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Exodus 15

1Then Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to Yahweh. They said: “I will sing to Yahweh, for he is highly exalted; horse and rider he has hurled into the sea. 2Yah is my strength and my song, and he has become my deliverance. This is my God, and I will praise him; my father's God, and I will exalt him. 3Yahweh is a man of war; Yahweh is his name. 4Pharaoh's chariots and his army he cast into the sea; the pick of his officers were drowned in the Sea of Reeds. 5The deeps covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.

6“Your right hand, Yahweh, majestic in power; your right hand, Yahweh, shatters the enemy. 7In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow those who rise against you. You send out your burning anger; it consumes them like stubble. 8At the breath of your nostrils the waters piled up; the flowing waters stood like 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 appetite will be filled with them. I will draw my sword; my hand will dispossess them.’ 10You blew with your wind; the sea covered them. They sank like lead in mighty waters.

11“Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, fearsome in praises, doing wonders? 12You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. 13In your steadfast love you led the people you redeemed; in your strength you guided them to your holy dwelling. 14Peoples heard; they tremble. Anguish seized the inhabitants of Philistia. 15Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; trembling seized the mighty ones of Moab. All the inhabitants of Canaan melted away. 16Terror and dread fall upon them; by the greatness of your arm they are still as stone, until your people pass over, Yahweh, until the people you acquired pass over. 17You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place you made for your dwelling, Yahweh, the sanctuary, Lord, that your hands established. 18Yahweh will reign forever and ever.”

19For Pharaoh's horses went into the sea with his chariots and his horsemen, and Yahweh brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the sons of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took the frame drum in her hand, and all the women went out after her with frame drums and dances. 21Miriam answered them: “Sing to Yahweh, for he is highly exalted; horse and rider he has hurled into the sea.”

22Moses led Israel onward from the Sea of Reeds. They went out into the wilderness of Shur and walked three days in the wilderness but found no water. 23They came to Marah, but they could not drink water from Marah because it was bitter. That is why it was named Marah. 24The people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25He cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There he established a statute and a rule for them, and there he tested them. 26He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God, do what is right in his eyes, give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will not put on you any of the sickness that I put on Egypt, for I am Yahweh, your healer.” 27They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there beside the water.

Translation notes 8

15:1–18 — The song. The poem moves between completed events, vivid present descriptions, and anticipated arrival. Its images and changing viewpoint are retained rather than turning the whole song into a chronological travel report.

15:2 — Yah; song; praise. Yah is the short form of the divine name. “Song” has the significant alternative “might” or “strength.” The rare verb rendered “praise” has also been understood as beautifying or preparing a dwelling for God; its parallel with “exalt” favors praise here.

15:3 — Man of war. The Hebrew explicitly uses the male word “man” in its warrior image. This is a poetic description of Yahweh as combatant, not an added statement that he is a human being.

15:8–13 — Bodily and earth imagery. The poem names nostrils, a hand, the sea's heart, and the swallowing earth. “Breath” and “wind” translate the same Hebrew word in verses 8 and 10 in their respective contexts. “Steadfast love” in verse 13 renders hesed, loyal and sustaining love, without reducing it to a feeling.

15:11 — Among the gods. The Hebrew comparison is retained without replacing “gods” with human rulers or adding a philosophical explanation of their existence.

15:17 — Mountain and sanctuary. The poem anticipates a place of divine dwelling without naming Jerusalem in this verse. “Lord” renders a title here, distinct from the name Yahweh earlier in the verse.

15:20 — Prophetess and frame drum. The feminine prophetic title is explicit. The instrument is a hand-held drum; “tambourine” can suggest metal jingles not specified by the Hebrew.

15:23–26 — Bitter and sweet. Marah sounds like the Hebrew word for bitter. The wood's species and the means by which the water changes are not identified. The command's audience is Israel collectively; the translation makes that collective reference plural in verse 25 without identifying a different recipient.