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Chapter 15

Then Moses and the Israelites sang(A) this song to the Lord:[a]

I will sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously triumphant;
    horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.

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Footnotes

  1. 15:1–21

    This poem, regarded by many scholars as one of the oldest compositions in the Bible, was once an independent work. It has been inserted at this important juncture in the large narrative of Exodus to celebrate God’s saving power, having miraculously delivered the people from their enemies, and ultimately leading them to the promised land.

    Although the victory it describes over the Egyptians at the sea bears a superficial resemblance in v. 8 to the preceding depiction of the water standing like a wall (14:22), the poem (as opposed to the following prose verse, v. 19) suggests a different version of the victory at sea than that found in chap. 14. There is no splitting of the sea in an act reminiscent of the Lord’s combat at creation with the sea monsters Rahab and Leviathan (Jb 9:13; 26:12; Ps 74:13–14; 89:11; Is 51:9–10); nor is there mention of an east wind driving the waters back so that the Israelites can cross. In this version it is by means of a storm at sea, caused by a ferocious blast from his nostrils, that the Lord achieves a decisive victory against Pharaoh and his army (vv. 1–12). The second half of the poem (vv. 13–18) describes God’s guidance into the promised land.

21 and she responded[a] to them:

Sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously triumphant;
    horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 15:21 She responded: Miriam’s refrain echoes the first verse of this song and was probably sung as an antiphon after each verse.