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¹Then the LORD spoke to Moses:

²“Tell the Israelites to turn back and camp in front of Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea; you must camp in front of Baal-zephon, facing it by the sea.

³Pharaoh will say of the Israelites: They are wandering around the land in confusion; the wilderness has boxed them in.

⁴I will harden Pharaoh’s heart so that he will pursue them. Then I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this.

⁵When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about the people and said: “What have we done? We have released Israel from serving us.”

⁶So he got his chariot ready and took his troops with him;

⁷he took six hundred of the best chariots and all the rest of the chariots of Egypt, with officers in each one.

⁸The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued the Israelites, who were going out defiantly.

⁹The Egyptians — all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, his horsemen, and his army — chased after them and caught up with them as they camped by the sea beside Pi-hahiroth, in front of Baal-zephon.

¹⁰As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and there were the Egyptians coming after them! The Israelites were terrified and cried out to the LORD for help.

¹¹They said 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 by bringing us out of Egypt?

¹²Isn’t this what we told you in Egypt: Leave us alone so that we may serve the Egyptians? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

¹³But Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand firm and see the LORD’s salvation that he will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never see again.

¹⁴The LORD will fight for you, and you must be quiet.”

¹⁵The LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to break camp.

¹⁶As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.

¹⁷As for me, I am going to harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them, and I will receive glory by means of Pharaoh, all his army, and his chariots and horsemen.

¹⁸The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I receive glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

¹⁹Then the angel of God, who was going in front of the Israelite forces, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud moved from in front of them and stood behind them.

²⁰It came between the Egyptian and Israelite forces. There was cloud and darkness, it lit up the night, and neither group came near the other all night long.

²¹Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The LORD drove the sea back with a powerful east wind all that night and turned the sea into dry land. So the waters were divided,

²²and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

²³The Egyptians set out in pursuit — all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen — and went into the sea after them.

²⁴During the morning watch, the LORD looked down at the Egyptian forces from the pillar of fire and cloud, and threw the Egyptian forces into confusion.

²⁵He caused their chariot wheels to swerve and made them drive with difficulty. “Let’s get away from Israel,” the Egyptians said, “because the LORD is fighting for them against Egypt!”

²⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the water may come back on the Egyptians, on their chariots and horsemen.”

²⁷So Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea returned to its normal depth. While the Egyptians were trying to escape from it, the LORD threw them into the sea.

²⁸The water came back and covered the chariots and horsemen, plus the entire army of Pharaoh that had gone after them into the sea. Not even one of them survived.

²⁹But the Israelites had walked through the sea on dry ground, with the waters like a wall to them on their right and their left.

³⁰That day the LORD saved Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore.

³¹When Israel saw the great power that the LORD used against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in him and in his servant Moses.

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD. They said: I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.

²The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. This is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.

³The LORD is a warrior; the LORD is his name.

⁴He threw Pharaoh’s chariots and his army into the sea; the elite of his officers were drowned in the Red Sea.

⁵The floods covered them; they sank to the depths like a stone.

⁶LORD, your right hand is glorious in power. LORD, your right hand shattered the enemy.

⁷You overthrew your adversaries by your great majesty. You unleashed your burning wrath; it consumed them like stubble.

⁸The water heaped up at the blast from your nostrils; the currents stood firm like a dam. The watery depths 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 gratified at their expense. I will draw my sword; my hand will destroy them.”

¹⁰But you blew with your breath, and the sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

¹¹LORD, who is like you among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, revered with praises, performing wonders?

¹²You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed them.

¹³With your faithful love, you will lead the people you have redeemed; you will guide them to your holy dwelling with your strength.

¹⁴When the peoples hear, they will shudder; anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia.

¹⁵Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified; trembling will seize the leaders of Moab; all the inhabitants of Canaan will panic;

¹⁶terror and dread will fall on them. They will be as still as a stone because of your powerful arm until your people pass by, LORD, until the people whom you purchased pass by.

