Order of the Pesach Offering

The Passover offering is brought from yearling male lambs or goats, and slaughtered anywhere in the Temple court only after midday of the fourteenth of Nissan, after the slaughtering of the daily afternoon offering and after the afternoon cleaning of the cups of the menorah. One should not slaughter the Passover offering while chametz is in his possession. If he slaughtered it before the daily afternoon offering, it is acceptable, provided that someone stir the blood of the Passover offering so that it will not congeal until the blood of the daily afternoon offering is sprinkled, and then the blood of the Passover offering is sprinkled once toward the base of the altar. How is it done? The shochet slaughters it, and the first Kohen at the head of the line receives it and hands it over to his colleague, and his colleague to his colleague, and the Kohen nearest the altar sprinkles it once toward the base of the altar. He returns the empty vessel to his colleague, and his colleague to his colleague, receiving first the full vessel and then returning the empty one. There were rows of silver vessels and rows of golden vessels, and the vessels did not have flat bottoms lest they set them down and the blood become congealed. Afterwards they hung the Passover offering, flayed it completely, tore it open, cleansed its bowels until the wastes were removed, and the parts offered on the altar were taken out, namely, the fat that is on the entrails, the lobe of the liver, the two kidneys with the fat on them and the tail up to the backbone, and placed in a ritual vessel, salted, and burned by the Kohen upon the altar, each one individually. The slaughtering, the sprinkling of its blood, the cleansing of its bowels and the burning of its fat override the Shabbat, but other things pertaining to it do not override the Shabbat. Likewise, if [the fourteenth of Nissan] falls on Shabbat, the Passover offerings are not carried home, but one group remains with their Passover offerings on the Temple mount, the second group sits in the chel [an area just outside the Temple court], and the third stands in its place. When it becomes dark, they go to their places and roast the Passover offerings. The Passover offering was slaughtered in three groups, each group consisting of no less than thirty men. The first group entered, the Temple court was filled, they closed [its doors], and while they were slaughtering it and offering its parts on the altar, they [the Levi’im] recited the Hallel; if they finished [Hallel] before all sacrificed, they repeated it, and if they repeated it [and were not finished yet], they recited it a third time. Each time Hallel was recited, [the Kohanim] sounded three blasts of the trumpet: tekiah, teruah, tekiah. When the offering was ended, they opened the doors of the Temple court, the first group went out and the second entered, and they closed the doors of the Temple court. When they finished, they opened the doors, the second group went out and the third entered. The procedure of each group was the same. After they all had left, they washed the Temple court, even on Shabbat, of the filth of the blood. How was the washing done? A water duct passed through the Temple court and had an exit from the court. When they wished to wash the floor, they shut the exit and the stream overflowed its sides until the water rose and flooded the [floor] all around and all the blood and dirt of the court were gathered to it. Then they opened the exit, everything flowed out and the floor was completely clean; this is the honor of the Temple. If the Passover offering was found to be unfit, one did not fulfill his obligation until he brings another one.