Exodus 15:1-21

The Song at the Sea

1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: ¹ “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.

2 The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.

3 The LORD is a warrior, the LORD is His name.

4 Pharaoh’s chariots and army He has cast into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Red Sea. ^[a]

5 The depths have covered them; they sank there like a stone.

6 Your right hand, O LORD, is majestic in power; Your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.

7 You overthrew Your adversaries by Your great majesty. You unleashed Your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

8 At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up; like a wall the currents stood firm; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea.

9 The enemy declared, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake. I will divide the spoils; I will gorge myself on them. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.’

10 But You blew with Your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11 Who among the gods is like You, O LORD? Who is like You—majestic in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

12 You stretched out Your right hand, and the earth swallowed them up.

13 With loving devotion ^[b] You will lead the people You have redeemed; with Your strength You will guide them to Your holy dwelling.

14 The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the dwellers of Philistia.

15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; those who dwell in Canaan will melt away,

16 and terror and dread will fall on them. By the power of Your arm they will be as still as a stone until Your people pass by, O LORD, until the people You have bought pass by.

17 You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of Your inheritance— the place, O LORD, You have prepared for Your dwelling, the sanctuary, O Lord, Your hands have established.

18 The LORD will reign forever and ever!”

19 For when Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

20 Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.

21 And Miriam sang back to them: “Sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted; the horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.”

Exodus 15:1-21 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.

Cross References

• 1. (Judges 5:1–31)

Footnotes

• [a]. Or the Sea of Reeds; also in verse 22
• [b]. Forms of the Hebrew chesed are translated here and in most cases throughout the Scriptures as loving devotion; the range of meaning includes love, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, and mercy, as well as loyalty to a covenant.