Parshat Bo Complete: Exodus 10 1 to 13 16
To “Go or Come”
First Portion
Exodus Chapter 10
The Lord said to Moses: Come to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, in order that I may place
these signs of
Mine in his midst,
and in order that you tell into the ears of your son and your son's son how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and that you tell of My
signs that
I placed in them, and you will know that I am the Lord.
So Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh and said to him, So said the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, How long will you refuse to
humble yourself
before Me? Let My people go, and they will worship Me.
For if you refuse to let them go, behold, tomorrow I am going to bring locusts into your borders.
And they will obscure the view of the earth, and no one will be able to see the earth, and they will eat the surviving remnant, which
remains for
you from the hail, and they will eat all your trees that grow out of the field.
And your houses and the houses of all your servants and the houses of all the Egyptians will be filled, which your fathers and your
fathers'
fathers did not see since the day they were on the earth until this day.' Therewith, he turned and left Pharaoh.
Pharaoh's servants said to him, How long will this one be a stumbling block to us? Let the people go and they will worship their God.
Don't you
yet know that Egypt is lost?
Thereupon, Moses and Aaron were brought back to Pharaoh, and he said to them, Go, worship the Lord your God. Who and who
are going?
Moses said, With our youth and with our elders we will go, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our cattle
we will go,
for it is a festival of the Lord to us.
So he Pharaoh said to them, So may the Lord be with you, just as I will let you and your young children out. See that evil is before
your faces.
Not so; let the men go now and worship the Lord, for that is what you request. And he chased them out from before Pharaoh.
Second Portion
The Lord said to Moses, Stretch forth your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts, and they will ascend over the land of Egypt,
and they
will eat all the vegetation of the earth, all that the hail has left over.
So Moses stretched forth his staff over the land of Egypt, and the Lord led an east wind in the land all that day and all the night. By
the time it
was morning, the east wind had borne the locusts.
The locusts ascended over the entire land of Egypt, and they alighted within all the borders of Egypt, very severe; before them, there
was never
such a locust plague, and after it, there will never be one like it.
They obscured the view of all the earth, and the earth became darkened, and they ate all the vegetation of the earth and all the fruits
of the trees,
which the hail had left over, and no greenery was left in the trees or in the vegetation of the fields throughout the entire land of
Egypt.
Pharaoh hastened to summon Moses and Aaron, and he said, I have sinned against the Lord your God and against you.
But now, forgive now my sin only this time and entreat the Lord your God, and let Him remove from me just this death.
So he Moses left Pharaoh and entreated the Lord,
and the Lord reversed a very strong west wind, and it picked up the locusts and thrust them into the Red Sea. Not one locust
remained within
all the borders of Egypt.
But the Lord strengthened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let the children of Israel go out.
The Lord said to Moses, Stretch forth your hand toward the heavens, and there will be darkness over the land of Egypt, and the
darkness will
become darker.
So Moses stretched forth his hand toward the heavens, and there was thick darkness over the entire land of Egypt for three days.
They did not see each other, and no one rose from his place for three days, but for all the children of Israel there was light in their
dwellings.
Third Portion
Pharaoh summoned Moses and said, Go! Worship the Lord, but your flocks and your cattle shall be left. Your young children may
also go with
you.
But Moses said, You too shall give sacrifices and burnt offerings into our hands, and we will make them for the Lord our God.
And also our cattle will go with us; not a single hoof will remain, for we will take from it to worship the Lord our God, and we do not
know how
much we will worship the Lord until we arrive there.
The Lord strengthened Pharaoh's heart, and he was unwilling to let them out.
Pharaoh said to him, Go away from me! Beware! You shall no longer see my face, for on the day that you see my face, you shall die!
Thereupon, Moses said, You have spoken correctly; I shall no longer see your face.
Exodus Chapter 11
The Lord said to Moses, I will bring one more plague upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go from here. When
he lets you
out, he will completely drive you out of here.
Please, speak into the ears of the people, and let them borrow, each man from his friend and each woman from her friend, silver
vessels and
golden vessels.
So the Lord gave the people favor in the Egyptians' eyes; also the man Moses was highly esteemed in the land of Egypt in the eyes
of
Pharaoh's servants and in the eyes of the people.
