And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:13)
In passing through the land of Egypt to smite all the firstborn of man and beast, the Lord would “pass over,”pasach, the Israelites. This word was transliterated into Greek as pascha, from which comes our English word paschal.