Exodus 15:11-21

11 Lord, who is like thee in strong men, who is like thee? thou art a great doer in holiness; fearful, and praiseable, and doing miracles. (Lord, who is like thee among the strong, yea, who is like thee? thou art a great doer of holiness; fearful, and worthy of praise, and doing miracles.)
12 Thou heldest forth thine hand (Thou hast stretched forth thy right hand), and the earth devoured them;
13 thou were leader in thy mercy to thy people, which thou again-boughtest; and thou hast borne him in thy strength to thine holy dwelling place. (in thy mercy thou were the leader of thy people, whom thou boughtest back, or ransomed, and thou hast carried them by thy strength to thy holy dwelling place.)
14 Peoples went up, and were wroth; sorrows held the dwellers of Philistia. (The nations heard, and trembled in fear; sorrows held the people of Palestina.)
15 Then the princes of Edom were troubled; trembling held the strong men of Moab. All the dwellers of Canaan dreaded, or were encumbered (All the people of Canaan were in fear);
16 inward dread fall on them, and outward dread in the greatness of thine arm. Be they made unmoveable as a stone, till thy people pass, Lord; till thy people pass, whom thou wieldedest. (inward fear fell upon them, and outward fear of the greatness of thy power. They were made immovable like a stone, until thy people passed by, Lord; until thy people passed by, whom thou possessest.)
17 Thou shalt bring them in, and thou shalt plant them in the hill of thine heritage; in the most steadfast dwelling place which thou hast wrought, Lord; Lord, (in) thy saintuary, which thine hands made steadfast. (Thou bringest them in, and thou hast planted them on the mountain of thy inheritance; in the most steadfast dwelling place which thou hast wrought, Lord; yea, in thy sanctuary, Lord, which thy hands have made firm.)
18 The Lord shall reign without end, and over all thing(s).
19 Forsooth Pharaoh, on horse, entered with his chariots and [his] horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought the waters of the sea on them; soothly the sons of Israel went by the dry place (but the Israelites went on dry ground), in [the] midst of the sea.
20 Therefore Marie (And Miriam), the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tympan in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tympans and companies;
21 to which she sang before, and said, Sing we to the Lord, for he is magnified gloriously; he hath cast down into the sea the horse and the rider of him. (and she sang before them, Sing we to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified; he hath thrown down the horse and his rider into the sea.)

Exodus 15:11-21 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.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.