Exodus 14

The Israelites Cross the Red Sea

1 At Etham the Lord said to Moses:
2 Tell the people of Israel to turn back and camp across from Pi-Hahiroth near Baal-Zephon, between Migdol and the Red Sea.t3 The kingt will think they were afraid to cross the desert and that they are wandering around, trying to find another way to leave the country.

4 I will make the king stubborn again, and he will try to catch you. Then I will destroy him and his army. People everywhere will praise me for my victory, and the Egyptians will know that I really am the Lord. The Israelites obeyed the Lord and camped where he told them.

5 When the king of Egypt heard that the Israelites had finally left, he and his officials changed their minds and said, “Look what we have done! We let them get away, and they will no longer be our slaves.”
6 The king got his war chariot and army ready.7 He commanded his officers in charge of his six hundred best chariots and all his other chariots to start after the Israelites.8 The Lord made the king so stubborn that he went after them, even though the Israelites proudlyt went on their way.

9 But the king’s horses and chariots and soldiers caught up with them while they were camping by the Red Sea near Pi-Hahiroth and Baal-Zephon.
10 When the Israelites saw the king coming with his army, they were frightened and begged the Lord for help.11 They also complained to Moses, “Wasn’t there enough room in Egypt to bury us? Is that why you brought us out here to die in the desert? Why did you bring us out of Egypt anyway?

12 While we were there, didn’t we tell you to leave us alone? We had rather be slaves in Egypt than die in this desert!”
13 But Moses answered, “Don’t be afraid! Be brave, and you will see the Lord save you today. These Egyptians will never bother you again.

14 The Lord will fight for you, and you won’t have to do a thing.”
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you keep calling out to me for help? Tell the Israelites to move forward.16 Then hold your walking stick over the sea. The water will open up and make a road where they can walk through on dry ground.17 I will make the Egyptians so stubborn that they will go after you. Then I will be praised because of what happens to the king and his chariots and cavalry.

18 The Egyptians will know for sure that I am the Lord.”
19 All this time God’s angel had gone ahead of Israel’s army, but now he moved behind them. A large cloud had also gone ahead of them,

20 but now it moved between the Egyptians and the Israelites. The cloud gave light to the Israelites, but made it dark for the Egyptians, and during the night they could not come any closer.
21 Moses stretched his arm over the sea, and the Lord sent a strong east wind that blew all night until there was dry land where the water had been. The sea opened up,

22 t22 and the Israelites walked through on dry land with a wall of water on each side.
23 The Egyptian chariots and cavalry went after them.24 But before daylight the Lord looked down at the Egyptian army from the fiery cloud and made them panic.

25 Their chariot wheels got stuck,t and it was hard for them to move. So the Egyptians said to one another, “Let’s leave these people alone! The Lord is on their side and is fighting against us.”
26 The Lord told Moses, “Stretch your arm toward the sea—the water will cover the Egyptians and their cavalry and chariots.”27 Moses stretched out his arm, and at daybreak the water rushed toward the Egyptians. They tried to run away, but the Lord drowned them in the sea.28 The water came and covered the chariots, the cavalry, and the whole Egyptian army that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them was left alive.

29 But the sea had made a wall of water on each side of the Israelites; so they walked through on dry land.
30 On that day, when the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the shore, they knew that the Lord had saved them.

31 Because of the mighty power he had used against the Egyptians, the Israelites worshiped him and trusted him and his servant Moses.

Exodus 15

The Song of Moses

1 t Moses and the Israelites sang this song in praise of the Lord: I sing praises to the Lord for his great victory!
He has thrown the horses
and their riders
into the sea.

2 t2The Lord is my strength, the reason for my song,
because he has saved me.
I praise and honor the Lord— he is my God and the God
of my ancestors.

3 The Lord is his name, and he is a warrior!

4 He threw the chariots and army of Egypt’s king t into the Red Sea, t and he drowned the best
of the king’s officers.

5 They sank to the bottom just like stones.

6 With the tremendous force of your right arm, our Lord, you crushed your enemies.

7 What a great victory was yours, as you defeated everyone
who opposed you.
Your fiery anger wiped them out,
as though they were straw.

8 You were so furious that the sea piled up
like a wall,
and the ocean depths
curdled like cheese.

9 Your enemies boasted that they would
pursue and capture us,
divide up our possessions,
treat us as they wished,
then take out their swords
and kill us right there.

10 But when you got furious, they sank like lead,
swallowed by ocean waves.

11 Our Lord, no other gods compare with you—
Majestic and holy!
Fearsome and glorious!
Miracle worker!

12 When you signaled with your right hand,
your enemies were swallowed
deep into the earth.

13 The people you rescued were led by your powerful love
to your holy place.

14 Nations learned of this and trembled—
Philistines shook with horror.

15 The leaders of Edom and of Moab were terrified.
Everyone in Canaan fainted,

16 struck down by fear. Our Lord, your powerful arm kept them still as a rock
until the people you rescued
for your very own
had marched by.

