Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our
hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you
never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who
lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
FIRST LESSON Exodus 12:1-14
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt: This month
shall mark for you the beginning of months; it shall be the first month of the year for
you. Tell the whole congregation of Israel that on the tenth of this month they are to
take a lamb for each family, a lamb for each household. If a household is too small for a
whole lamb, it shall join its closest neighbor in obtaining one; the lamb shall be divided
in proportion to the number of people who eat of it. Your lamb shall be without blemish, a
year-old male; you may take it from the sheep or from the goats. You shall keep it until
the fourteenth day of this month; then the whole assembled congregation of Israel shall
slaughter it at twilight. They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two
doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They shall eat the lamb that
same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire with unleavened bread and bitter
herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or boiled in water, but roasted over the fire, with its
head, legs, and inner organs. You shall let none of it remain until the morning; anything
that remains until the morning you shall burn. This is how you shall eat it: your loins
girded, your sandals on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and you shall eat it
hurriedly. It is the passover of the Lord. For I will pass through the land of Egypt that
night, and I will strike down every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both human beings and
animals; on all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments: I am the Lord. The blood shall
be a sign for you on the houses where you live: when I see the blood, I will pass over
you, and no plague shall destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt. This day shall be a
day of remembrance for you. You shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord; throughout
your generations you shall observe it as a perpetual ordinance.
