Exodus 14

¹ Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

² ‘Tell the sons of Israel to turn back and pitch camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, facing Baal-zephon. You are to pitch your camp opposite this place, beside the sea.

³ Pharaoh will think, “Look how these sons of Israel wander to and fro in the countryside; the wilderness has closed in on them”.

⁴ Then I shall make Pharaoh’s heart stubborn and he will set out in pursuit of them. But I shall win glory for myself at the expense of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will learn that I am Yahweh.’ And the Israelites did this.

⁵ When Pharaoh, king of Egypt, was told that the people had made their escape, he and his courtiers changed their minds about the people. ‘What have we done,’ they said ‘allowing Israel to leave our service?’

⁶ So Pharaoh had his chariot harnessed and gathered his troops about him,

⁷ taking six hundred of the best chariots and all the other chariots in Egypt, each manned by a picked team.

⁸ Yahweh made Pharaoh, king of Egypt, stubborn, and he gave chase to the sons of Israel as they made their triumphant escape.

⁹ So the Egyptians gave chase and came up with them where they lay encamped beside the sea – all the horses, the chariots of Pharaoh, his horsemen, his army – near Pi-hahiroth, facing Baal-zephon.

¹⁰ And as Pharaoh approached, the sons of Israel looked round – and there were the Egyptians in pursuit of them! The sons of Israel were terrified and cried out to Yahweh.

¹¹ To Moses they said, ‘Were there no graves in Egypt that you must lead us out to die in the wilderness? What good have you done us, bringing us out of Egypt?

¹² We spoke of this in Egypt, did we not? Leave us alone, we said, we would rather work for the Egyptians! Better to work for the Egyptians than die in the wilderness!’

¹³ Moses answered the people, ‘Have no fear! Stand firm, and you will see what Yahweh will do to save you today: the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

¹⁴ Yahweh will do the fighting for you: you have only to keep still.’

¹⁵ Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me so? Tell the sons of Israel to march on.

¹⁶ For yourself, raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and part it for the sons of Israel to walk through the sea on dry ground.

¹⁷ I for my part will make the heart of the Egyptians so stubborn that they will follow them. So shall I win myself glory at the expense of Pharaoh, of all his army, his chariots, his horsemen.

¹⁸ And when I have won glory for myself, at the expense of Pharaoh and his chariots and his army, the Egyptians will learn that I am Yahweh.’

¹⁹ Then the angel of Yahweh, who marched at the front of the army of Israel, changed station and moved to their rear. The pillar of cloud changed station from the front to the rear of them, and remained there.

²⁰ It came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. The cloud was dark, and the night passed without the armies drawing any closer the whole night long.

²¹ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. Yahweh drove back the sea with a strong easterly wind all night, and he made dry land of the sea. The waters parted

²² and the sons of Israel went on dry ground right into the sea, walls of water to right and to left of them.

²³ The Egyptians gave chase: after them they went, right into the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

²⁴ In the morning watch, Yahweh looked down on the army of the Egyptians from the pillar of fire and of cloud, and threw the army into confusion.

²⁵ He so clogged their chariot wheels that they could scarcely make headway. ‘Let us flee from the Israelites,’ the Egyptians cried ‘Yahweh is fighting for them against the Egyptians!’

²⁶ ‘Stretch out your hand over the sea,’ Yahweh said to Moses ‘that the waters may flow back on the Egyptians and their chariots and their horsemen.’

²⁷ Moses stretched out his hand over the sea and, as day broke, the sea returned to its bed. The fleeing Egyptians marched right into it, and Yahweh overthrew the Egyptians in the very middle of the sea.

²⁸ The returning waters overwhelmed the chariots and the horsemen of Pharaoh’s whole army, which had followed the Israelites into the sea; not a single one of them was left.

²⁹ But the sons of Israel had marched through the sea on dry ground, walls of water to right and to left of them.

³⁰ That day, Yahweh rescued Israel from the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.

³¹ Israel witnessed the great act that Yahweh had performed against the Egyptians, and the people venerated Yahweh; they put their faith in Yahweh and in Moses, his servant.