Exodus 15:17-27

17 You shall bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance, The place, LORD, which you have made for yourself to dwell in; The sanctuary, Lord, which your hands have established.

18 The LORD shall reign forever and ever."

19 For the horses of Par`oh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Yisra'el walked on dry land in the midst of the sea.

20 Miryam the prophetess, the sister of Aharon, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

21 Miryam answered them, "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously: The horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea."

22 Moshe led Yisra'el onward from the Sea of Suf, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.

23 When they came to Marah, they couldn't drink from the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah.

24 The people murmured against Moshe, saying, "What shall we drink?"

25 Then he cried to the LORD. The LORD shown him a tree, and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there he tested them;

26 and he said, "If you will diligently listen to the voice of the LORD your God, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to his mitzvot, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you, which I have put on the Mitzrim; for I am the LORD who heals you."

27 They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

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.