Exodus 14

1 Then the LORD said to Moses,
2 “Tell the Israelites to turn back and encamp near Pi Hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea. They are to encamp by the sea, directly opposite Baal Zephon.
3 Pharaoh will think, ‘The Israelites are wandering around the land in confusion, hemmed in by the desert.’
4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this.
5 When the king of Egypt was told that the people had fled, Pharaoh and his officials changed their minds about them and said, “What have we done? We have let the Israelites go and have lost their services!”
6 So he had his chariot made ready and took his army with him.
7 He took six hundred of the best chariots, along with all the other chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them.
8 The LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, so that he pursued the Israelites, who were marching out boldly.
9 The Egyptians—all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots, horsemen[a] and troops—pursued the Israelites and overtook them as they camped by the sea near Pi Hahiroth, opposite Baal Zephon.
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD.
11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?
12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again.
14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.”
15 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on.
16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.
17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen.
18 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them,
20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided,
22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea.
24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion.
25 He jammed[b] the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”
26 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.”
27 Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward[c] it, and the LORD swept them into the sea.
28 The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
29 But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
30 That day the LORD saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore.
31 And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

Images for Exodus 14

Cross References 56

  • 1. Numbers 33:7; Jeremiah 44:1; Ezekiel 29:10
  • 2. ver 9
  • 3. S Exodus 4:21
  • 4. ver 8,17,23; Psalms 71:11
  • 5. S Exodus 9:16; Ro 9:17,22-23
  • 6. S Exodus 6:2; Ezekiel 32:15; Exodus 7:5
  • 7. S Genesis 31:21
  • 8. Psalms 105:25
  • 9. Exodus 15:4
  • 10. ver 4; S Exodus 11:10
  • 11. Numbers 33:3; Acts 13:17
  • 12. Genesis 47:17
  • 13. ver 6-7,25; Joshua 24:6; Isaiah 43:17
  • 14. Exodus 15:9
  • 15. ver 2
  • 16. Exodus 15:25; Joshua 24:7; Nehemiah 9:9; Psalms 5:2; Psalms 34:17; Psalms 50:15; Psalms 107:6,28
  • 17. S Exodus 5:21; Exodus 16:3; Exodus 17:3; Numbers 11:1; Numbers 14:22; Numbers 20:4; Numbers 21:5; Deuteronomy 9:7; Psalms 106:7-8
  • 18. S Exodus 5:21; Exodus 15:24; Exodus 17:2; Psalms 106:7-8
  • 19. S Genesis 15:1
  • 20. 1 Samuel 12:16; 2 Chronicles 20:17; Isa 41:10,13-14
  • 21. ver 30
  • 22. ver 25; Exodus 15:3; Deuteronomy 1:30; Deuteronomy 3:22; Deuteronomy 20:4; Joshua 10:14; Joshua 23:3,10; 2 Samuel 5:24; 2 Chronicles 20:29; Nehemiah 4:20; Psalms 24:8; Psalms 35:1; Isaiah 42:13; Jeremiah 41:12
  • 23. 1 Samuel 12:16; Psalms 37:7; Psalms 46:10; Psalms 116:7; Isaiah 28:12; Isaiah 30:15; Zechariah 2:13
  • 24. Joshua 7:10
  • 25. S Exodus 4:2; Exodus 4:17; Nu 20:8-9,11
  • 26. ver 27; Isaiah 10:26
  • 27. Exodus 4:21
  • 28. S ver 4
  • 29. S Exodus 6:2; Ezekiel 32:15
  • 30. S Genesis 16:7; Isaiah 63:9
  • 31. S Exodus 13:21; 1 Corinthians 10:1
  • 32. Isaiah 26:7; Isaiah 42:16; Isaiah 49:10; Isaiah 52:12; Isaiah 58:8
  • 33. Joshua 24:7
  • 34. S Exodus 7:19
  • 35. S Exodus 4:2; Job 26:12; Isaiah 14:27; Isaiah 23:11; Isaiah 51:15; Jeremiah 31:35; Acts 7:36
  • 36. S Genesis 41:6; Exodus 15:8; 2 Samuel 22:16; 1 Kings 19:11; Job 38:1; Job 40:6; Jeremiah 23:19; Nahum 1:3
  • 37. S ver 22; S Genesis 8:1
  • 38. 2 Kings 2:8; Psalms 74:13; Psalms 78:13; Psalms 114:5; Psalms 136:13; Isaiah 63:12
  • 39. ver 16; Numbers 33:8; Joshua 24:6; Isaiah 43:16; Isaiah 63:11; 1 Corinthians 10:1
  • 40. ver 21,29; S Exodus 3:12; Exodus 15:19; Deuteronomy 31:6-8; Joshua 3:16,17; Joshua 4:22; Nehemiah 9:11; Psalms 66:6; Psalms 77:19; Psalms 106:9; Isaiah 11:15; Isaiah 41:10; Isaiah 43:5; Isaiah 44:27; Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 51:10; Isaiah 63:13; Jeremiah 46:28; Nahum 1:4; Hebrews 11:29
  • 41. Exodus 15:8; Joshua 3:13; Psalms 78:13
  • 42. ver 7
  • 43. S Exodus 13:21; 1 Corinthians 10:1
  • 44. Exodus 23:27; Joshua 10:10; 1 Samuel 5:9; 1 Samuel 7:10; 1 Samuel 14:15; 2 Samuel 5:24; 2 Kings 7:6; 2 Kings 19:7
  • 45. S ver 14
  • 46. S ver 9; Deuteronomy 32:31; 1 Samuel 2:2; 1 Samuel 4:8
  • 47. Joshua 4:18
  • 48. ver 28; Exodus 15:1,21; Deuteronomy 1:40; Deuteronomy 2:1; Deuteronomy 11:4; Psalms 78:53; Psalms 106:11; Psalms 136:15; Hebrews 11:29
  • 49. ver 23; Exodus 15:19; Joshua 24:7
  • 50. S ver 27; Exodus 15:5; Judges 4:16; Nehemiah 9:11
  • 51. ver; 21,S 22; Joshua 24:11; 2 Kings 2:8; Psalms 74:15
  • 52. Psalms 78:13
  • 53. ver 29; 1 Samuel 14:23; 1 Chronicles 11:14; Psalms 44:7; Psalms 106:8,10,21; Isaiah 43:3; Isaiah 50:2; Isaiah 51:9-10; Isaiah 60:16; Isaiah 63:8,11
  • 54. S Exodus 9:16; Psalms 147:5
  • 55. Exodus 20:18; Deuteronomy 31:13; Joshua 4:24; 1 Samuel 12:18; Psalms 76:7; Psalms 112:1
  • 56. S Exodus 4:5; Psalms 22:4; Psalms 40:3; Psalms 106:12; John 2:11; John 11:45

Footnotes 3

  • [a]. Or "charioteers" ; also in verses 17, 18, 23, 26 and 28
  • [b]. See Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint and Syriac; Masoretic Text "removed"
  • [c]. Or "from"

Exodus 14 Commentaries

Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.