Fourth Portion
Moses said, So said the Lord, At the dividing point of the night, I will go out into the midst of Egypt,
and every firstborn in the land of Egypt will die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the firstborn of the slave
woman who is
behind the millstones, and every firstborn animal.
And there will be a great cry throughout the entire land of Egypt, such as there never has been and such as there shall never be
again.
But to all the children of Israel, not one dog will whet its tongue against either man or beast, in order that you shall know that the
Lord will
separate between the Egyptians and between Israel.
And all these servants of yours will come down to me and prostrate themselves to me, saying, 'Go out, you and all the people who
are at your
feet,' and afterwards I will go out. Then he Moses exited from Pharaoh with burning anger.
The Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh will not heed you, in order to increase My miracles in the land of Egypt.
Moses and Aaron had performed all these miracles before Pharaoh, but the Lord strengthened Pharaoh's heart, and he did not let
the children
of Israel out of his land.
Exodus Chapter 12
The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying,
This month shall be to you the head of the months; to you it shall be the first of the months of the year.
Speak to the entire community of Israel, saying, On the tenth of this month, let each one take a lamb for each parental home, a lamb
for each
household.
But if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his neighbor who is nearest to his house shall take one according to the
number of
people, each one according to one's ability to eat, shall you be counted for the lamb.
You shall have a perfect male lamb in its first year; you may take it either from the sheep or from the goats.
And you shall keep it for inspection until the fourteenth day of this month, and the entire congregation of the community of Israel
shall
slaughter it in the afternoon.
And they shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and on the lintel, on the houses in which they will eat it.
And on this night, they shall eat the flesh, roasted over the fire, and unleavened cakes; with bitter herbs they shall eat it.
You shall not eat it rare or boiled in water, except roasted over the fire its head with its legs and with its innards.
And you shall not leave over any of it until morning, and whatever is left over of it until morning, you shall burn in fire.
And this is how you shall eat it: your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it in haste it
is a
Passover sacrifice to the Lord.
I will pass through the land of Egypt on this night, and I will smite every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast, and upon
all the
gods of Egypt will I wreak judgments I, the Lord.
And the blood will be for you for a sign upon the houses where you will be, and I will see the blood and skip over you, and there will
be no
plague to destroy you when I smite the people of the land of Egypt.
And this day shall be for you as a memorial, and you shall celebrate it as a festival for the Lord; throughout your generations, you
shall
celebrate it as an everlasting statute.
For seven days you shall eat unleavened cakes, but on the preceding day you shall clear away all leaven from your houses, for
whoever eats
leaven from the first day until the seventh day that soul shall be cut off from Israel.
And on the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day you shall have a holy convocation; no work may be
performed
on them, but what is eaten by any soul that alone may be performed for you.
And you shall watch over the unleavened cakes, for on this very day I have taken your legions out of the land of Egypt, and you shall
observe
this day throughout your generations, as an everlasting statute.
In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month in the evening, you shall eat unleavened cakes, until the twenty first day of the
month in
the evening.
For seven days, leavening shall not be found in your houses, for whoever eats leavening that soul shall be cut off from the
community of Israel,
both among the strangers and the native born of the land.
You shall not eat any leavening; throughout all your dwellings you shall eat unleavened cakes.
Fifth Portion
Moses summoned all the elders of Israel and said to them, Draw forth or buy for yourselves sheep for your families and slaughter
the Passover
sacrifice.
And you shall take a bunch of hyssop and immerse it in the blood that is in the basin, and you shall extend to the lintel and to the two
doorposts the blood that is in the basin, and you shall not go out, any man from the entrance of his house until morning.
The Lord will pass to smite the Egyptians, and He will see the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, and the Lord will pass
over the
entrance, and He will not permit the destroyer to enter your houses to smite you.
And you shall keep this matter as a statute for you and for your children forever.
And it shall come to pass when you enter the land that the Lord will give you, as He spoke, that you shall observe this service.
And it will come to pass if your children say to you, What is this service to you?
you shall say, It is a Passover sacrifice to the Lord, for He passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He smote
the
Egyptians, and He saved our houses. And the people kneeled and prostrated themselves.
