Moses and Israel Sing
Moses and Israel sing what just happened — horse and rider hurled into the sea, our Father a warrior whose right hand shatters the enemy and whose covenant love leads the redeemed home. Three days later there is no water, and the bitter pool at Marah is made sweet.
15 1Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to our Father: I will sing to our Father, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and its rider he hurled into the sea. 2Our Father is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my Father, and I will praise him, the God of my father, and I will exalt him. 3Our Father is a warrior; our Father is his name. 4Pharaoh's chariots and his army he cast into the sea, and his chosen officers were drowned in the Red Sea. a a v4 Hebrew: Yam Suf, "Sea of Reeds." 5The deep waters covered them; they went down into the depths like a stone. 6Your right hand, our Father, is majestic in power; your right hand, our Father, shatters the enemy. 7In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow those who rise against you; you send out your burning anger; it consumes them like stubble. 8At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the flowing waters stood up in a heap; the deep waters solidified in the heart of the sea. 9The enemy said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; I will have my fill of them. I will draw my sword; my hand is to destroy them." 10You blew with your wind; the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11Who is like you among the gods, our Father? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? 12You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. 13In your covenant love you have led the people whom you have redeemed; you have guided them by your strength to your holy dwelling. 14The peoples have heard; they tremble; anguish has seized the people of Philistia. 15Now the chiefs of Edom are dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away. 16Terror and dread fall upon them; because of the greatness of your arm they are still as a stone, till your people pass by, our Father, till the people pass by whom you have purchased. 17You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance, the place, our Father, that you have made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Sovereign Father, that your hands have established. 18Our Father will reign forever and ever.
19When Pharaoh's horses, chariots, and horsemen went into the sea, our Father brought the sea's waters back over them—but Israel walked through the sea on dry ground. 20Miriam the prophet, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines, dancing. 21Miriam sang to them: "Sing to our Father—he has won gloriously; horse and rider he hurled into the sea."
Into the Wilderness
22Moses led Israel from the Red Sea into the wilderness of Shur; three days they traveled in that wilderness without finding water. 23They came to Marah but couldn't drink the water—it was bitter. So it was named Marah. 24And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What should we drink?" 25He cried to our Father, who showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and it turned sweet. There our Father set them a statute and rule, and tested them there.
26He said, "If you truly listen to the voice of your Father, do right in his eyes, heed his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you that I put on Egypt, for I am your Father who heals you." b b v26 At the bitter waters of Marah, our Father revealed himself as the One who heals — turning bitterness to sweetness and binding himself to his people as their healer.
27They came to Elim, where twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees stood, and they camped there beside the water.
