Exodus 15:12-22

12 You reached out with your right hand, and the earth swallowed our enemies.

13 You keep your loving promise and lead the people you have saved. With your strength you will guide them to your holy place.

14 "The other nations will hear this and tremble with fear; terror will take hold of the Philistines.

15 The leaders of the tribes of Edom will be very frightened; the powerful men of Moab will shake with fear; the people of Canaan will lose all their courage.

16 Terror and horror will fall on them. When they see your strength, they will be as still as a rock. They will be still until your people pass by, Lord. They will be still until the people you have taken as your own pass by.

17 You will lead your people and place them on your very own mountain, the place that you, Lord, made for yourself to live, the temple, Lord, that your hands have made.

18 The Lord will be king forever!"

19 The horses, chariot drivers, and chariots of the king of Egypt went into the sea, and the Lord covered them with water from the sea. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry land.

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

21 Miriam told them: "Sing to the Lord, because he is worthy of great honor; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea."

22 Moses led the Israelites away from the Red Sea into the Desert of Shur. They traveled for three days in the desert but found no water.

Exodus 15:12-22 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.