1 Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to Yahweh, and said, "I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. 2 Yah is my strength and song. He has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name. 4 He has cast Pharaoh's chariots and his army into the sea. His chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. 5 The deeps cover them. They went down into the depths like a stone. 6 Your right hand, Yahweh, is glorious in power. Your right hand, Yahweh, dashes the enemy in pieces. 7 In the greatness of your excellency, you overthrow those who rise up against you. You send forth your wrath. It consumes them as stubble. 8 With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea. 9 The enemy said, 'I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the spoil. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.' 10 You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? 12 You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. 13 "You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation. 14 The peoples have heard. They tremble. Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. 15 Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed. Trembling takes hold of the mighty men of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away. 16 Terror and dread falls on them. By the greatness of your arm they are as still as a stone- until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people pass over who you have purchased. 17 You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, the place, Yahweh, which you have made for yourself to dwell in; the sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established. 18 Yahweh shall reign forever and ever." 19 For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea. 20 Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dances. 21 Miriam answered them, "Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea." 22 Moses led Israel onward from the Red Sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. 23 When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore its name was called Marah. 24 The people murmured against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" 25 Then he cried to Yahweh. Yahweh showed him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them; 26 and he said, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Egyptians; for I am Yahweh who heals you." 27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
Moses and the Israelites sing a song of praise to God for their late deliverance, in which they celebrate the power of God, gloriously manifested in the destruction of Pharaoh and his host, Exodus 15:1; express their confidence in him as their strength and protector, Exodus 15:2, Exodus 15:3; detail the chief circumstances in the overthrow of the Egyptians, Exodus 15:4-8; and relate the purposes they had formed for the destruction of God's people, Exodus 15:9, and how he destroyed them in the imaginations of their hearts, Exodus 15:10. Jehovah is celebrated for the perfections of his nature and his wondrous works, Exodus 15:11-13. A prediction of the effect which the account of the destruction of the Egyptians should have on the Edomites, Moabites, and Canaanites, Exodus 15:14-16. A prediction of the establishment of Israel in the promised land, Exodus 15:17. The full chorus of praise, Exodus 15:18. Recapitulation of the destruction of the Egyptians, and the deliverance of Israel, Exodus 15:19. Miriam and the women join in and prolong the chorus, Exodus 15:20, Exodus 15:21. The people travel three days in the wilderness of Shur, and find no water, Exodus 15:22. Coming to Marah, and finding bitter waters, they murmur against Moses, Exodus 15:23, Exodus 15:24. In answer to the prayer of Moses, God shows him a tree by which the waters are sweetened, Exodus 15:25. God gives them statutes and gracious promises, Exodus 15:26. They come to Elim, where they find twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and there they encamp, Exodus 15:27.
INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 15
This chapter contains the song of Moses, and of the children of Israel, on the banks of the Red sea; in which they celebrate their passage through it, the destruction of Pharaoh and his host in it, and the glory of the divine perfections displayed therein, interspersed with prophetic hints of things future, Exodus 15:1 which same song was sung by the women, with Miriam at the head of them, attended with timbrels and dances, Exodus 15:20, an account is given of the march of the children of Israel from the Red sea to the wilderness of Shur, and of the bitter waters found at Marah, which occasioned a murmuring, and of their being made sweet by casting a tree into them, Exodus 15:22 when they were told by the Lord, that if they would yield obedience to his commandments, they should be free from the diseases the Egyptians had been afflicted with, Exodus 15:26, and the chapter is concluded with their coming to Elim, where they found twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees, and there encamped, Exodus 15:27.
(v. 1-21) The song of Moses for the deliverance of Israel.
(Exodus 15:22-27) The bitter waters at Marah, The Israelites come to Elim.
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