Êxodo 15

ARC · Chapter 15/40

1Então cantou Moysés e os filhos d'Israel este cantico ao Senhor, e fallaram, dizendo: Cantarei ao Senhor, porque summamente se exaltou: lançou no mar o cavallo e o seu cavalleiro.

2O Senhor é a minha força, e o meu cantico; elle me foi por salvação; este é o meu Deus, portanto lhe farei uma habitação; elle é o Deus de meu pae, por isso o exaltarei.

3O Senhor é varão de guerra: o Senhor é o seu nome.

4Lançou no mar os carros de Pharaó e o seu exercito; e os seus escolhidos principes afogaram-se no Mar Vermelho.

5Os abysmos os cobriram: desceram ás profundezas como pedra.

6A tua dextra, ó Senhor, se tem glorificado em potencia: a tua dextra, ó Senhor, tem despedaçado o inimigo;

7E com a grandeza da tua excellencia derribaste aos que se levantaram contra ti: enviaste o teu furor, que os consumiu como o rastolho.

8E com o sopro dos teus narizes amontoaram-se as aguas, as correntes pararam-se como montão: os abysmos coalharam-se no coração do mar.

9O inimigo dizia: Perseguirei, alcançarei, repartirei os despojos: fartar-se-*ha a minha alma d'elles, arrancarei a minha espada, a minha mão os destruirá,

10Sopraste com o teu vento, o mar os cobriu: afundaram-se como chumbo em vehementes aguas.

11Ó Senhor, quem é como tu entre os deuses? quem é como tu glorificado em sanctidade, terrivel em louvores, obrando maravilhas?

12Estendeste a tua mão direita: a terra os tragou.

13Tu, com a tua beneficencia, guiaste a este povo, que salvaste: com a tua força o levaste á habitação da tua sanctidade.

14Os povos o ouvirão, elles estremecerão: apoderar-se-ha uma dôr dos habitantes da Palestina.

15Então os principes de Edom se pasmarão, dos poderosos dos moabitas apoderar-se-ha um tremor, derreter-se-hão todos os habitantes de Canaan.

16Espanto e pavor cairá sobre elles: pela grandeza do teu braço emmudecerão como pedra; até que o teu povo haja passado, ó Senhor, até que passe este povo que adquiriste.

17Tu os introduzirás, e os plantarás no monte da tua herança, no logar que tu, ó Senhor, apparelhaste para a tua habitação, o sanctuario, ó Senhor, que as tuas mãos estabeleceram.

18O Senhor reinará eterna e perpetuamente;

19Porque os cavallos de Pharaó, com os seus carros e com os seus cavalleiros, entraram no mar, e o Senhor fez tornar as aguas do mar sobre elles; mas os filhos d'Israel passaram em secco pelo meio do mar.

20Então Miriam, a prophetiza, a irmã d'Aarão, tomou o tamboril na sua mão, e todas as mulheres sairam atraz d'ella com tamboris e com danças.

21E Miriam lhes respondia: Cantae ao Senhor, porque summamente se exaltou, e lançou no mar o cavallo com o seu cavalleiro.

22Depois fez Moysés partir os israelitas do Mar Vermelho, e sairam ao deserto de Sur: e andaram tres dias no deserto, e não acharam aguas.

23Então chegaram a Marah; mas não poderam beber as aguas de Marah, porque eram amargas: por isso chamou-*se o seu nome Marah.

24E o povo murmurou contra Moysés, dizendo: Que havemos de beber?

25E elle clamou ao Senhor, e o Senhor mostrou-lhe um lenho que lançou nas aguas, e as aguas se tornaram doces: ali lhes deu estatutos e uma ordenação, e ali os provou.

26E disse: Se ouvires attento a voz do Senhor teu Deus, e obrares o que é recto diante de seus olhos, e inclinares os teus ouvidos aos seus mandamentos, e guardares todos os seus estatutos, nenhuma das enfermidades porei sobre ti, que puz sobre o Egypto; porque eu sou o Senhor que te sara.

27Então vieram a Elim, e havia ali doze fontes d'agua e setenta palmeiras: e ali se acamparam junto das aguas.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Moses and the people of Israel sing a song of praise celebrating God's victory over the Egyptians at the Red Sea; soon after, the people grumble for lack of fresh water at Marah, and God makes the water drinkable.

Explanation

The first half of this chapter contains one of the oldest and most theologically rich songs in the Bible, attributed to Moses and then repeated by his sister Miriam with tambourines and dancing, celebrating God's sovereignty and saving power in vivid, poetic language. This spontaneous praise reflects the fitting response of gratitude after such a dramatic deliverance. Yet the second half of the chapter reveals how quickly that euphoric faith can fade in the face of a new practical challenge: just three days after witnessing the greatest miracle of their lives, the people are already grumbling against Moses for lack of drinking water. God responds not with immediate punishment but with provision (turning the bitter water of Marah sweet), accompanied by a call to ongoing obedience. The lesson for today is that moments of great faith and celebration do not make us immune to future doubts and complaints, requiring a renewed, daily commitment to trust in God.

