The Passover feast
1 The Lord spoke to Moses in the Sinai desert. The Israelites had left Egypt. It was the second year after the Israelites had left that country. It was the first month during that year. The Lord said, 2 ‘The Israelites must eat the Passover meal at the proper time. They must eat it as the rules about it say. 3 The proper time is during the evening of the 14th day of this month. It is when it starts to become dark. That is when you must eat it. You must obey all its rules and its laws.’
4 So Moses told the Israelites that they should eat the Passover. 5 So they ate the Passover in the first month, on the 14th day when it started to become dark. That was in the Sinai desert. The Israelites did everything that the Lord had said to Moses about it.
6 But there were some people who were not clean. That was because they had touched a dead body. So they could not eat the Passover on that day. So they came to Moses and Aaron on that day. 7 And those people said to Moses, ‘We are not clean because of the dead body that we touched. But we would like to bring our gift to the Lord at the proper time with the other Israelites.’
8 So Moses said to them, ‘Wait here. Then I will ask the Lord about this.’
9 Then the Lord said to Moses, 10 ‘Say to the Israelites, “Anyone among you or your descendants may become not clean because of a dead body. Or they may be away because they are travelling. They can still eat the Passover meal to thank the Lord. 11 They must eat it during the evening of the 14th day of the second month. They must eat it when it starts to become dark. They must eat it with bread and with bitter herbs. The bread must not have yeast in it. 12 They must not keep any of the food until the next morning. And they must not break any of the bones of the lamb. And they must obey all the rules about the Passover. 13 But perhaps a clean person who is at home chooses not to eat the Passover meal. You must make that person separate from his people. That is because he did not offer the proper sacrifices to the Lord at the proper time. So that person must receive the punishment for his sin.
14 People from foreign countries may also eat the Lord's Passover meal, if they are living among you. But they must obey all the rules about the Passover festival. The rules are the same for a foreign person and for an Israelite.” ’
