Before the final plague, God told Moses and Aaron to make that month the first month of the year. Every household was to choose an unblemished year-old male lamb on the tenth day and kill it at twilight on the fourteenth. They were to roast it, eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and leave none until morning. They ate dressed for travel, with belts fastened, sandals on, and staffs in hand.
They put the lamb’s blood on the doorposts and lintels of the houses where they ate. God said that he would pass through Egypt and strike the firstborn of people and animals, but would pass over houses marked by blood. The day would be a memorial, and the people were to eat unleavened bread for seven days. Anyone eating leaven during that feast would be cut off from Israel.
At midnight every firstborn in Egypt died. Pharaoh, his servants, and Egypt cried out loudly. Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron at night and told the people to leave with their flocks and herds, asking for a blessing as well. Egyptians pressed them to go quickly. The Israelites carried their unleavened dough in bowls wrapped on their shoulders.
They asked Egyptians for silver, gold, and clothing, and the Egyptians gave what they asked. The Israelites traveled from Rameses to Succoth: about six hundred thousand men besides children, with many other people and much livestock. On the very night that marked four hundred thirty years in Egypt, the Israelites came out of the land.