Exodus 15

The Song of Moses

¹⁵Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord:

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

horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.^*

²The Lord is my strength and my might,^w

and he has become my salvation;

this is my God, and I will praise him;

my father’s God, and I will exalt him.^*

³The Lord is a warrior;

the Lord is his name.^*

⁴Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he cast into the sea;

his elite officers were sunk in the Red Sea.^x*

⁵The floods covered them;

they went down into the depths like a stone.^*

⁶Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power—

your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.^*

⁷In the greatness of your majesty you overthrew your adversaries;

you sent out your fury; it consumed them like stubble.^*

⁸At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up;

the floods stood up in a heap;

the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.^*

⁹The enemy said, ‘I will pursue; I will overtake;

I will divide the spoil; my desire shall have its fill of them.

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

¹⁰You blew with your wind; the sea covered them;

they sank like lead in the mighty waters.^*

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

Who is like you, majestic in holiness,

awesome in splendor, doing wonders?^*

¹²You stretched out your right hand;

the earth swallowed them.

¹³In your steadfast love you led the people whom you redeemed;

you guided them by your strength to your holy abode.^*

¹⁴The peoples heard; they trembled;

pangs seized the inhabitants of Philistia.^*

¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed;

trembling seized the leaders of Moab;

all the inhabitants of Canaan melted away.^*

¹⁶Terror and dread fell upon them;

by the might of your arm, they became still as a stone

until your people, O Lord, passed by,

until the people whom you acquired passed by.^*

¹⁷You brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your own possession,

the place, O Lord, that you made your abode,

the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.^*

¹⁸The Lord will reign forever and ever.”^*

¹⁹When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.^*

The Song of Miriam

²⁰Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.^{* 21}And Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;

horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”^*

Bitter Water Made Sweet

²²Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea,^y and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.^{* 23}When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was called Marah.^{z* 24}And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?”^{* 25}He cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord^a made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he put them to the test.^{* 26}He said, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God, and do what is right in his sight, and give heed to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I am the Lord who heals you.”^*

²⁷Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.^*