commemorate their deliverance in the same month, eating only unleavened bread (, matzah). And they were to tell their children, to keep it as a sign upon their hands and for a memorial between their eyes, and to keep this ordinance in its season from year to year. The seventh open portion ends here. In the continuation of the reading, God instructed Moses in the laws of the firstborn. In the maftir () reading that concludes the parashah, God instructed that if their children asked about consecrating the firstborn, the Israelites were to tell their children that God slew the firstborn of Egypt, and therefore the Israelites were to sacrifice to God all firstborn animals and redeem their firstborn sons. And thus it shall be for a sign upon their hands, and for frontlets between their eyes, for with a mighty hand God brought them out of Egypt. The seventh reading, a closed portion, and the parashah end here. Readings according to the triennial cycle Jews who read the Torah according to the triennial cycle of Torah reading read the parashah according to the following schedule: In ancient parallels The parashah has parallels in these ancient sources: Exodus chapter 10 The plague of locusts in finds parallels in several ancient texts, often involving the actions of gods. The ancient Sumerian tale The Disputation Between the Hoe and the Plow relates the acts of the god Enlil's hand and the locust swarm. Similarly, an Ugaritic poem about the goddess Anat circa 1450–1200 BCE related how Anat did battle, leaving corpses like locusts. In a New Kingdom Egyptian letter, one scribe chided another for leaving scribal work to labor in agriculture, where "The mice abound in the field, the locust descends, the cattle devour." An Akkadian prophecy foretold that locusts would arise and devour the land. The 754 BCE treaty between Ashur-nirari V of Assyria and Mati'ilu of Arpad, Syria, provided that if Mati'ilu violated the treaty, "May locusts appear and devour his land." Similarly, the treaty between Ktk and Arpad struck at about 750 BCE provided: "If Matti'el is false to Barga'yah and to his son and to his offspring . . . May Hadad pour out everything evil on earth and in heaven, and every trouble. And may he pour out hailstones upon Arpad. Seven years shall the locust eat. Seven years shall the worm eat. Seven years shall blight