The song of the Red Sea
1Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said:
‘I will sing to the Lord,
because He is the great God.
He threw the horses in the sea,
and the men who were on them.
2My power comes from the Lord.
He makes me strong.
He saved me. He is my God, and I will praise Him.
He is the God of my forefathers,
and I will honour him.
3The Lord can win any war.
His name is the Lord.
4He threw Pharaoh's war-chariots into the sea
with all his soldiers, Pharaoh's best soldiers.
They all drowned in the Red Sea.
5The water covered them
and they sank deep down.
They sank like stones.
6Lord, your right hand is very strong.
Your right hand kills the enemies.
7You are the great God.
You trample everyone
who wants to go to war_against You.
When You are angry,
You burn them away like dry grass.
8The breath that comes out of your nose
is like a strong wind.
It stopped the water,
and the walls of water were high.
The deep water far out in the sea
became quiet.
9The enemies said:
“We will follow the Israelites
and we will catch them.
We will take everything they have
and we will divide it among us.
We will get everything that we want.
We will take out our swords and kill them.”
10But You blew your wind
and the sea covered them.
They went down like lead into the deep waters.
11Lord, who is like You?
Not one of the gods is like You.
Who can do what You can do?
Who is as holy as You? No one.
Everyone honours You and sings
about the wonderful miracles that You do.
12You put out your right hand,
and the earth swallowed your enemies.
13You are faithful to the people
that You have saved.
With your great power You led them
to your Holy_Land.
14They told the other nations about it
and they trembled.
The people of Philistia became afraid.
15The leaders of Edom trembled,
and the kings of Moab were afraid.
The people of Canaan were shocked.
16They were shocked and afraid
when people told them how strong You are.
They stood still like a stone,
while we passed through the water,
until all the people who belong to You had passed by.
17You will bring us to your mountain where You live
so that we may live there.
This is the place that You have prepared
for your throne to be.
It is your holy place
that You Yourself prepared with your hands.
18The Lord will rule forever and ever.’
19When Pharaoh's horses and war-chariots and his men went into the sea, the Lord told the water of the sea to come back over them, but the Israelites walked on dry ground through the sea.
20Moses' sister, Miriam, was a prophetess. She took a tambourine in her hand. All the women also took tambourines and they followed her and danced. 21Miriam said to them:
‘Sing to the Lord
because He is the great God.
He threw the horses, and the men on them,
into the sea.’
The water of Marah
22Moses and the Israelites went from the Red Sea to the Shur Desert. They walked for 3 days into the desert and they did not find any water. 23Then they came to Marah but they could not drink the water there. The water was bitter. That is why they named the place Marah. 24The Israelites came to Moses and asked him: ‘What must we drink?’
25Moses prayed to the Lord and asked Him to help them. The Lord showed Moses a piece of wood. Moses took the wood and threw it into the water and the water became good to drink. The Lord wanted to see if the Israelites would listen to Him. He gave them laws 26and He said: ‘You must listen carefully to what I say. I am the Lord your God. You must do what I want and obey my laws. Then I will not make you sick like I have done to the Egyptians, because I am the Lord who heals you.’
Elim
27Then the Israelites came to Elim. There were 12 fountains and 70 palm trees. They put up their tents near the water.
