Exodus 15
BSASBSafe on the far shore of the sea, Moses and Israel sing the first great song of redemption in the Bible, praising the LORD as warrior, savior and King. Then the mood drops fast: three days into the desert they find only bitter water. God sweetens it and reveals Himself as the One who heals, and then brings them to an oasis at Elim.
Exodus 15:1
Rescue turns into song. Moses and the people praise the LORD because He alone has done what they could not. The victory is His, so the song is aimed at Him, not at Moses or at Israel’s courage. The horse and rider thrown into the sea sum up Egypt’s whole military might.
BSA: highly exalted (“has triumphed gloriously, risen up in majesty”): God is pictured rising up in triumph over a power that had seemed unbeatable.
Hebrew: גָּאֹה גָּאָה (gā’ōh gā’āh, H1342) — “he has triumphed gloriously.” The Hebrew doubles the verb, as if saying ’triumphing, He has triumphed.’ It stresses a victory that is complete and beyond question.
See also: Exodus 14:30-31.
Exodus 15:2
Moses makes it personal. The LORD is his strength, the reason he can sing at all, and He has become his salvation. Israel does not claim a God of strangers: He is the God of their fathers, whose promises are now kept. Praise means lifting Him high.
BSA: salvation (“deliverance, victory”): The word means rescue that actually happened, which Israel had just seen at the sea.
See also: Psalm 118:14; Isaiah 12:2.
Exodus 15:3
God is called a warrior, because He fights for His people against what enslaves them. Israel did not need to fight at the sea. The LORD is His name, the covenant name He gave Moses at the burning bush, now proved in action.
BSA: warrior (“man of war, one who fights battles”): God takes up the battle Himself on behalf of those who cannot win it.
See also: Exodus 14:14; Exodus 3:15.
Exodus 15:4-5
The song retells the sea event. Pharaoh’s chariots and his best officers, the pride of Egypt, were hurled into the water. Heavy and helpless, they went down like a stone. The same sea that opened for Israel closed over those who chased them.
BSA: depths (“abyss, the deep waters”): The deep is pictured as a vast, swallowing place from which no one climbs out.
Exodus 15:6
The right hand is the hand of strength and action. Twice the song says it is the LORD’s right hand that did this. Israel’s hands held nothing. Whatever was shattered, the power behind it was God’s alone.
BSA: shattered (“dashed in pieces, crushed”): The enemy is not merely stopped but broken apart, a picture of total defeat.
Exodus 15:7
God’s anger against those who set themselves against Him is real and burns like fire. Stubble is dry stalk that goes up in a flash. Egypt’s proud armies were as nothing before His majesty. The verse shows that God’s holiness cannot be ignored forever.
BSA: stubble (“dry straw, worthless material”): Mighty soldiers are shown as worthless chaff when set against God’s fire.
Exodus 15:8
The song speaks in poetry of how the waters stood up. The blast of God’s nostrils is a vivid way to speak of His breath, as when a strong wind drove the sea back. The water stood like a wall on each side, held in place by His command.
BSA: blast (“by the spirit of Your anger, with the breath”): The same word can mean wind or breath or spirit, so God’s power is seen in the moving air.
See also: Exodus 14:21-22.
Exodus 15:9
Here the enemy is heard speaking. Every phrase begins with ‘I’: I will pursue, I will divide, I will destroy. It is the voice of pride, certain of the prize. The next verse answers it with a single breath from God.
BSA: gorge (“satisfy my desire, fill my soul”): The enemy wants to feed his appetite on God’s people.
Exodus 15:10
All of Egypt’s boasting was undone by one breath of God. The sea that had stood like a wall now covered them, and they sank like lead, a heavy metal that goes straight down. Human pride is no match for the Creator’s word.
BSA: breath (“the breath of life”): The same God who gives breath can use it to end a proud army.
Exodus 15:11
The song asks a question that has only one answer. No god of Egypt or anyone else compares. The LORD is set apart in holiness, worthy of awe, and does wonders no idol can do. Israel has seen the difference with their own eyes.
BSA: holiness (“set-apartness, sanctity”): God is utterly different from everything else, not merely a bigger version of it.
Hebrew: נֶאְדָּר בַּקֹּדֶשׁ (ne’dār baqqōdesh, H142) — “majestic in holiness.” The Hebrew word for majestic is the same one used of His right hand in verse 6. His power and His purity belong together.
See also: Psalm 86:8; Isaiah 6:3.
Exodus 15:12
God stretched out His hand and the earth swallowed the Egyptians. The song pictures the sea as giving way to solid ground, and the dead are taken out of sight. It is a short, solemn line: judgment was real and it was final.
BSA: right hand (“of authority and strength”): God’s hand is the hand of rightful authority, not mere force.
