The Bible, Douay-Rheims Part 41

10:24. And Pharao called Moses and Aaron, and said to them: Go, sacrifice to the Lord: let your sheep only, and herds remain, let your children go with you.

10:25. Moses said: Thou shalt give us also sacrifices and burnt- offerings, to the Lord our G.o.d.

10:26. All the flocks shall go with us; there shall not a hoof remain of them: for they are necessary for the service of the Lord our G.o.d: especially as we know not what must be offered, till we come to the very place.

10:27. And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, and he would not let them go.

10:28. And Pharao said to Moses: Get thee from me, and beware thou see not my face any more: in what day soever thou shalt come in my sight, thou shalt die.

10:29. Moses answered: So shall it be as thou hast spoken, I will not see thy face anymore.

Exodus Chapter 11

Pharao and his people are threatened with the death of their firstborn.

11:1. And the Lord said to Moses: Yet one plague more will I bring upon Pharao and Egypt, and after that he shall let you go, and thrust you out.

11:2. Therefore thou shalt tell all the people, that every man ask of his friend, and every woman of her neighbour, vessels of silver and of gold.

11:3. And the Lord will give favour to his people in the sight of the Egyptians. And Moses was a very great man in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharao's servants, and of all the people.

11:4. And he said: Thus saith the Lord: At midnight I will enter into Egypt:

11:5. And every firstborn in the land of the Egyptians shall die, from the firstborn of Pharao who sitteth on his throne, even to the firstborn of the handmaid that is at the mill, and all the firstborn of beasts.

11:6. And there shall be a great cry in all the land of Egypt, such as neither hath been before, nor shall be hereafter.

11:7. But with all the children of Israel there shall not a dog make the least noise, from man even to beast; that you may know how wonderful a difference the Lord maketh between the Egyptians and Israel.

11:8. And all these thy servants shall come down to me, and shall wors.h.i.+p me, saying: Go forth thou, and all the people that is under thee: after that we will go out.

11:9. And he went out from Pharao exceeding angry. But the Lord said to Moses: Pharao will not hear you, that many signs may be done in the land of Egypt.

11:10. And Moses and Aaron did all the wonders that are written, before Pharao. And the Lord hardened Pharao's heart, neither did he let the children of Israel go out of his land.

The Lord hardened, etc... See the annotations above, chap. 4.21, and chap. 7.3.

Exodus Chapter 12

The manner of preparing, and eating the paschal lamb: the firstborn of Egypt are all slain: the Israelites depart.

12:1. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt:

12:2. This month shall be to you the beginning of months; it shall be the first in the months of the year.

12:3. Speak ye to the whole a.s.sembly of the children of Israel, and say to them: On the tenth day of this month let every man take a lamb by their families and houses.

12:4. But if the number be less than may suffice to eat the lamb, he shall take unto him his neighbour that joineth to his house, according to the number of souls which may be enough to eat the lamb.

12:5. And it shall be a lamb without blemish, a male, of one year; according to which rite also you shall take a kid.

A kid... The phase might be performed, either with a lamb or with a kid: and all the same rites and ceremonies were to be used with the one as with the other.

12:6. And you shall keep it until the fourteenth day of this month; and the whole mult.i.tude of the children of Israel shall sacrifice it in the evening.

12:7. And they shall take of the blood thereof, and put it upon both the side posts, and on the upper door posts of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.

12:8. And they shall eat the flesh that night roasted at the fire, and unleavened bread with wild lettuce.

12:9. You shall not eat thereof any thing raw, nor boiled in water, but only roasted at the fire; you shall eat the head with the feet and entrails thereof.

12:10. Neither shall there remain any thing of it until morning. If there be any thing left, you shall burn it with fire.

12:11. And thus you shall eat it: you shall gird your reins, and you shall have shoes on your feet, holding staves in your hands, and you shall eat in haste; for it is the Phase (that is the Pa.s.sage) of the Lord.

12:12. And I will pa.s.s through the land of Egypt that night, and will kill every firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast: and against all the G.o.ds of Egypt I will execute judgments; I am the Lord.

12:13. And the blood shall be unto you for a sign in the houses where you shall be; and I shall see the blood, and shall pa.s.s over you; and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I shall strike the land of Egypt.

12:14. And this day shall be for a memorial to you; and you shall keep it a feast to the Lord in your generations, with an everlasting observance.

12:15. Seven days shall you eat unleavened bread: in the first day there shall be no leaven in your houses; whosoever shall eat any thing leavened, from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall perish out of Israel.

12:16. The first day shall be holy and solemn, and the seventh day shall be kept with the like solemnity: you shall do no work in them, except those things that belong to eating.

12:17. And you shall observe the feast of the unleavened bread: for in this same day I will bring forth your army out of the land of Egypt, and you shall keep this day in your generations by a perpetual observance.

12:18: The first month, the fourteenth day of the month, in the evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the same month, in the evening.

Unleavened bread... By this it appears, that our Saviour made use of unleavened bread, in the inst.i.tution of the blessed sacrament, which was on the evening of the paschal solemnity, at which time there was no leavened bread to be found in Israel.

12:19. Seven days there shall not be found any leaven in your houses: he that shall eat leavened bread, his soul shall perish out of the a.s.sembly of Israel, whether he be a stranger or born in the land.

12:20. You shall not eat any thing leavened: in all your habitations you shall eat unleavened bread.

12:21. And Moses called all the ancients of the children of Israel, and said to them: Go take a lamb by your families, and sacrifice the Phase.

12:22. And dip a bunch of hyssop in the blood that is at the door, and sprinkle the transom of the door therewith, and both the door cheeks: let none of you go out of the door of his house till morning.

Sprinkle, etc... This sprinkling the doors of the Israelites with the blood of the paschal lamb, in order to their being delivered from the sword of the destroying angel, was a lively figure of our redemption by the blood of Christ.

12:23. For the Lord will pa.s.s through striking the Egyptians: and when he shall see the blood on the transom, and on both the posts, he will pa.s.s over the door of the house, and not suffer the destroyer to come into your houses and to hurt you.

12:24. Thou shalt keep this thing as a law for thee and thy children for ever.

12:25. And when you have entered into the land which the Lord will give you, as he hath promised, you shall observe these ceremonies.

12:26. And when your children shall say to you: What is the meaning of this service?