Fun facts

  • The 'Song of the Sea' (v. 1-18) is considered by biblical scholars to be one of the oldest poetic texts in all of Hebrew Scripture, possibly preserving archaic linguistic forms dating close to the historical event it celebrates.
  • Miriam is called a 'prophetess' here (v. 20), one of the first women in the Bible to formally receive that title, showing that spiritual leadership in Israel, from the very beginning, was not exclusively male.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Êxodo 15:1After crossing the sea, the people sing a song of victory — the first song recorded in the Bible, celebrating the defeat of the Egyptian army drowned in the sea.
  2. Êxodo 15:2“Habitation” here is a poetic way of saying the people will build a place of worship for this God who saved them; the mention of “my father’s God” ties this to the tradition of the patriarchs.
  3. Êxodo 15:3“A man of war” describes God actively fighting for the people, military imagery used to celebrate a victory that would have been humanly impossible against an army of chariots.
  4. Êxodo 15:4Repeats in poetic form what was already told in prose in chapter 14: Pharaoh’s army, including his best officers, sank in the Red Sea.
  5. Êxodo 15:5Uses the image of a stone sinking to describe the speed and weight with which the Egyptian army was swallowed by the waters.
  6. Êxodo 15:6Refers to God’s right hand, a symbol of strength and power in action; the song celebrates that strength as what shattered the Egyptian enemy.
  7. Êxodo 15:7Compares the destruction of the Egyptian army to dry stubble burning quickly, a common farming image for something consumed with ease.
  8. Êxodo 15:8Poetically describes the miracle of the sea opening as if a blast from God’s nostrils had piled up the waters, a figurative way of attributing the event to Him.
  9. Êxodo 15:9Reproduces the arrogant thinking of the Egyptians before their defeat, imagining they would easily catch, plunder, and destroy the fleeing people — confidence that was completely dashed.
  10. Êxodo 15:10Contrasts the Egyptian confidence of the previous verse with the real outcome: a single blast of God’s wind sank them like heavy metal.
  11. Êxodo 15:11One of the most famous rhetorical questions in the Old Testament, declaring that no other god compares to the Lord in holiness and the power to work miracles.
  12. Êxodo 15:12Returns to the image of the earth or sea swallowing the Egyptian army, reinforcing the idea of complete and irreversible destruction.
  13. Êxodo 15:13The focus shifts from the destruction of Egypt to God’s care for Israel: He not only saved them but is guiding the people toward a holy place, foreshadowing the promised land.
  14. Êxodo 15:14Anticipates that news of the victory will spread and cause fear among the neighboring peoples, a reaction that does in fact show up later in the wilderness journey.
  15. Êxodo 15:15Specifically lists the peoples who will fear Israel’s arrival: the Edomites, the Moabites, and the Canaanites, all neighbors of the promised land.
  16. Êxodo 15:16The widespread fear described here serves a practical purpose in the narrative: protecting the people from attacks as they cross foreign territories on the way to Canaan.
  17. Êxodo 15:17Still as poetic prophecy, anticipates the people’s future settlement in the land and the building of a permanent sanctuary, things that only happen much later.
  18. Êxodo 15:18Closes the main body of the song with a statement about God’s eternal reign, summing up the central theme of the whole song.
  19. Êxodo 15:19Sums up in prose, once more, the event that inspired the whole song: the Egyptian army sunk while the Israelites crossed the sea in safety.
  20. Êxodo 15:20Miriam is called a “prophetess” even though there is no earlier record of her giving prophecies — in the Old Testament this title also applies to someone who leads worship and guides the people’s response to God, not only to someone who foretells the future. The timbrel was a simple percussion instrument, common in victory celebrations led by women.
  21. Êxodo 15:21Miriam leads the people, repeating in chorus the same opening line of Moses’s song, in a celebration shared between men and women.
  22. Êxodo 15:22After the excitement of victory, the real wilderness journey begins with a practical problem: three days without finding any water at all.
  23. Êxodo 15:23“Marah” means bitterness in Hebrew, a name given because of the “bitter” water found there, not because the place was already called that before. It is one example of how several places in the wilderness get their names from what happened to the people at that point in the journey.
  24. Êxodo 15:24The people’s first reaction to the difficulty is to complain directly to Moses, a pattern of grumbling that repeats several times throughout the journey.
  25. Êxodo 15:25It is not known for certain what kind of wood or plant this “tree” was that, thrown into the water, made it drinkable; the text does not say whether it was a natural purification process or something out of the ordinary. What matters here is the pattern that repeats: the people complain, Moses turns to God, and the solution follows.
  26. Êxodo 15:26The phrase “that healeth thee” appears right after the water turns drinkable, tying physical healing to obedience to the commandments — a conditional promise, not an automatic guarantee of perfect health. This is the first time in the book that God introduces Himself with this specific title.
  27. Êxodo 15:27Elim, with its twelve springs and seventy palm trees, contrasts with the bitterness of Marah and offers a brief moment of relief before the next hardships of the wilderness.

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