Exodus 15:17-27

17 You will bring them and plant them on your own mountain, the place where you live, O LORD, the holy place that you built with your own hands, O Lord.

18 The LORD will rule as king forever and ever."

19 When Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and cavalry went into the sea, the LORD made the water of the sea flow back over them. However, the Israelites had gone through the sea on dry ground.

20 Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand. All the women, dancing with tambourines, followed her.

21 Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD. He has won a glorious victory. He has thrown horses and their riders into the sea."

22 Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water.

23 When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink the water because it tasted bitter. That's why the place was called Marah [Bitter Place].

24 The people complained about Moses by asking, "What are we supposed to drink?"

25 Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD set down laws and rules for them to live by, and there he tested them.

26 He said, "If you will listen carefully to the LORD your God and do what he considers right, if you pay attention to his commands and obey all his laws, I will never make you suffer any of the diseases I made the Egyptians suffer, because I am the LORD, who heals you."

27 Next, they went to Elim, where there were 12 springs and 70 palm trees. They camped there by the water.

Exodus 15:17-27 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.