Exodus 14:1–14

Pharaoh in Pursuit

¹Now the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

²“Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and camp before ^aPi-hahiroth, between ^bMigdol and the sea; you shall camp in front of Baal-zephon, opposite it, by the sea.

³“For Pharaoh will say of the sons of Israel, ‘They are wandering aimlessly in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’

⁴“Thus ^aI will ¹harden Pharaoh’s heart, and ^bhe will chase after them; and I will be honored through Pharaoh and all his army, and ^cthe Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, ¹Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

⁶So he made his chariot ready and took his people with him;

⁷and he took six hundred select chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them.

^8aThe Lord ¹hardened the heart of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and he chased after the sons of Israel as the sons of Israel were going out ^2bboldly.

⁹Then ^athe Egyptians chased after them with all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen and his army, and they overtook them camping by the sea, ^bbeside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰As Pharaoh drew near, the sons of Israel ¹looked, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they became very frightened; ^aso the sons of Israel cried out to the Lord.

¹¹Then ^athey said to Moses, “Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, ¹bringing us out of Egypt?

¹²“^aIs this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, ‘¹Leave 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.”

The Sea Is Divided

¹³But Moses said to the people, “^aDo not fear! ¹Stand by and see ^bthe salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever.

¹⁴“^aThe Lord will fight for you while ^byou keep silent.”