Exodus 14:16–15:21

¹⁶Lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go on dry ground through the sea. ¹⁷And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. ¹⁸And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁹Then the angel of God who went 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 the night passed^p without one coming near the other all night.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. ²²And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a 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 upon the host of the Egyptians, and discomfited the host of the Egyptians, ²⁵clogging^q their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel; for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

²⁶Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” ²⁷So Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to its wonted flow when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled into it, and the Lord routed^r the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. ²⁸The waters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen and all the host^s of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea; not so much as one of them remained. ²⁹But the people 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 saved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore. ³¹And Israel saw the great work which the Lord did against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord; and they believed in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

Chapter 15

¹Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying,

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

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

²The Lord is my strength and my song,

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 man of war;

the Lord is his name.

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

and his picked officers are sunk in the Red Sea.

⁵The floods cover them;

they went down into the depths like a stone.

⁶Thy right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,

thy right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.

⁷In the greatness of thy majesty thou overthrowest thy adversaries;

thou sendest forth thy fury, it consumes them like stubble.

⁸At the blast of thy 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.’

¹⁰Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them;

they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹“Who is like thee, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like thee, majestic in holiness,

terrible in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

¹²Thou didst stretch out thy right hand,

the earth swallowed them.

¹³“Thou hast led in thy steadfast love the people whom thou hast redeemed,

thou hast guided them by thy strength to thy holy abode.

¹⁴The peoples have heard, they tremble;

pangs have seized on the inhabitants of Philistia.

¹⁵Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed;

the leaders of Moab, trembling seizes them;

all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

¹⁶Terror and dread fall upon them;

because of the greatness of thy arm, they are as still as a stone,

till thy people, O Lord, pass by,

till the people pass by whom thou hast purchased.

¹⁷Thou wilt bring them in, and plant them on thy own mountain,

the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thy abode,

the sanctuary, Lord, which thy hands have established.

¹⁸The Lord will reign for ever and ever.”

¹⁹For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. ²⁰Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing. ²¹And Miriam sang to them:

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

the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”