The song of Moses
1Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to Yahweh. They said: “I will sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has hurled into the sea. 2Yahweh is my strength and my might; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will glorify him — the God of my father, and I will exalt him. 3Yahweh is a warrior; Yahweh is his name. 4Pharaoh’s chariots and his army he has hurled into the sea; the finest of his officers are drowned in the Sea of Reeds. 5The deeps have covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone. 6Your right hand, Yahweh, is majestic in power; your right hand, Yahweh, shatters the enemy. 7In the greatness of your majesty you overthrow those who rise against you; you send out your fury, and it consumes them like straw. 8At the blast of your nostrils the waters piled up; the currents stood up like a wall; the deeps congealed in the heart of the sea. 9The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my desire will be gorged on them; I will draw my sword, my hand will destroy them.’ 10You blew with your breath; the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters. 11Who is like you among the gods, Yahweh? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in praises, working wonders? 12You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them. 13In your steadfast love you have led the people you redeemed; in your strength you have guided them to your holy dwelling. 14The peoples have heard; they tremble. Anguish has seized the dwellers of Philistia. 15Then the chiefs of Edom were dismayed; trembling seizes the leaders of Moab; all the dwellers of Canaan melt away. 16Terror and dread fall upon them; by the might of your arm they are still as a stone — until your people pass by, Yahweh, until the people you have acquired pass by. 17You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance — the place, Yahweh, that you made for your dwelling, the sanctuary, Lord, that your hands established. 18Yahweh will reign forever and ever.” 19For when Pharaoh’s horses went into the sea with his chariots and his horsemen, Yahweh brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 20Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines, dancing. 21And Miriam sang back to them: “Sing to Yahweh, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has hurled into the sea.”
Bitter water and sweet water
22Then Moses led Israel onward from the Sea of Reeds, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur. They traveled three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water there, because it was bitter — that is why the place was named Marah. 24So the people grumbled against Moses. “What are we to drink?” they said. 25Moses cried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him a piece of wood; he threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There Yahweh made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them. 26He said, “If you will truly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and do what is right in his eyes, and pay attention to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians — for I am Yahweh, who heals you.” 27Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.