So the children of Israel went and did; as the Lord commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Sixth Portion
Exodus Chapter 12
It came to pass at midnight, and the Lord smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sits on his
throne to the
firstborn of the captive who is in the dungeon, and every firstborn animal.
And Pharaoh arose at night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great outcry in Egypt, for there was no
house in
which no one was dead.
So he called for Moses and Aaron at night, and he said, Get up and get out from among my people, both you, as well as the children
of Israel,
and go, worship the Lord as you have spoken.
Take also your flocks and also your cattle, as you have spoken, and go, but you shall also bless me.
So the Egyptians took hold of the people to hasten to send them out of the land, for they said, We are all dead.
The people picked up their dough when it was not yet leavened, their leftovers bound in their garments on their shoulders.
And the children of Israel did according to Moses' order, and they borrowed from the Egyptians silver objects, golden objects, and
garments.
The Lord gave the people favor in the eyes of the Egyptians, and they lent them, and they emptied out Egypt.
The children of Israel journeyed from Rameses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand on foot, the men, besides the young
children.
And also, a great mixed multitude went up with them, and flocks and cattle, very much livestock.
They baked the dough that they had taken out of Egypt as unleavened cakes, for it had not leavened, for they were driven out of
Egypt, and
they could not tarry, and also, they had not made provisions for themselves.
And the habitation of the children of Israel, that they dwelled in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years.
It came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, and it came to pass in that very day, that all the legions of the Lord went
out of the
land of Egypt.
It is a night of anticipation for the Lord, to take them out of the land of Egypt; this night is the Lord's, guarding all the children of Israel
throughout their generations.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, This is the statute of the Passover sacrifice: No estranged one may partake of it.
And every man's slave, purchased for his money you shall circumcise him; then he will be permitted to partake of it.
A sojourner or a hired hand may not partake of it.
It must be eaten in one house; you shall not take any of the meat out of the house to the outside, neither shall you break any of its
bones.
The entire community of Israel shall make it.
And should a proselyte reside with you, he shall make a Passover sacrifice to the Lord. All his males shall be circumcised, and then
he may
approach to make it, and he will be like the native of the land, but no uncircumcised male may partake of it.
There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger who resides in your midst.
All the children of Israel did; as the Lord had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
It came to pass on that very day, that the Lord took the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt with their legions.
Seventh Portion
Exodus Chapter 13
The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,
Sanctify to Me every firstborn, every one that opens the womb among the children of Israel among man and among animals; it is
Mine.
Moses said to the people, Remember this day, when you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for with a mighty hand, the
Lord took
you out of here, and therefore no leaven shall be eaten.
Today you are going out, in the month of spring.
And it will come to pass that the Lord will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivvites, and the
Jebusites,
which He swore to your forefathers to give you a land flowing with milk and honey and you shall perform this service in this month.
For seven days you shall eat unleavened cakes, and on the seventh day, there is a festival for the Lord.
Unleavened cakes shall be eaten during the seven days, and no leaven shall be seen of yours in your possession, and no leavening
shall be
seen of yours throughout all of your borders.
And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, Because of this, the Lord did this for me when I went out of Egypt.
And it shall be to you as a sign upon your hand and as a remembrance between your eyes, in order that the law of the Lord shall be
in your
mouth, for with a mighty hand the Lord took you out of Egypt.
And you shall keep this statute at its appointed time, from year to year.
And it will come to pass when the Lord will bring you into the land of the Canaanites, as He swore to you and to your forefathers,
and He has
given it to you,
that you shall give over to the Lord whatever opens the womb, and every miscarriage that opens the womb of an animal which will
be yours,
the males belong to the Lord.
And every firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, and if you do not redeem it, you shall decapitate it, and every firstborn of
man among
your sons, you shall redeem.
And it will come to pass if your son asks you in the future, saying, What is this? you shall say to him, With a mighty hand did the Lord
take us
out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
And it came to pass when Pharaoh was too stubborn to let us out, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the
firstborn of man
and the firstborn of beast. Therefore, I slaughter for a sacrifice all males that open the womb, and every firstborn of my sons I will
redeem.
And it shall be for a sign upon your hand and for ornaments between your eyes, for with a mighty hand did the Lord take us out of
Egypt.
