Exodus - The Old Testament

¹ It was then that Moses and the Israelites sang this song in Yahweh's honour: I shall sing to Yahweh, for he has covered himself in glory, horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

² Yah is my strength and my song, to him I owe my deliverance. He is my God and I shall praise him, my father's God and I shall extol him.

³ Yahweh is a warrior; Yahweh is his name.

⁴ Pharaoh's chariots and army he has hurled into the sea the pick of his officers have been drowned in the Sea of Reeds.

⁵ The ocean has closed over them; they have sunk to the bottom like a stone.

⁶ Your right hand, Yahweh, wins glory by its strength, your right hand, Yahweh, shatters your foes,

⁷ and by your great majesty you fell your assailants; you unleash your fury, it consumes them like chaff.

⁸ A blast from your nostrils and the waters piled high; the waves stood firm as a dyke; the bed of the sea became firm ground.

⁹ The enemy said, 'I shall give chase and overtake, 'I shall share out the spoil and glut myself on them, 'I shall draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.'

¹⁰ You blew with your breath, the sea closed over them; they sank like lead in the terrible waters.

¹¹ Yahweh, who is like you, majestic in sanctity, who like you among the holy ones, fearsome of deed, worker of wonders?

¹² You stretched your right hand out, the earth swallowed them!

¹³ In your faithful love you led out the people you had redeemed, in your strength you have guided them to your holy dwelling.

¹⁴ Hearing of this, the peoples tremble; pangs seize on the people of Philistia;

¹⁵ the chieftains of Edom are dismayed, Moab's princes -- panic has seized them, all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.

¹⁶ On them fall terror and dread; through the power of your arm they are still as stone while your people are passing, Yahweh, while the people you have purchased are passing.

¹⁷ You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain which is your heritage, the place which you, Yahweh, have made your dwelling, the sanctuary, Yahweh, prepared by your own hands.

¹⁸ Yahweh will be king for ever and ever.

¹⁹ For when Pharaoh's cavalry, with his chariots and horsemen, had gone into the sea, Yahweh brought the waters of the sea back over them, though the Israelites went on dry ground right through the sea.

²⁰ The prophetess Miriam, Aaron's sister, took up a tambourine, and all the women followed her with tambourines, dancing,

²¹ while Miriam took up from them the refrain: Sing to Yahweh, for he has covered himself in glory, horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.

²² Moses led Israel away from the Sea of Reeds, and they entered the desert of Shur. They then travelled through the desert for three days without finding water.

²³ When they reached Marah, they could not drink the Marah water because it was bitter; this is why the place was named Marah.

²⁴ The people complained to Moses saying, 'What are we to drink?'

²⁵ Moses appealed to Yahweh for help, and Yahweh showed him a piece of wood. When Moses threw it into the water, the water became sweet. There he laid down a statute and law for them and there he put them to the test. Then he said,

²⁶ 'If you listen carefully to the voice of Yahweh your God and do what he regards as right, if you pay attention to his commandments and keep all his laws, I shall never inflict on you any of the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, for I am Yahweh your Healer.'

²⁷ So they came to Elim where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees; and there they pitched camp beside the water.