¹⁷You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your possession; LORD, you have prepared the place for your dwelling; Lord, your hands have established the sanctuary.

¹⁸The LORD will reign forever and ever!

¹⁹When Pharaoh’s horses with his chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the water of the sea back over them. But the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

²⁰Then the prophetess Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out following her with tambourines and dancing.

²¹Miriam sang to them: Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted; he has thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.

²²Then Moses led Israel on from the Red Sea, and they went out to the Wilderness of Shur. They journeyed for three days in the wilderness without finding water.

²³They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter — that is why it was named Marah.

²⁴The people grumbled to Moses, “What are we going to drink?”

²⁵So he cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree. When he threw it into the water, the water became drinkable. The LORD made a statute and ordinance for them at Marah, and he tested them there.

²⁶He said, “If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what is right in his sight, pay attention to his commands, and keep all his statutes, I will not inflict any illnesses on you that I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”

²⁷Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water.

¹The entire Israelite community departed from Elim and came to the Wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left the land of Egypt.

²The entire Israelite community grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.

³The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’s hand in the land of Egypt, when we sat by pots of meat and ate all the bread we wanted. Instead, you brought us into this wilderness to make this whole assembly die of hunger!”

⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. This way I will test them to see whether or not they will follow my instructions.

⁵On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.”

⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites: “This evening you will know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt,

⁷and in the morning you will see the LORD’s glory because he has heard your complaints about him. For who are we that you complain about us?”

⁸Moses continued, “The LORD will give you meat to eat this evening and all the bread you want in the morning, for he has heard the complaints that you are raising against him. Who are we? Your complaints are not against us but against the LORD.”

⁹Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the LORD, for he has heard your complaints.’”

¹⁰As Aaron was speaking to the entire Israelite community, they turned toward the wilderness, and there in a cloud the LORD’s glory appeared.

¹¹The LORD spoke to Moses,

¹²“I have heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them: At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will eat bread until you are full. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.”

¹³So at evening quail came and covered the camp. In the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp.

¹⁴When the layer of dew evaporated, there were fine flakes on the desert surface, as fine as frost on the ground.

¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they asked one another, “What is it?” because they didn’t know what it was. Moses told them, “It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.

¹⁶This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each person needs to eat. You may take two quarts per individual, according to the number of people each of you has in his tent.’”

¹⁷So the Israelites did this. Some gathered a lot, some a little.

¹⁸When they measured it by quarts, the person who gathered a lot had no surplus, and the person who gathered a little had no shortage. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat.

¹⁹Moses said to them, “No one is to let any of it remain until morning.”

²⁰But they didn’t listen to Moses; some people left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. Therefore Moses was angry with them.

²¹They gathered it every morning. Each gathered as much as he needed to eat, but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

²²On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, four quarts apiece, and all the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.

²³He told them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a day of complete rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and set aside everything left over to be kept until morning.’”

²⁴So they set it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it didn’t stink or have maggots in it.

²⁵“Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. Today you won’t find any in the field.

²⁶For six days you will gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”

²⁷Yet on the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, but they did not find any.

²⁸Then the LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and instructions?

²⁹Understand that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; therefore on the sixth day he will give you two days’ worth of bread. Each of you stay where you are; no one is to leave his place on the seventh day.”

³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹The house of Israel named the substance manna. It resembled coriander seed, was white, and tasted like wafers made with honey.

³²Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Two quarts of it are to be preserved throughout your generations, so that they may see the bread I fed you in the wilderness when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’”

³³Moses told Aaron, “Take a container and put two quarts of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be preserved throughout your generations.”

³⁴As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron placed it before the testimony to be preserved.

³⁵The Israelites ate manna for forty years, until they came to an inhabited land. They ate manna until they reached the border of the land of Canaan.

³⁶(They used a measure called an omer, which held two quarts. )