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(4) Moses said, “Thus says יהוה: Toward midnight I will go forth among the Egyptians, (5) and every [male] first-born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sits on his throne to the first-born of the slave girl who is behind the millstones; and all the first-born of the cattle. (6) And there shall be a loud cry in all the land of Egypt, such as has never been or will ever be again; (7) but not a dog shall snarl at any of the Israelites, at human or beast—in order that you may know that יהוה makes a distinction between Egypt and Israel.

כחצות הלילה means, WHEN THE NIGHT IS DIVIDED (i. e., when midnight arrives). כחצות is an infinitive with prefix, of similar form to, (1 Kings 18:36) בעלות, “when went up” and (Psalms 124:3) “when their wrath was kindled (בחרות)”. This is its literal meaning which fits in with the sense, for חצות is not a noun, being another form of חֵצִי (when the meaning would be about midnight I will go out etc.”, for this does not fit in with the sense, since God would certainly have stated exactly when He would do this). But our Rabbis took it in this sense and explained it as meaning “about the middle of the night”, and they asserted that Moses said כחצות “about midnight”, which implies near to it — either just before it or just after it, and he did not say בחצות “at midnight” (as God had bidden him say) because he feared lest Pharaoh’s astrologers might make a mistake as regards the time when the slaughter of the firstborn actually took place, thinking that it was a little earlier or later than midnight, and would say, in consequence of this error, “Moses is a liar!” (cf. Berakhot 4a).

In the middle of the night יהוה struck down all the [male] first-born in the land of Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh who sat on the throne to the first-born of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the first-born of the cattle.

(3) Speak to the community leadership of Israel and say that on the tenth of this month each of them shall take a lamb to a family, a lamb to a household.

(6) You shall keep watch over it until the fourteenth day of this month; and all the assembled congregation of the Israelites shall slaughter it at twilight. (7) They shall take some of the blood and put it on the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they are to eat it. (8) They shall eat the flesh that same night; they shall eat it roasted over the fire, with unleavened bread and with bitter herbs.

(10) You shall not leave any of it over until morning; if any of it is left until morning, you shall burn it. (11)

(41) at the end of the four hundred and thirtieth year, to the very day, all the ranks of יהוה departed from the land of Egypt. (42) That was for יהוה a night of vigil to bring them out of the land of Egypt; that same night is יהוה’s, one of vigil for all the children of Israel throughout the ages.

ליל שמרים IT WAS NIGHT OF WATCHING [UNTO THE LORD] — a night which the Holy One, blessed be He, was watching for and looking forward to, that He might fulfill His promise להוציאם מארץ מצרים TO BRING THEM OUT FROM THE LAND OF EGYPT.

'הוא הלילה הזה לה IT IS THIS NIGHT OF THE LORD — it is the night of which He said to Abraham, “On this night will I redeem your children” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 12:42; cf. Rashi on Genesis 39:11).

שמרים לכל בני ישראל לדרתם [IT IS A NIGHT] OF PROTECTION FOR ALL THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THROUGHOUT THEIR GENERATIONS — this night is protected, and comes as such from ages past, against all destructive forces, as it is said, (v. 33) “And He will not permit the destroyer [to enter your houses]” (Pesachim 109b; Rosh Hashanah 11b).

(14) When Abram heard that his kinsman’s [household] had been taken captive, he mustered his retainers, born into his household, numbering three hundred and eighteen, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. (15) At night, he and his servants deployed against them and defeated them; and he pursued them as far as Hobah, which is north of Damascus.

ויחלק עליהם AND HE DIVIDED HIMSELF AGAINST THEM — In accordance with its plain sense you must invert the order of the words of the verse: “And he divided himself, he and his servants, against them, at night”, as is the manner of those who pursue their enemies — they divide themselves up to follow after those of whom they are in pursuit when these flee in different directions.

לילה BY NIGHT, meaning, even after it became dark they did not give up pursuing them. According to the Midrashic explanation, it was the night that was divided): during its first half a miracle was wrought for him, and the second half was kept in reserve for the miracle of the midnight in Egypt (Genesis Rabbah 43:3).

I arise at midnight to praise You
for Your just rules.

In the middle of the night, the man gave a start and pulled back—there was a woman lying at his feet!

The man was startled. He thought it was a demon and wanted to scream, but she held him and encompassed him with her arms.

And [he] turned about. וַיִּלָּפֵת =] and he was seized, as in, “And Shimshon grasped וַיִּלְפֹּת.”

And behold there was a woman. He placed his hand on her head and recognized that it was a woman [and not a demon].

After eating the whole meal, each person eats a kezayit from the shemura matza that was wrapped up. This is done to remember the Korban Pesach which eaten on a full stomach. One should eat the afikomen reclining. Do not make a bracha on eating the afikomen. Be sure to eat the afikomen before halachic midnight. Rema: Try to finish Hallel before halachic midnight as well.

And signs of the transition between each of these watches in the upper world can be sensed in this world: In the first watch, the donkey brays; in the second, dogs bark; and in the third people begin to rise, a baby nurses from its mother’s breast and a wife converses with her husband.