✝
← Bible
ARCBLIVREKJVVBL

Êxodo 15

BLIVRE · Chapter 15/40

1Então cantou Moisés e os filhos de Israel este cântico ao SENHOR, e disseram: Cantarei eu ao SENHOR, porque se triunfou grandemente, Lançando no mar ao cavalo e ao que nele subia.

2O SENHOR é minha força, e minha canção, E foi-me por salvação: Este é meu Deus, e a este engrandecerei; Deus de meu pai, e a este exaltarei.

3O SENHOR, homem de guerra; o SENHOR é seu nome.

4Os carros de Faraó e a seu exército lançou no mar; E seus escolhidos príncipes foram afundados no mar Vermelho.

5Os abismos os cobriram; Como pedra desceram aos profundos.

6Tua mão direita, ó SENHOR, foi engrandecida em força; Tua mão direita, ó SENHOR, quebrantou ao inimigo.

7E com a grandeza de tua poder transtornaste aos que se levantaram contra ti: Enviaste teu furor; os tragou como o restolho.

8Com o sopro de tuas narinas se amontoaram as águas; Pararam-se as correntezas como em um amontoado; Os abismos se solidificaram em meio do mar.

9O inimigo disse: Perseguirei, prenderei, repartirei despojos; Minha alma se encherá deles; Tirarei minha espada, minha mão os destruirá.

10Sopraste com teu vento, cobriu-os o mar: Afundaram-se como chumbo nas impetuosas águas.

11Quem como tu, SENHOR, entre os deuses? Quem como tu, magnífico em santidade, Terrível em louvores, autor de maravilhas?

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

13Conduziste em tua misericórdia a este povo, ao qual salvaste; Levaste-o com tua força à habitação de teu santuário.

14Ouviram-no os povos, e tremerão; Dor se apoderará dos moradores da filístia.

15Então os príncipes de Edom se perturbarão; Aos robustos de Moabe os ocupará tremor; Todos os moradores de Canaã se abaterão.

16Caia sobre eles tremor e espanto; À grandeza de teu braço emudeçam como uma pedra; Até que tenha passado teu povo, ó SENHOR, Até que tenha passado este povo que tu resgataste.

17Tu os introduzirás e os plantarás no monte de tua herança, No lugar de tua morada, que tu preparaste, ó SENHOR; No santuário do Senhor, que firmaram tuas mãos.

18O SENHOR reinará pelos séculos dos séculos.

19Porque Faraó entrou cavalgando com seus carros e seus cavaleiros no mar, e o SENHOR voltou a trazer as águas do mar sobre eles; mas os filhos de Israel foram a seco por meio do mar.

20E Miriã a profetisa, irmã de Arão, tomou um pandeiro em sua mão, e todas as mulheres saíram atrás dela com pandeiros e danças.

21E Miriã lhes respondia: Cantai ao SENHOR; porque em extremo se engrandeceu, Lançando no mar ao cavalo, e ao que nele subia.

22E fez Moisés que partisse Israel do mar Vermelho, e saíram ao deserto de Sur; e andaram três dias pelo deserto sem achar água.

23E chegaram a Mara, e não puderam beber as águas de Mara, porque eram amargas; por isso lhe puseram o nome de Mara.

24Então o povo murmurou contra Moisés, e disse: Que beberemos?

25E Moisés clamou ao SENHOR; e o SENHOR lhe mostrou uma árvore, a qual quando a meteu dentro das águas, as águas se tornaram doces. Ali lhes deu estatutos e ordenanças, e ali os provou;

26E disse: Se ouvires atentamente a voz do SENHOR teu Deus, e fizeres o correto diante de seus olhos, e deres ouvido a seus mandamentos, e guardares todos os seus estatutos, nenhuma enfermidade das que enviei aos egípcios te enviarei a ti; porque eu sou o SENHOR que te sara.

27E chegaram a Elim, onde havia doze fontes de águas, e setenta palmeiras; e assentaram ali junto às águas.

📖 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.

Chapters

12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334353637383940

Our apps

Our apps →

Bible in Stories

The Bible told as a story, with audio and videos.

📱 Get the app

World in Stories

True stories of humanity that sound made up.

App StoreGoogle Play

Feito! Pequenas Vitórias

A light daily routine for people who lose track of the day.

App StoreGoogle Play