Exodus 15:22-27

Yahweh Provides Water at Marah

22 And Moses caused Israel to set out from the {Red Sea}, and they went out into the desert of Shur, and they traveled three days in the desert, and they did not find water.
23 And they came to Marah, and they were not able to drink water from Marah because it was bitter. Therefore {it was named} Marah.
24 And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?"
25 And he cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him [a piece of] wood, and he threw [it] into the water, and the water became sweet. There he made a rule and regulation for them, and there he tested them.
26 And he said, "If you carefully listen to the voice of Yahweh your God and you do [what is] right in his eyes and give heed to his commands and you keep all his rules, [then] I will not bring about on you any of the diseases that I brought about on Egypt, because I [am] Yahweh your healer.
27 And they came to Elim, and twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees were there, and they encamped there at the water.

Exodus 15:22-27 Meaning and Commentary

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, Ex 15:1-19 which same song was sung by the women, with Miriam at the head of them, attended with timbrels and dances, Ex 15:20,21, 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, Ex 15:22-25 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, Ex 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, Ex 15:27.

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Literally "sea of reed"
  • [b]. Literally "its name was called"; the Hebrew word for "bitter" is pronounced "marah"
  • [c]. Hebrew "disease"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.