The Message Bible MSG
English Standard Version ESV
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to God, giving voice together, I'm singing my heart out to God - what a victory! He pitched horse and rider into the sea.
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Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the Lord, saying, “I will sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.
2 God is my strength, God is my song, and, yes! God is my salvation. This is the kind of God I have and I'm telling the world! This is the God of my father - I'm spreading the news far and wide!
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The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.
3 God is a fighter, pure God, through and through.
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The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.
4 Pharaoh's chariots and army he dumped in the sea, The elite of his officers he drowned in the Red Sea.
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“Pharaoh’s chariots and his host he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were sunk in the Red Sea.
5 Wild ocean waters poured over them; they sank like a rock in the deep blue sea.
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The floods covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your strong right hand, God, shimmers with power; your strong right hand shatters the enemy.
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Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, your right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.
7 In your mighty majesty you smash your upstart enemies, You let loose your hot anger and burn them to a crisp.
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In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow your adversaries; you send out your fury; it consumes them like stubble.
8 At a blast from your nostrils the waters piled up; Tumbling streams dammed up, wild oceans curdled into a swamp.
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At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the floods stood up in a heap; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea.
9 The enemy spoke, "I'll pursue, I'll hunt them down, I'll divide up the plunder, I'll glut myself on them; I'll pull out my sword, my fist will send them reeling."
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The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil, my desire shall have its fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand shall destroy them. ’
10 You blew with all your might and the sea covered them. They sank like a lead weight in the majestic waters.
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You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters.
11 Who compares with you among gods, O God? Who compares with you in power, in holy majesty, In awesome praises, wonder-working God?
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“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?
12 You stretched out your right hand and the Earth swallowed them up.
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You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
13 But the people you redeemed, you led in merciful love; You guided them under your protection to your holy pasture.
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“You have led in your steadfast love the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy abode.
14 When people heard, they were scared; Philistines writhed and trembled;
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The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.
15 Yes, even the head men in Edom were shaken, and the big bosses in Moab. Everybody in Canaan panicked and fell faint.
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Now are the chiefs of Edom dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.
16 Dread and terror sent them reeling. Before your brandished right arm they were struck dumb like a stone,
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Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm, they are still as a stone, till your people, O Lord, pass by, till the people pass by whom you have purchased.
17 Until your people crossed over and entered, O God, until the people you made crossed over and entered. You brought them and planted them on the mountain of your heritage, The place where you live, the place you made, Your sanctuary, Master, that you established with your own hands.
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You will bring them in and plant them on your own mountain, the place, O Lord, which you have made for your abode, the sanctuary, O Lord, which your hands have established.
18 Let God rule forever, for eternity!
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The Lord will reign forever and ever. ”
19 Yes, Pharaoh's horses and chariots and riders went into the sea and God turned the waters back on them; but the Israelites walked on dry land right through the middle of the sea.
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For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, the Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea.
20 Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine, and all the women followed her with tambourines, dancing.
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Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing.
21 Miriam led them in singing, Sing to God - what a victory! He pitched horse and rider into the sea! Traveling Through the Wilderness
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And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea. ”
22 Moses led Israel from the Red Sea on to the Wilderness of Shur. They traveled for three days through the wilderness without finding any water.
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Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
23 They got to Marah, but they couldn't drink the water at Marah; it was bitter. That's why they called the place Marah (Bitter).
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When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.
24 And the people complained to Moses, "So what are we supposed to drink?"
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And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink? ”
25 So Moses cried out in prayer to God. God pointed him to a stick of wood. Moses threw it into the water and the water turned sweet.
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And he cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log, and he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the Lord made for them a statute and a rule, and there he tested them,
26 That's the place where God set up rules and procedures; that's where he started testing them. God said, "If you listen, listen obediently to how God tells you to live in his presence, obeying his commandments and keeping all his laws, then I won't strike you with all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians; I am God your healer."
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saying, “If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, your healer. ”
27 They came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They set up camp there by the water.
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Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025