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The L ord said to Moses: ²Consecrate to me all the firstborn; whatever is the first to open the womb among the Israelites, of human beings and animals, is mine.

The Festival of Unleavened Bread

³ Moses said to the people, “Remember this day on which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, because the L ord brought you out from there by strength of hand; no leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴Today, in the month of Abib, you are going out. ⁵When the L ord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, you shall keep this observance in this month. ⁶Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a festival to the L ord. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen in your possession, and no leaven shall be seen among you in all your territory. ⁸You shall tell your child on that day, ‘It is because of what the L ord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹It shall serve for you as a sign on your hand and as a reminder on your forehead, so that the teaching of the L ord may be on your lips; for with a strong hand the L ord brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰You shall keep this ordinance at its proper time from year to year.

The Consecration of the Firstborn

¹¹ “When the L ord has brought you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your ancestors, and has given it to you, ¹²you shall set apart to the L ord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your livestock that are males shall be the L ord’s. ¹³But every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a sheep; if you do not redeem it, you must break its neck. Every firstborn male among your children you shall redeem. ¹⁴When in the future your child asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall answer, ‘By strength of hand the L ord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. ¹⁵When Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the L ord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborn to the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the L ord every male that first opens the womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶It shall serve as a sign on your hand and as an emblem on your forehead that by strength of hand the L ord brought us out of Egypt.”

The Pillars of Cloud and Fire

¹⁷ When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was nearer; for God thought, “If the people face war, they may change their minds and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸So God led the people by the roundabout way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. The Israelites went up out of the land of Egypt prepared for battle. ¹⁹And Moses took with him the bones of Joseph who had required a solemn oath of the Israelites, saying, “God will surely take notice of you, and then you must carry my bones with you from here.” ²⁰They set out from Succoth, and camped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹The L ord went in front of them in a pillar of cloud by day, to lead them along the way, and in a pillar of fire by night, to give them light, so that they might travel by day and by night. ²²Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

8. And thou shalt shew thy son in that day. He repeats what we have already remarked, viz., an injunction to parents to teach their children, that they may thus transmit the service of God to their descendants. In the preceding chapter it was said, “when your children shall say unto you,” etc.; and now he more briefly commands that God’s goodness should be proclaimed, although none should make inquiry respecting it; because parents ought to be voluntarily disposed to educate their children in the fear of God. He also repeats, as we have seen above, that the memory of their deliverance should be annually renewed lest it should ever fade away, since religion is easily neglected unless men are diligently exercised in its study, tie uses a comparison when he says, “it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes;” as though it had been said that their redemption should be set before their eyes in the passover, just as the ring which is on the finger, or the ornament which is bound upon the forehead are constantly seen. For which purpose also he had before desired that the precepts of the Law should be inscribed both on the head, and on the hands, and fringes of their garments. The sum is, that in the passover a monument of God’s grace should exist, so that it might never sink into oblivion; just as ornaments which appear on the forehead and on the fingers awaken the attention by their being constantly beheld. But, if any should rather be of opinion that Moses alludes to those who, conscious of their own faithlessness, contrive means to assist their memory,³²³³²³ “Et pourtant font des neuds a leurs ceintures, ou quelque marque a leur bonnet;” and therefore make knots in their girdles, or some mark in their cap. — Fr. I offer them no opposition; as if he had said that, since they were disposed to forgetfulness, they should use this remedy, to awaken themselves to gratitude. He will soon afterwards repeat the same injunction, in connection with the offering of the first-born. The following words, “that the Lord’s Law may be in thy mouth,” confirm the opinion that the passover has reference to the First Commandment. They intimate that it is not enough to perform the external rite, unless it be associated with its proper object, viz., that they should devote themselves to God and to His doctrine. He mentions the mouth, not because the main thing is, to speak or discourse of the Law, for if piety lay in the tongue, hypocrites would be the best worshippers of God; but he expressly requires that, when each one shall have privately applied himself to the study of the Law, they shall also mutually teach and exhort each other.

³²³ “Et pourtant font des neuds a leurs ceintures, ou quelque marque a leur bonnet;” and therefore make knots in their girdles, or some mark in their cap. — Fr.