Exodus 13–15

Consecration of the Firstborn

13The Lord said to Moses, ^2o“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

The Feast of Unleavened Bread

³Then Moses said to the people, ^p“Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ^qfor by a strong hand the Lord brought you out from this place. ^rNo leavened bread shall be eaten. ⁴Today, in the month of ^sAbib, you are going out. ⁵And when the Lord brings you into ^tthe land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which ^uhe swore to your fathers to give you, a land ^vflowing with milk and honey, ^wyou shall keep this service in this month. ^6xSeven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷Unleavened bread shall be eaten for seven days; no leavened bread shall be seen with you, and no leaven shall be seen with you in all your territory. ^8yYou shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹And it shall ^zbe to you as a sign on your hand and as ^aa memorial ^zbetween your eyes, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth. For with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. ^10bYou shall therefore keep this statute at its appointed time from year to year.

¹¹“When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, ^cas he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, ^12dyou shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s. ^13eEvery firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every ^ffirstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. ^14gAnd when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ^h‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of ⁱslavery. ¹⁵For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the ^jLord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but ^kall the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ^16lIt shall be as a mark on your hand or frontlets between your eyes, for ^mby a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

Pillars of Cloud and Fire

¹⁷When Pharaoh let the people go, God did ⁿnot lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people ^ochange their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸But God ^pled the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. ¹⁹Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph¹ had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, ^q“God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” ²⁰And ^rthey moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹And ^sthe Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. ²²The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Crossing the Red Sea

14Then the Lord said to Moses, ²“Tell the people of Israel to ^tturn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between ^uMigdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. ³For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ ⁴And ^vI will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will ^wget glory over Pharaoh and all his host, ^xand the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the ^ymind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” ⁶So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, ⁷and took ^zsix hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. ⁸And ^vthe Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while ^athe people of Israel were going out defiantly. ⁹The ^bEgyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them ^cencamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel ^dcried out to the Lord. ¹¹They ^esaid to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? ¹²Is not this what ^fwe said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” ¹³And Moses said to the people, ^g“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For ^hthe Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. ¹⁴ⁱThe Lord will fight for you, and you have only ^jto be silent.”

¹⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. ^16kLift up your staff, and ^kstretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. ¹⁷And ^lI will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and ^mI will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸And the Egyptians ⁿshall know that I am the Lord, ^mwhen I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

^19oThen the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, ²⁰coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night¹ without one coming near the other all night.

²¹Then Moses ^kstretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by ^pa strong east wind all night and ^qmade the sea dry land, and the waters were ^rdivided. ²²And ^sthe people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being ^ta wall to them on their right hand and on their left. ²³The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. ²⁴And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, ²⁵clogging² their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the ^uLord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, ^v“Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” ^27wSo Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea ^xreturned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord ^ythrew³ the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. ²⁸The ^zwaters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, ^anot one of them remained. ²⁹But the ^bpeople of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

³⁰Thus the Lord ^csaved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. ^31dIsrael saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they ^ebelieved in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

The Song of Moses

15Then Moses and the people of Israel ^fsang this song to the Lord, saying,

^g“I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

the horse and his rider¹ he has thrown into the sea.

^2hThe Lord is my strength and my ⁱsong,

and he has become ^jmy salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him,

^kmy father’s God, and ^lI will exalt him.

³The Lord is ^ma man of war;

ⁿthe Lord is his name.

^4o“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea,

and his chosen ^pofficers were sunk in the Red Sea.

⁵The ^qfloods covered them;

they ^rwent down into the depths like a stone.

^6sYour right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,

your right hand, O Lord, ^tshatters the enemy.

⁷In the ^ugreatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries;

you send out your fury; it ^vconsumes them like stubble.

⁸At the ^wblast of your nostrils the waters piled up;

the ^xfloods stood up in a heap;

the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.

⁹The enemy said, ^y‘I will pursue, I will overtake,

I ^zwill divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them.

I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them.’

¹⁰You ^ablew with your wind; the ^bsea covered them;

they sank like lead in the mighty waters.

^11c“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in ^dglorious deeds, ^edoing wonders?

¹²You stretched out ^fyour right hand;

the earth swallowed them.

¹³“You have ^gled in your steadfast love the people whom ^hyou have redeemed;

you have ⁱguided them by your strength to your holy abode.

^14jThe peoples have heard; they tremble;

pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.

¹⁵Now are the chiefs of Edom ^kdismayed;

trembling seizes the leaders of ^lMoab;

^mall the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

¹⁶Terror and ⁿdread fall upon them;

because of the greatness of your arm, they are still ^oas a stone,

till your people, O Lord, pass by,

till the people pass by whom ^pyou have purchased.

¹⁷You will bring…