 Song at the Sea (Exodus 15), Leningrad Codex, 1009 CE, the oldest complete manuscript of the Hebrew Bible in Hebrew. The photo shows the beginning of the Song at the Sea (Exodus 15:1–14) and the prose verses from the end of the preceding chapter. In biblical manuscripts, the poem is written stichographically, lines are laid out in a pattern. Source: archive.org.. | This poem, called “a song” (shirah), is inserted into the Exodus narrative. It celebrates God’s defeat of the Egyptian forces at the Sea of Reeds, recapitulating with poetic flourishes some of the events recounted in the prose of the preceding chapter in Exodus. Rich in imagery, hyperbole, and poetic license, it expresses unrestrained enthusiasm over the Israelites’ miraculous rescue from disaster. Formally, it is divided into three sections; each ends with a simile followed by a pair of lines addressed to God, in which the opening phrase of the first line is repeated in the second (vv. 5b–6, 10b–11, 16a–b). This is known as staircase parallelism or incremental repetition. The poem ends with a coda acclaiming God’s eternal rule (vv. 17–18). Its language and style suggest that it is an ancient poem, perhaps the oldest in the Bible. Victory poems were known throughout the ancient world. Another biblical example includes a short victory poem sung by the women welcoming the victorious David home from battle, in 1 Samuel 18:7: “The women sang as they danced, and they chanted: ‘Saul has slain his thousands; David his tens of thousands!’” (see “King David (Samuel-Kings)”). Exodus 15 is written stichographically in Torah scrolls and in biblical manuscripts. |
Exodus 15
1 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said:
I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea.
2 The Lord is my strength and might;
He is become my deliverance.
This is my God and I will enshrine Him;
The God of my father, and I will exalt Him.
3 The Lord, the Warrior—
Lord is His name!
4 Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
He has cast into the sea;
And the pick of his officers
Are drowned in the Sea of Reeds.
5 The deeps covered them;
They went down into the depths like a stone.
6 Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power,
Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the foe!
7 In Your great triumph You break Your opponents;
You send forth Your fury, it consumes them like straw.
8 At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up,
The floods stood straight like a wall;
The deeps froze in the heart of the sea.
9 The foe said,
“I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil;
My desire shall have its fill of them.
I will bare my sword—
My hand shall subdue them.”
10 You made Your wind blow, the sea covered them;
They sank like lead in the majestic waters.
11 Who is like You, O Lord, among the celestials;
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
Awesome in splendor, working wonders!
12 You put out Your right hand,
The earth swallowed them.
13 In Your love You lead the people You redeemed;
In Your strength You guide them to Your holy abode.
14 The peoples hear, they tremble;
Agony grips the dwellers in Philistia.
15 Now are the clans of Edom dismayed;
The tribes of Moab—trembling grips them;
All the dwellers in Canaan are aghast.
16 Terror and dread descend upon them;
Through the might of Your arm they are still as stone—
Till Your people cross over, O Lord,
Till Your people cross whom You have ransomed.
17 You will bring them and plant them in Your own mountain,
The place You made to dwell in, O Lord,
The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands established.
18 The Lord will reign for ever and ever!
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