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14 In future years, you must remember this day as a special day every year. It will be a festival when you worship me, the Lord. You and your descendants must do this every year, for all time. 15 For seven days, you must eat flat bread that has no yeast in it. On the first day of the Passover festival, you must take all the yeast out of your houses. During those seven days, if anyone eats bread with yeast in it, he will no longer belong to my people, the Israelites.
16 On the first day of the festival, you must bring together all the people to a special meeting. And you must do the same thing on the seventh day. On these special days, you must not do your usual work. You may prepare the food that you need to eat on those days. That is the only work that you may do.
17 This will be the Feast of Flat Bread, when you eat bread with no yeast in it. You will remember that I brought you all out of the country of Egypt on this day. You marched out like an army, family by family! That is why you must enjoy this day as a special day, for all time. This is a rule that you must always obey. 18 In the first month of each year, you must eat bread without yeast in it. Do this from the evening of the 14th day until the evening of the 21st day. 19 For those seven days, you must not have any yeast in your houses. Whoever eats anything with yeast in it will no longer belong to my people, the Israelites. Everyone must obey these rules, those who live among you as strangers, as well as those who have been born in your land. 20 Eat nothing that has yeast in it. Whatever country you live in, you must eat bread without yeast in it.’
21 Then Moses called the leaders of the Israelites to come to him. He said to them, ‘Go immediately and choose a lamb for each of your families. Then kill the animals for the Passover feast. 22 Put the blood into a dish. Then take a branch of hyssop.[a] Make it wet with the blood that is in the dish. Then put some of the blood on the wood that is round your door. Nobody must go out of the door of his house until the morning. 23 The Lord will pass through the country and he will kill the Egyptians. But when the Lord sees the blood on the wood round the door, he will pass over that house. He will not let the death angel come into your houses. The Lord will not let him kill you.
24 You must obey these rules always, both you and your descendants, for all time. 25 You will go into the land that the Lord promised to give you. Then you must continue to obey these rules. 26 Your children may say to you, “What does this feast mean?” 27 Then you must say to them, “It is the Lord's Passover sacrifice. The Lord passed over the houses of the Israelites when they were in Egypt. He killed the Egyptians but he saved our families.” ’ Then the people bent their heads down to the ground and they worshipped God.
28 The Israelites did everything that the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron.
29 At midnight, the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in the land of Egypt. The firstborn son of Pharaoh, the king, died. But also, the firstborn son of any man who was in prison died. Every firstborn son in Egypt died. All the firstborn animals also died. 30 Pharaoh and all his officers woke up in the middle of the night. All the Egyptians also woke up in the middle of the night. Everyone was crying loudly everywhere in Egypt. In every home, somebody had died that night.
The Israelites leave Egypt
31 During the night, Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron to come to him. He said, ‘Get out of here! Take all the Israelites with you and go away from my people! Go and worship the Lord, as you asked me before. 32 Take all your animals with you, as you have said. Just go away! But also pray that God will bless me.’
33 The Egyptians were telling the Israelites to leave quickly. They wanted them to go out of the country immediately. The Egyptians said, ‘If we do not send them away immediately, we will all die!’
34 So the Israelites took their bread before they had cooked it. They had not even put the yeast into it. They put the bread in dishes and they put clothes round the dishes. Then they carried the dishes on their shoulders. 35 The Israelites obeyed Moses. They asked the Egyptians for silver and gold. They also asked them for clothes. 36 The Lord had caused the Egyptians to be kind to the Israelites. Because of this, the Egyptians gave the Israelites everything that they asked for. In that way, the Israelites took away all the valuable things that belonged to the Egyptians.
37 The Israelites travelled from Rameses to Succoth. There were about 600,000 men who walked. There were also many women and children. 38 Many other people also travelled with them. They had a very large number of sheep, goats and cows. 39 The Israelites cooked the bread that they had brought with them from Egypt. It had no yeast in it, because they had to leave Egypt quickly. The Egyptians did not let them wait. So the Israelites did not have time to prepare any food for themselves.[b]
40 The Israelites had lived in Egypt for 430 years. 41 It was on the last day of the 430 years that all the Lord's people left Egypt. They left in family groups, like an army. 42 The Lord carefully watched his people all that night, when he brought them out of Egypt. Because of that, all Israelites must watch carefully during this special night. They and their descendants must do this every year, to thank the Lord.
