Exodus 15

KJV · Chapter 15/40

1Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

2The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

3The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

4Pharaoh’s chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.

5The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.

6Thy right hand, O Lord, is become glorious in power: thy right hand, O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy.

7And in the greatness of thine excellency thou hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble.

8And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.

9The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.

10Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

11Who is like unto thee, O Lord, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

12Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.

13Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.

14The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina.

15Then the dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away.

16Fear and dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass over, O Lord, till the people pass over, which thou hast purchased.

17Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O Lord, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.

18The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.

19For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.

20And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

21And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.

22So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.

23And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah.

24And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?

25And he cried unto the Lord; and the Lord shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

26And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee.

27And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.

📖 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 15:7Compares the destruction of the Egyptian army to dry stubble burning quickly, a common farming image for something consumed with ease.
  8. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 15:12Returns to the image of the earth or sea swallowing the Egyptian army, reinforcing the idea of complete and irreversible destruction.
  13. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 15:22After the excitement of victory, the real wilderness journey begins with a practical problem: three days without finding any water at all.
  23. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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. Exodus 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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