Exodus 14

1Then Yahweh said to Moses,

2“Instruct the Israelites to turn around and set up camp before Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. In front of Baal-zephon, facing it, you are to make camp beside the sea.

3Pharaoh will say about the Israelites, ‘They are lost and confused in the land; the wilderness has trapped them.’

4I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will chase after them, but I will win glory through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh.” They did exactly that.

5Word reached the king of Egypt that the people had run away, and Pharaoh and his officials had a change of heart about the people. They said, “What is this we have done, letting Israel go free from serving us?”

6He got his chariot hitched up and took his troops along with him.

7He took six hundred select chariots, as well as every chariot in Egypt, with officers in charge of them all.

8Yahweh hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he went after the Israelites as they were leaving with heads held high.

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

10Pharaoh was getting close. The Israelites raised their eyes and saw the Egyptians coming on behind them, and they were very afraid. The Israelites cried out to Yahweh.

11They said to Moses, “Is it for lack of graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this you have done to us, bringing us out of Egypt?

12Did we not tell you exactly this in Egypt: ‘Let us be, and let us serve the Egyptians’? Serving the Egyptians would have been better for us than dying in the wilderness!”

13Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Take your stand and watch the salvation that Yahweh will accomplish for you today. The Egyptians you are looking at today—you will not see them again, ever.

14Yahweh will fight for you, and you are to keep quiet.”

15Yahweh said to Moses, “Why cry out to me? Tell the Israelites to set out.

16As for you, lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and split it in two, so that the Israelites can walk through the middle of the sea on dry ground.

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

18Then the Egyptians will know that I am Yahweh, when I have won glory through Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

19The angel of God, who had been going on ahead of Israel’s camp, shifted and went behind them, and the pillar of cloud shifted from in front of them and took its place behind them.

20It came in between Egypt’s camp and Israel’s camp. The cloud was there with the darkness, yet it gave light by night, and the one camp did not come near the other the whole night.

21Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and Yahweh pushed the sea back with a powerful east wind the whole night long, making the sea into dry land. The waters split apart,

22and the Israelites entered the middle of the sea on dry ground, while the waters were a wall for them to their right and to their left.

23The Egyptians gave chase and followed them into the middle of the sea—every horse of Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24In the morning watch Yahweh gazed down on the Egyptian camp from the pillar of fire and cloud, and he threw the Egyptian camp into turmoil.

25He removed the wheels of their chariots, so that they drove with great effort. The Egyptians said, “We must run from Israel, because Yahweh is fighting on their side against Egypt!”

26Yahweh said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, so the waters will flow back over the Egyptians, over their chariots and their horsemen.”

27Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and as morning broke, the sea came back to its full strength. The Egyptians were fleeing to meet it, and Yahweh shook the Egyptians off into the middle of the sea.

28The returning waters covered over the chariots and horsemen, all of Pharaoh’s army that had gone into the sea after them; not a single one of them was left.

29But the Israelites had walked on dry ground in the middle of the sea, while the waters were a wall for them to their right and to their left.

30On that day Yahweh rescued Israel from the power of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the shore of the sea.

31When Israel saw the mighty hand Yahweh had shown against the Egyptians, the people feared Yahweh and put their trust in Yahweh and in Moses his servant.