Exodus 15:1-27

  • Moses and Israel’s victory song (1-19)

  • Miriam sings in response (20, 21)

  • Bitter water made sweet (22-27)

15  At that time Moses and the Israelites sang this song to Jehovah:+ “Let me sing to Jehovah, for he has become highly exalted.+ The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.+  2  My strength and my might is Jah,* since he has become my salvation.+ This is my God, and I will praise him;+ my father’s God,+ and I will exalt him.+  3  Jehovah is a powerful warrior.+ Jehovah is his name.+  4  Pharʹaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea,+And his finest warriors have sunk into the Red Sea.+  5  The surging waters covered them; down into the depths they sank like a stone.+  6  Your right hand, O Jehovah, is great in power;+Your right hand, O Jehovah, can shatter an enemy.  7  In your great majesty you can throw down those who rise up against you;+You send out your burning anger, it eats them up like stubble.  8  By a breath from your nostrils waters massed together;They stood still, holding back the floods;The surging waters congealed in the heart of the sea.  9  The enemy said: ‘I will pursue! I will overtake! I will divide spoil until I am* satisfied! I will draw my sword! My hand will subdue them!’+ 10  You blew with your breath, the sea covered them;+They sank like lead in majestic waters. 11  Who among the gods is like you, O Jehovah?+ Who is like you, showing yourself mighty in holiness?+ The One to be feared with songs of praise, the One doing wonders.+ 12  You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed them up.+ 13  In your loyal love you have led the people whom you have redeemed;+In your strength you will guide them to your holy place of dwelling. 14  Peoples must hear;+ they will shudder;Anguish* will seize the inhabitants of Phi·lisʹti·a. 15  At that time the sheikhs* of Eʹdom will be terrified,And trembling will take hold of the mighty rulers* of Moʹab.+ All the inhabitants of Caʹnaan will be disheartened.+ 16  Fear and dread will fall upon them.+ Because of the greatness of your arm they will be as motionless as a stoneUntil your people pass by, O Jehovah,Until the people whom you produced+ pass by.+ 17  You will bring them and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance,+The established place that you have prepared for yourself to inhabit, O Jehovah,A sanctuary, O Jehovah, that your hands have established. 18  Jehovah will rule as king forever and ever.+ 19  When Pharʹaoh’s horses with his war chariots and his cavalrymen went into the sea,+Then Jehovah brought back the waters of the sea upon them,+But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”+ 20  Then Mirʹi·am the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and with dances. 21  Mirʹi·am sang in response to the men: “Sing to Jehovah, for he has become highly exalted.+ The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.”+ 22  Moses later led Israel away from the Red Sea, and they went out to the wilderness of Shur and marched on for three days in the wilderness, but they did not find water. 23  They came to Maʹrah,*+ but they were not able to drink the water from Maʹrah because it was bitter. That is why he named it Maʹrah. 24  So the people began to murmur against Moses,+ saying: “What are we to drink?” 25  He cried out to Jehovah,+ and Jehovah directed him to a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became sweet. There He established for them a regulation and a case for judgment, and there He put them to the test.+ 26  He said: “If you will strictly listen to the voice of Jehovah your God and will do what is right in his eyes and will pay attention to his commandments and keep all his regulations,+ I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians,+ for I, Jehovah, am healing you.”+ 27  After that they came to Eʹlim, where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. So they camped there by the water.

Footnotes

“Jah” is a shortened form of the name Jehovah.
Or “my soul is.”
Lit., “Birth pangs.”
A sheikh was a tribal chief.
Or “the despots.”
Meaning “Bitterness.”