17 You will let your people settle on your chosen mountain,
where you built your home
and your temple.

18 Our Lord, you will rule forever!

The Song of Miriam

19 The Lord covered the royal Egyptian cavalry and chariots with the sea, after the Israelites had walked safely through on dry ground.20 Miriam the sister of Aaron was a prophet. So she took her tambourine and led the other women out to play their tambourines and to dance.21 Then she sang to them: “Sing praises to the Lord for his great victory!
He has thrown the horses
and their riders into the sea.”

Bitter Water at Marah

22 After the Israelites left the Red Sea,t Moses led them through the Shur Desert for three days, before finding water.23 They did find water at Marah, but it was bitter, which is how that place got its name.t

24 The people complained and said, “Moses, what are we going to drink?”
25 Moses asked the Lord for help, and the Lord told him to throw a piece of wood into the water. Moses did so, and the water became fit to drink. At Marah the Lord tested his people and also gave them some laws and teachings.

26 Then he said, “I am the Lord your God, and I cure your diseases. If you obey me by doing right and by following my laws and teachings, I won’t punish you with the diseases I sent on the Egyptians.”

27 Later the Israelites came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees. So they camped there.

Exodus 16

The Lord Sends Food from Heaven

1 On the fifteenth day of the second month after the Israelites had escaped from Egypt, they left Elim and started through the western edge of the Sinai Desertt in the direction of Mount Sinai.2 There in the desert they started complaining to Moses and Aaron,

3 “We wish the Lord had killed us in Egypt. When we lived there, we could at least sit down and eat all the bread and meat we wanted. But you have brought us out here into this desert, where we are going to starve.”
4 t The Lord said to Moses, “I will send breadt down from heaven like rain. Each day the people can go out and gather only enough for that day. That’s how I will see if they obey me.

5 But on the sixth day of each week they must gather and cook twice as much.”
6 Moses and Aaron told the people, “This evening you will know that the Lord was the one who rescued you from Egypt.

7 And in the morning you will see his glorious power, because he has heard your complaints against him. Why should you grumble to us? Who are we?”

8 Then Moses continued, “You will know it is the Lord when he gives you meat each evening and more than enough bread each morning. He is really the one you are complaining about, not us—we are nobodies—but the Lord has heard your complaints.”

9 Moses turned to Aaron and said, “Bring the people together, because the Lord has heard their complaints.”
10 Aaron was speaking to them, when everyone looked out toward the desert and saw the bright glory of the Lord in a cloud.11 The Lord said to Moses,

12 “I have heard my people complain. Now tell them that each evening they will have meat and each morning they will have more than enough bread. Then they will know that I am the Lord their God.”
13 That evening a lot of quails came and landed everywhere in the camp, and the next morning dew covered the ground.14 After the dew had gone, the desert was covered with thin flakes that looked like frost.15 t15 The people had never seen anything like this, and they started asking each other, “What is it?” t Moses answered, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

16 And he orders you to gather about two quarts for each person in your family—that should be more than enough.”
17 They did as they were told. Some gathered more and some gathered less,

18 t18 according to their needs, and none was left over.
19 Moses told them not to keep any overnight.

20 Some of them disobeyed, but the next morning what they kept was stinking and full of worms, and Moses was angry.
21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and in the heat of the day the rest melted.22 However, on the sixth day of the week, everyone gathered enough to have four quarts, instead of two. When the leaders reported this to Moses,

23 t23 he told them that the Lord had said, “Tomorrow is the Sabbath, a sacred day of rest in honor of me. So gather all you want to bake or boil, and make sure you save enough for tomorrow.”
24 The people obeyed, and the next morning the food smelled fine and had no worms.25 “You may eat the food,” Moses said. “Today is the Sabbath in honor of the Lord, and there won’t be any of this food on the ground today.

26 You will find it there for the first six days of the week, but not on the Sabbath.”
27 A few of the Israelites did go out to look for some, but there was none.28 Then the Lord said, “Moses, how long will you people keep disobeying my laws and teachings?29 Remember that I was the one who gave you the Sabbath. That’s why on the sixth day I provide enough bread for two days. Everyone is to stay home and rest on the Sabbath.”

30 And so they rested on the Sabbath.
31 t The Israelites called the bread manna.t It was white like coriander seed and delicious as wafers made with honey.

32 Moses told the people that the Lord had said, “Store up two quarts of this manna, because I want future generations to see the food I gave you during the time you were in the desert after I rescued you from Egypt.”

33 t Then Moses told Aaron, “Put some manna in a jar and store it in the place of worship for future generations to see.”
34 Aaron followed the Lord’s instructions and put the manna in front of the sacred chest for safekeeping.

35-36 t35-36 The Israelites ate manna for forty years, before they came to the border of Canaan that was a settled land. t