Rules for the Passover festival
43 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘These are the rules for the Passover festival:
No foreign person may eat the Passover meal. 44 If you buy a foreign slave, you must first circumcise him. Then he may eat the food. 45 But if you pay him money for his work, he must not eat the food. A visitor also must not eat the food.
46 You must eat the meal in one house. You must not take any of the meat outside the house. You must not break any of the bones in the meat. 47 All the Israelites must enjoy the feast together.
48 There may be a foreign person who lives among you. He may want to join you to eat the Lord's Passover meal. But he must first be circumcised as well as all the men in his house. Then he can join with you and eat the Passover meal. He will be like a man who has been born in Israel. But no male person without circumcision can join the Passover feast. 49 Both the people who were born as Israelites and the foreign people who live among you must obey this rule.’
50 All the Israelites did everything that the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron. 51 On that same day, the Lord brought the Israelites out of Egypt, in family groups, like an army.
Firstborn sons
13 The Lord spoke to Moses. 2 He said, ‘Keep every firstborn male separate and special for me. Every male who is the first to be born of his mother is mine. He is mine, whether he is man or animal.’[c]
3 Moses said to the people, ‘Remember this day, the day when you came out of Egypt. You left the place where you were slaves. The Lord brought you out with his powerful authority. Remember! Do not eat anything that has yeast in it on this day. 4 Today you are leaving Egypt. It is the first month of the year, called Abib. 5 The Lord will bring you to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. God promised your ancestors that he would give that land to you. The land will give you plenty of good food and drink, enough for everyone. When the Lord brings you into that place, you must eat the Passover meal to worship God in this month every year. 6 For seven days you must eat bread without yeast in it. Then on the seventh day you must have a festival for the Lord. 7 Eat bread without yeast during those seven days. There must not be any yeast left among you, in the whole of your land.
8 On that day, you must tell your children the reason for this festival. Tell them, “We do this because of what the Lord did for us. He brought us out of Egypt.” 9 This special time will be like a mark on your hand. It will be like something that you fix between your eyes. It will be a sign that causes you to remember what happened on this day. Then you will not forget to speak about the Law of the Lord. Remember this: The Lord brought you out of Egypt with his great power. 10 Every year, at the right time you must do what I have said.
11 The Lord will bring you into the land of the Canaanites. It is the land that he promised to give to you and to your ancestors. When he gives it to you, you must do this: 12 You must give to the Lord all the firstborn males. That includes your own firstborn sons, and the male animals that are born first. They belong to the Lord. 13 When a donkey gives birth to her first male, you must give a lamb to God, instead of the donkey. If you do not do that, you must kill the donkey. You must break its neck. For any of your own firstborn sons, you must give an animal instead of your son.
14 One day, your son may ask you, “What does this mean?” Then you must say to him, “The Lord brought us out of Egypt with his powerful authority. He took us away from the place where we were slaves. 15 Pharaoh refused to let us go. But the Lord killed all the firstborn sons in the country of Egypt. He killed all the firstborn males, both people and animals. That is why I offer all the firstborn male animals as a sacrifice to the Lord. But for each of my firstborn sons, I give an animal to God instead.” 16 It will be like a mark on your hand or something that you fix between your eyes. It will be a sign that causes you to remember what happened. You will remember that the Lord used his great power to bring us out of Egypt.’
Jesus causes two men to see near Jericho
29 Later, Jesus and his disciples were leaving Jericho. A large crowd of people followed him. 30 Two men were sitting at the side of the road. They were blind. But they heard that Jesus was walking past them. So they shouted, ‘Master! Son of David![a] Please be kind to us and help us.’
31 The people who were in the crowd were angry with them. They told them that they should be quiet. But the men shouted even louder, ‘Master! Son of David! Please help us!’
32 Jesus stopped there. He asked the two men, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’
33 ‘Sir,’ the men replied, ‘we want to see again.’
34 Jesus felt sorry for the two men. He touched their eyes and immediately the men could see again. So they followed Jesus along the road.