Exodus 15:13
The song now looks ahead. The God who redeemed will also lead. Loving devotion is His steady covenant faithfulness, and it is what moves Him to guide His people all the way to His holy dwelling. Rescue is a beginning, not an ending.
BSA: loving devotion (“kindness, mercy”): God leads out of faithful love, not duty or obligation. redeemed (“bought back, saved”): Israel belongs to God because He claimed them back at a cost.
Hebrew: חֶסֶד (chesed, H2617) — “steadfast, covenant love.” The word means loyal love that keeps its promise. English ‘devotion’ hints at it, but it carries the idea of a God who does not let go.
See also: Psalm 23:3.
Exodus 15:14-16
The singers look ahead to the nations on the way to Canaan. News of the sea will spread, and Philistia, Edom, Moab and Canaan will be shaken. They will stand frozen like stone while the people God bought go by. Fear of God will clear the road.
BSA: bought (“acquired, redeemed”): Israel is God’s own possession, secured by Him. melt away (“become faint, dissolve”): Their courage runs out like water, not like a battle lost with swords.
See also: Joshua 2:9-11.
Exodus 15:17
The goal is not just land but a place to live with God. He will plant His people like a vine on His own mountain, near the sanctuary He has prepared. Many Christians read this as pointing to the Promised Land and to God dwelling among His people.
BSA: plant (“establish, settle”): God means to root His people firmly, not leave them wandering. inheritance (“heritage, possession”): The land is a gift received from God, not earned.
See also: Psalm 78:54.
Exodus 15:18
The song ends on its main truth: the LORD reigns forever. Pharaoh’s rule has ended. Every earthly king passes, but God’s kingship has no end, and that is the final comfort for those who belong to Him.
BSA: forever (“for all eternity, always”): God’s rule has no end, unlike Pharaoh’s.
See also: Psalm 146:10; Revelation 15:3.
Exodus 15:19
The writer sums up the event in prose. Pharaoh’s cavalry went in after Israel, and the waters came back over them. Israel walked through on dry ground. The same sea meant death for one side and rescue for the other.
BSA: dry ground (“dry land, solid earth”): God’s people crossed on solid footing, with no mud or struggle.
See also: Hebrews 11:29.
Exodus 15:20-21
Miriam, Moses’ and Aaron’s sister, is called a prophetess. She leads the women in tambourines and dance. Her answering song repeats the opening line of Moses’ song. Praise here is joyful, physical, and shared by the whole community.
BSA: dancing (“celebratory movements, joyful worship”): Their whole bodies joined in thanks to God.
See also: Psalm 149:3.
Exodus 15:22
The people move straight from the sea to the desert of Shur. Three days without water tests the newly rescued. The great celebration is followed by thirst, a reminder that faith must live in ordinary hardship as well as in triumph.
BSA: three (“a quantity of thrice”): Three days is a long time to go without water in desert heat.
Exodus 15:23-24
Water at last, but it is bitter and undrinkable. The place is called Marah, which means bitter. The people grumble. Only days after singing of God’s power, they doubt His care. Many of us know how quickly praise can turn to complaint.
BSA: grumbled (“murmured, complained”): It is a low, discontented muttering aimed at the leader, and really at God.
Hebrew: מָרָה (mārāh, H4785) — “bitter.” The place name is simply the Hebrew word for bitter. The name keeps the memory of the hard moment alive.
Exodus 15:25
Moses does not argue with the people. He cries out to the LORD, and God shows him a piece of wood. When Moses throws it in, the water becomes sweet. The cure is God’s gift, not a trick of nature. Here God also begins to test His people.
BSA: cried out (“in distress, with a loud voice”): Moses brings the problem to God in urgent prayer. tested (“proved them, tried their faith”): The test shows what is in the heart and trains trust.
Exodus 15:26
God ties His care to trust and obedience. If they listen and do what is right, they will be spared the diseases that fell on Egypt. Then He gives a new name: the LORD who heals. He is the One who restores, in body and in life.
BSA: heals (“mends, restores”): God makes things whole again, not just removes pain. listen carefully (“with all your heart, diligently hearken”): True listening means hearing and then doing.
Hebrew: רֹפְאֶךָ (rōphe’ekhā, H7495) — “your healer.” The word means one who heals or mends. God puts it as part of who He is: ‘I am the LORD, your healer.’.
See also: Psalm 103:3.
Exodus 15:27
After bitterness comes abundance. At Elim there are twelve springs and seventy palm trees, shade and water for the whole camp. God leads His people through hard places, but He also brings them to rest and refreshment.
BSA: springs (“refreshment, a source of life”): Water that keeps flowing is a picture of God’s steady provision.