Pillars of Cloud and Fire

17 When Pharaoh let the people go, God did ⁿnot lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people ^ochange their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” 18 But God ^pled the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. 19 Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for Joseph¹ had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, ^q“God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones with you from here.” 20 And ^rthey moved on from Succoth and encamped at Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. 21 And ^sthe Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead them along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night. 22 The pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night did not depart from before the people.

Crossing the Red Sea

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to ^tturn back and encamp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between ^uMigdol and the sea, in front of Baal-zephon; you shall encamp facing it, by the sea. 3 For Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel, ‘They are wandering in the land; the wilderness has shut them in.’ 4 And ^vI will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them, and I will ^wget glory over Pharaoh and all his host, ^xand the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord.” And they did so.

7 And they set out from Etham and turned back to ^tPi-hahiroth, which is east of Baal-zephon, and they camped before Migdol.

5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, the ^ymind of Pharaoh and his servants was changed toward the people, and they said, “What is this we have done, that we have let Israel go from serving us?” 6 So he made ready his chariot and took his army with him, 7 and took ^zsix hundred chosen chariots and all the other chariots of Egypt with officers over all of them. 8 And ^vthe Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the people of Israel while ^athe people of Israel were going out defiantly. 9 The ^bEgyptians pursued them, all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and his horsemen and his army, and overtook them ^cencamped at the sea, by Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

10 When Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel lifted up their eyes, and behold, the Egyptians were marching after them, and they feared greatly. And the people of Israel ^dcried out to the Lord. 11 They ^esaid to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us in bringing us out of Egypt? 12 Is not this what ^fwe said to you in Egypt: ‘Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians’? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” 13 And Moses said to the people, ^g“Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today. For ^hthe Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. 14 ⁱThe Lord will fight for you, and you have only ^jto be silent.”

15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 ^kLift up your staff, and ^kstretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And ^lI will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and ^mI will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians ⁿshall know that I am the Lord, ^mwhen I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

19 ^oThen the angel of God who was going before the host of Israel moved and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, 20 coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night¹ without one coming near the other all night.

21 Then Moses ^kstretched out his hand over the sea, and the Lord drove the sea back by ^pa strong east wind all night and ^qmade the sea dry land, and the waters were ^rdivided. 22 And ^sthe people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being ^ta wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 23 The Egyptians pursued and went in after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen. 24 And in the morning watch the Lord in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, 25 clogging² their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the ^uLord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

26 Then the Lord said to Moses, ^v“Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.” 27 ^wSo Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the sea ^xreturned to its normal course when the morning appeared. And as the Egyptians fled into it, the Lord ^ythrew³ the Egyptians into the midst of the sea. 28 The ^zwaters returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen; of all the host of Pharaoh that had followed them into the sea, ^anot one of them remained. 29 But the ^bpeople of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

30 Thus the Lord ^csaved Israel that day from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. 31 ^dIsrael saw the great power that the Lord used against the Egyptians, so the people feared the Lord, and they ^ebelieved in the Lord and in his servant Moses.

The Song of Moses

1 Then Moses and the people of Israel ^fsang this song to the Lord, saying,

19 For when ^tthe horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, ^uthe Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them, but the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20 Then ^vMiriam ^wthe prophetess, the ^xsister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and ^yall the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. 21 And Miriam sang to them:

Bitter Water Made Sweet

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of ^aShur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to ^bMarah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.⁵ 24 And the people ^cgrumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he ^dcried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,⁶ and he ^ethrew it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord⁷ made for them a statute and a rule, and there he ^ftested them, 26 saying, ^g“If you will diligently listen to the voice of the Lord your God, and do that which is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put none of the ^hdiseases on you that I put on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, ⁱyour healer.”

27 Then ^jthey came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

Bread from Heaven

1 They ^kset out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2 And the whole congregation of the people of Israel ^lgrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, 3 and the people of Israel said to them, ^m“Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, ⁿwhen we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I am about to rain ^obread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may ^ptest them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 5 On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, ^qit will be twice as much as they gather daily.” 6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the people of Israel, ^r“At evening ^syou shall know that it was the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you shall see the ^tglory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against the Lord. For ^uwhat are we, that you grumble against us?” 8 And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—^vwhat are we? Your grumbling is not ^wagainst us but against the Lord.”

9 Then Moses ^xsaid to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, ^y‘Come near before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’” 10 And as soon as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the people of Israel, they looked toward the wilderness, and behold, the ^tglory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. 11 And the Lord said to Moses, 12 “I ^zhave heard the grumbling of the people of Israel. Say to them, ‘At ^atwilight you shall eat meat, and ^bin the morning you shall be filled with bread. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 In the evening ^cquail came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^ddew lay around the camp. 14 And when the dew had gone up, there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as frost on the ground. 15 When the people of Israel saw it, they said to one another, ^e“What is it?”⁸ For they ^fdid not know what it was. And Moses said to them, ^g“It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Gather of it, each one of you, as much as he can eat. You shall each take an ^homer,⁹ according to the number of the persons that each of you has in his tent.’” 17 And the people of Israel did so. They gathered, some more, some less. 18 But when they measured it with an omer, ⁱwhoever gathered much had nothing left over, and whoever gathered little had no lack. Each of them gathered as much as he could eat. 19 And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over till the morning.” 20 But they did not listen to Moses. Some left part of it till the morning, and ^jit bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. 21 Morning by morning they gathered it, each as much as he could eat; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

22 On ^kthe sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, 23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of ^lsolemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it aside till the morning, as Moses commanded them, and ^mit did not stink, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for ^ltoday is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none.”

27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, ⁿ“How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? 29 See! The Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place; let no one go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people ^orested on the seventh day.

31 Now the house of Israel called its name ^pmanna. It was ^qlike coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. 32 Moses said, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” 33 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a ^rjar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the Lord to be kept throughout your generations.” 34 As the Lord commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before ^sthe testimony to be kept. 35 The people of Israel ^tate the manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land. They ate the manna till ^uthey came to the border of the land of Canaan. 36 (An omer is ^vthe tenth part of an ephah.)¹⁰

12 And they set out from the wilderness of Sin and camped at Dophkah. 13 And they set out from Dophkah and camped at Alush. 14 And they set out from Alush and camped at ^yRephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.

2 ^xTherefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ^ytest the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and ^zthe people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready ^ato stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with ^bwhich you struck the Nile, and go. 6 ^cBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place ^dMassah¹ and ^eMeribah,² because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Israel Defeats Amalek

8 ^fThen Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim. 9 So Moses said to ^gJoshua, “Choose for us men, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with ^hthe staff of God in my hand.” 10 So ^gJoshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and ⁱHur went up to the top of the hill. 11 Whenever Moses ^jheld up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and ⁱHur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 13 And ^gJoshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword.

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and recite it in the ears of ^gJoshua, that ^kI will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15 And Moses ^lbuilt an altar and called the name of it, The Lord Is My Banner, 16 saying, “A hand upon the throne³ of the Lord! ^kThe Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”