Jesus goes into Jerusalem
21 Jesus and his 12 disciples were coming near to Jerusalem. They came to the village called Bethphage.[b] They were on the Mount of Olives.[c] Then Jesus sent two of his disciples to go further.
2 He said to them, ‘Go into the village that is in front of you. When you arrive there, you will immediately see a donkey tied there with her young donkey. Undo the ropes and bring both the donkeys here to me. 3 Someone may ask you, “What are you doing?” Then say, “The Master needs them. He will send them back to you soon.” ’
4 A prophet had spoken a message from God about this long ago. Now it became true.
5 ‘Say to the people in Jerusalem,
“Look, your king is coming to you.
He does not come like someone who thinks that he is important.
He is riding on a donkey.
Yes, he is riding on a young donkey.” ’[d]
6 So the two disciples went to the village. They did everything that Jesus had told them to do. 7 They brought the donkey and the young donkey to Jesus. They put their coats on the backs of the donkeys. Then Jesus got up and sat on one of them. 8 Many people in the crowd put their coats down on the road. Other people cut branches down from trees. They put these branches down on the road.[e]
9 Many crowds of people went in front of Jesus and other people followed him. All of them were shouting,
‘We praise the Son of David!
May the Lord God bless the king who comes with his authority!
We praise God in heaven above!’[f]
10 When Jesus went into Jerusalem, everybody in the city had trouble in their minds. They were asking each other, ‘Who is this man?’
11 The people in the crowd replied, ‘This is God's prophet, Jesus. He comes from Nazareth in Galilee.’
Jesus visits the temple
12 Jesus then went into the yard of the temple.[g] People were buying and selling things there. Jesus made them all leave that place. He pushed over the tables of the men who changed coins.[h] He also pushed over the seats of the men who sold birds.
13 Jesus spoke to them all. He said, ‘The Bible says, “God's house will be a place where people come together to pray.” But you have changed it into a place where robbers meet.’[i]
14 Blind people went to meet Jesus in the yard of the temple. People who could not walk very well also went there. Jesus caused them all to become well. 15 The leaders of the priests and teachers of God's Law saw all the powerful things that Jesus did. They also saw children in the yard of the temple who were shouting, ‘Welcome! We pray that God will be good to you, Son of David!’ All these things caused the important Jews to become very angry.
16 They asked Jesus, ‘Can you hear what these children are saying?’
Jesus replied, ‘Yes, I can hear them. I am sure that you have read this in the Bible:
“Lord God, babies and children praise you.
You yourself have taught them to do that.” ’[j]
17 Then Jesus left everyone and he went out of Jerusalem. He stayed that night in Bethany, a village near the city.[k]
Jesus causes a fruit tree to die
18 On the next day, early in the morning, Jesus left Bethany to return to Jerusalem. On the way there, he was hungry. 19 He saw a fig tree near to the road. He went to see if it had fruit on it. But there were only leaves on the tree, and no fruit. Jesus said to the tree, ‘No fruit will ever grow on you again!’ Then, immediately, the tree became dry and it died.
20 The disciples saw it happen and they were very surprised. And they asked Jesus, ‘How did the tree die so quickly?’
21 Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you this: You must believe in God. You must not have other ideas in your mind. If you believe in God, then you could also do the same thing to this fig tree. You could even say to this mountain, “Move away and throw yourself into the sea!” Then it would really happen. 22 So when you pray to ask God for something, believe in him. Then God will give you whatever you ask for.’
16 Please turn towards me, Lord,
and be kind to me.
I feel very weak and lonely.
17 I worry a lot about my troubles.
Please rescue me from them!
18 Look at all my pain!
See how I am suffering!
Forgive me for all my sins.
19 Look at all my enemies!
There are very many of them!
They hate me so much
that they want to hurt me.
20 Keep my life safe and take care of me.
I have come to you to keep me safe,
so do not let me be ashamed.
21 I trust you to save me.
Please take care of me,
because I am honest and good.
22 God, save Israel's people from all their troubles!
12 A useless, wicked person is always deceiving people. 13 He sends secret messages with his eyes, his feet or his fingers. 14 He uses evil thoughts to decide how he will hurt people. Wherever he goes, there is trouble.
15 Because of this, trouble will suddenly happen to him. It will knock him down and he will never get up again.
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