast. ⁴⁸ If any alien^(L) residing among you would celebrate the Passover for the Lord, all his males must be circumcised, and then he may join in its celebration just like the natives. But no one who is uncircumcised may eat of it. ⁴⁹ There will be one law^[j] for the native and for the alien residing among you.

⁵⁰ All the Israelites did exactly as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. ⁵¹ On that same day the Lord brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt company by company.

Chapter 5

The Scroll and the Lamb.^{[a] 1} I saw a scroll^[b] in the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.^{(A) 2} Then I saw a mighty angel who proclaimed in a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals?” ³ But no one in heaven or on earth or under the earth was able to open the scroll or to examine it. ⁴ I shed many tears because no one was found worthy to open the scroll or to examine it. ⁵ One of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. The lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,^[c] has triumphed, enabling him to open the scroll with its seven seals.”^(B)

⁶ Then I saw standing in the midst of the throne and the four living creatures and the elders a Lamb^[d] that seemed to have been slain. He had seven horns and seven eyes; these are the [seven] spirits of God sent out into the whole world.^{(C) 7} He came and received the scroll from the right hand of the one who sat on the throne. ⁸ When he took it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each of the elders held a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of the holy ones. ⁹ They sang a new hymn:

¹¹ I looked again and heard the voices of many angels who surrounded the throne and the living creatures and the elders. They were countless^[e] in number,^{(E) 12} and they cried out in a loud voice:

¹³ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea, everything in the universe, cry out:

¹⁴ The four living creatures answered, “Amen,” and the elders fell down and worshiped.

IV. The Seven Seals, Trumpets, and Plagues, with Interludes^[f]

Chapter 6^[g]

The First Six Seals. ^1 [h]Then I watched while the Lamb broke open the first of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures cry out in a voice like thunder, “Come forward.” ² I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider had a bow.^[i] He was given a crown, and he rode forth victorious to further his victories.^(F)

³ When he broke open the second seal, I heard the second living creature cry out, “Come forward.” ^4 [j](G)Another horse came out, a red one. Its rider was given power to take peace away from the earth, so that people would slaughter one another. And he was given a huge sword.

⁵ When he broke open the third seal, I heard the third living creature cry out, “Come forward.” I looked, and there was a black horse,^[k] and its rider held a scale in his hand. ⁶ I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures. It said, “A ration of wheat costs a day’s pay,^[l] and three rations of barley cost a day’s pay. But do not damage the olive oil or the wine.”^(H)

⁷ When he broke open the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature cry out, “Come forward.” ⁸ I looked, and there was a pale green^[m] horse. Its rider was named Death, and Hades accompanied him. They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword, famine, and plague, and by means of the beasts of the earth.^(I)

⁹ When he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar^[n] the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the witness they bore to the word of God. ¹⁰ They cried out in a loud voice, “How long will it be, holy and true master,^[o] before you sit in judgment and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?” ¹¹ Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little while longer until the number was filled of their fellow servants and brothers who were going to be killed as they had been.

^12 [p]Then I watched while he broke open the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake; the sun turned as black as dark sackcloth^[q] and the whole moon became like blood.^{(J) 13} The stars in the sky fell to the earth like unripe figs^[r] shaken loose from the tree in a strong wind. ¹⁴ Then the sky was divided^[s] like a torn scroll curling up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place.^{(K) 15} The kings of the earth, the nobles,^[t] the military officers, the rich, the powerful, and every slave and free person hid themselves in caves and among mountain crags. ¹⁶ They cried out to the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of the one who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb,^{(L) 17} because the great day of their^[u] wrath has come and who can withstand it?”

Chapter 7^[v]

The 144,000 Sealed. ¹ After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth,^[w] holding back the four winds of the earth so that no wind could blow on land or sea or against any tree.^{(M) 2} Then I saw another angel come up from the East,^[x] holding the seal of the living God. He cried out in a loud voice to the four angels who were given power to damage the land and the sea, ³ “Do not damage the land or the sea or the trees until we put the seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.”^{(N) 4} I heard the number of those who had been marked with the seal, one hundred and forty-four thousand marked^[y] from every tribe of the Israelites:^{(O) 5} twelve thousand were marked from the tribe of Judah,^[z] twelve thousand from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand from the tribe of Gad, ⁶ twelve thousand from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand from the tribe of Manasseh, ⁷ twelve thousand from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand from the tribe of Issachar, ⁸ twelve thousand from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand from the tribe of Joseph, and twelve thousand were marked from the tribe of Benjamin.

Triumph of the Elect. ⁹ After this I had a vision of a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation, race, people, and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb, wearing white robes and holding palm branches^[aa] in their hands. ¹⁰ They cried out in a loud voice:

¹¹ All the angels stood around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They prostrated themselves before the throne, worshiped God, ¹² and exclaimed:

¹³ Then one of the elders spoke up and said to me, “Who are these wearing white robes, and where did they come from?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “My lord, you are the one who knows.” He said to me, “These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress;^[ac] they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.^(P)

¹⁴ They will fight with the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and king of kings, and those with him are called, chosen, and faithful.”^(A)