Shemot (Exodus): Beshalach > Ch 15

Moses & the children of Israel sing a song to G-d

  • I will sing to the Lord, for very exalted is He; a horse and its rider He cast into the sea. The Eternal's strength and His vengeance were my salvation; this is my God, and I will make Him a habitation, the God of my father, and I will ascribe to Him exaltation. The Lord is a Master of war; the Lord is His Name. Pharaoh's chariots and his army He cast into the sea, and the elite of his officers sank in the Red Sea. The depths covered them; they descended into the depths like a stone. Your right hand, O Lord, is most powerful; Your right hand, O Lord, crushes the foe. And with Your great pride You tear down those who rise up against You; You send forth Your burning wrath; it devours them like straw. And with the breath of Your nostrils the waters were heaped up; the running water stood erect like a wall; the depths congealed in the heart of the sea. [Because] the enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will share the booty; my desire will be filled from them; I will draw my sword, my hand will impoverish them. You blew with Your wind, the sea covered them; they sank like lead in the powerful waters. Who is like You among the powerful, O Lord? Who is like You, powerful in the holy place? Too awesome for praises, performing wonders! You inclined Your right hand; the earth swallowed them up. With Your loving kindness You led the people You redeemed; You led [them] with Your might to Your holy abode. People heard, they trembled; a shudder seized the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chieftains of Edom were startled; [as for] the powerful men of Moab, trembling seized them; all the inhabitants of Canaan melted. May dread and fright fall upon them; with the arm of Your greatness may they become as still as a stone, until Your people cross over, O Lord, until this nation that You have acquired crosses over. You shall bring them and plant them on the mount of Your heritage, directed toward Your habitation, which You made, O Lord; the sanctuary, O Lord, [which] Your hands founded. The Lord will reign to all eternity. When Pharaoh's horses came with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought the waters of the sea back upon them, and the children of Israel walked on dry land in the midst of the sea
  • Miriam, the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women came out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam called out to them, Sing to the Lord, for very exalted is He; a horse and its rider He cast into the sea.


Moses leads the people to Shur, where they complain that there is no water. G-d saves them.

  • Moses led people away from the Sea, into the desert of Shur.
  • They walked for three days in the desert but did not find water.
  • They came to Marah, but the water there was bitter & undrinkable (therefore, it was named Marah).
  • The people complained against Moses
  • G-d told Moses to cast a piece of wood in the water, and the water became sweet


G-d tells the people to obey His commandments and G-d will keep them healthy, G-d heals.

  • There He gave them a statute and an ordinance, and there He tested them. And He said, If you hearken to the voice of the Lord, your God, and you do what is proper in His eyes, and you listen closely to His commandments and observe all His statutes, all the sicknesses that I have visited upon Egypt I will not visit upon you, for I, the Lord, heal you.


People come to Elim and camp there

  • They came to Elim, and there were twelve water fountains and seventy palms, and they encamped there by the water.


 
Rashi Commentary

  • twelve water fountains Corresponding to the twelve tribes, were prepared for them. [from Mechilta]
  • and seventy palms Corresponding to the seventy elders. — [from Mechilta, Jonathan]