A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Exodus 15
Exodus 15 is the fifteenth chapter of the book of Exodus and the chapter of the Song of the Sea, Miriam's song, and the first leg of the wilderness journey through Marah and Elim. The 27-verse chapter is the Bible's first sustained victory poem and gives the LORD a series of famous tier-1 epithets used throughout the rest of scripture.
The chapter opens with Moses and the Israelites singing to the LORD. The song begins, "I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea." It continues, "The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation." The third verse gives the famous epithet: "The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is His name."
The song then recounts the destruction of Pharaoh's army. The chariots and the officers are cast into the Red Sea; they sink like a stone. The right hand of the LORD is majestic in power and shatters the enemy. At the blast of his nostrils the waters pile up; the currents stand firm like a wall.
The enemy had boasted, "I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them." But the LORD's breath covers them, and they sink like lead in the mighty waters.
The song asks, "Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You, majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?" It then turns forward: "With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling." The nations will hear and tremble. The song closes with the LORD bringing his people in and planting them on the mountain of his inheritance, the place he has prepared for his dwelling, and the great refrain: "The LORD will reign forever and ever!"
Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, then takes a tambourine in her hand. All the women follow her with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sings to them, "Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; the horse and rider He has thrown into the sea."
Moses leads Israel on from the Red Sea into the Desert of Shur. For three days they travel without finding water. At Marah they find water but cannot drink it because it is bitter. The people grumble against Moses. Moses cries out to the LORD, who shows him a log; he throws it into the water, and the water becomes sweet. There the LORD makes a statute and ordinance, telling them that if they listen carefully to his voice and keep his statutes, he will not bring on them any of the diseases he inflicted on the Egyptians. "For I am the LORD who heals you."
The chapter closes at Elim, where there are twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They camp there by the waters.
Verse 1. Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.
Verse 2. The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.
Verse 3. The LORD is a warrior, the LORD is His name.
Verse 4. Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea.
Verse 5. The depths have covered them; they sank there like a stone.
Verse 6. Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
Verse 7. You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.
Verse 8. At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.
Verse 9. The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’
Verse 10. But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.
Verse 11. Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?
Verse 12. You stretched out Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them up.
Verse 13. With loving devotion You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.
Verse 14. The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.
Verse 15. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,
Verse 16. and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by.
Verse 17. You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance—the place, O LORD, You have prepared for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established.
Verse 18. The LORD will reign forever and ever!”
Verse 19. For when Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.
Verse 20. Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.
Verse 21. And Miriam sang back to them: “Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; the horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.”
Verse 22. Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea, and they went out into the Desert of Shur. For three days they walked in the desert without finding water.
Verse 23. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there because it was bitter. (That is why it was named Marah.)
Verse 24. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?”
Verse 25. And Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a log. And when he cast it into the waters, they were sweetened. There the LORD made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them,
Verse 26. saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
Verse 27. Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.
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