Exodus
Chapter 15
1
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: I will sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
2
My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior. He is my God, I praise him; the God of my father, I extol him.
3
The LORD is a warrior, LORD is his name!
4
Pharaoh's chariots and army he hurled into the sea; the elite of his officers were submerged in the Red Sea.
5
The flood waters covered them, they sank into the depths like a stone.
6
Your right hand, O LORD, magnificent in power, your right hand, O LORD, has shattered the enemy.
7
In your great majesty you overthrew your adversaries; you loosed your wrath to consume them like stubble.
8
At a breath of your anger the waters piled up, the flowing waters stood like a mound, the flood waters congealed in the midst of the sea.
9
The enemy boasted, "I will pursue and overtake them; I will divide the spoils and have my fill of them; I will draw my sword; my hand shall despoil them!"
10
When your wind blew, the sea covered them; like lead they sank in the mighty waters.
11
Who is like to you among the gods, O LORD? Who is like to you, magnificent in holiness? O terrible in renown, worker of wonders,
12
when you stretched out your right hand, the earth swallowed them!
13
In your mercy you led the people you redeemed; in your strength you guided them to your holy dwelling.
14
The nations heard and quaked; anguish gripped the dwellers in Philistia.
15
Then were the princes of Edom dismayed; trembling seized the chieftains of Moab; All the dwellers in Canaan melted away;
16
terror and dread fell upon them. By the might of your arm they were frozen like stone, while your people, O LORD, passed over, while the people you had made your own passed over.
17
And you brought them in and planted them on the mountain of your inheritance-- the place where you made your seat, O LORD, the sanctuary, O LORD, which your hands established.
18
The LORD shall reign forever and ever.
19
They sang thus because Pharaoh's horses and chariots and charioteers had gone into the sea, and the LORD made the waters of the sea flow back upon them, though the Israelites had marched on dry land through the midst of the sea.
20
The prophetess Miriam, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, while all the women went out after her with tambourines, dancing;
21
2 and she led them in the refrain: Sing to the LORD, for he is gloriously triumphant; horse and chariot he has cast into the sea.
22
Then Moses led Israel forward from the Red Sea, and they marched out to the desert of Shur. After traveling for three days through the desert without finding water,
23
they arrived at Marah, where they could not drink the water, because it was too bitter. Hence this place was called Marah.
24
As the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
25
he appealed to the LORD, who pointed out to him a certain piece of wood. When he threw this into the water, the water became fresh.It was here that the LORD, in making rules and regulations for them, put them to the test.
26
"If you really listen to the voice of the LORD, your God," he told them, "and do what is right in his eyes: if you heed his commandments and keep all his precepts, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases with which I afflicted the Egyptians; for I, the LORD, am your healer."
27
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.
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Footnotes

1 [1-21] This canticle (used in Christian liturgy) celebrates God's saving power, miraculously delivering his people from their enemies, and leading them to the victorious conquest of the Promised Land.

2 [21] She led them: Miriam's refrain re-echoes the first verse of this song and was probably sung as an antiphon after each verse.


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December 09, 2002 Copyright © by United States Conference of Catholic Bishops