Exodus 13-15 (Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition)

Exodus 13

 ¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

    ²Sanctify unto me every firstborn that openeth the womb among the children of Israel, as well of men as of beasts: for they are all mine.

    ³And Moses said to the people: Remember this day in which you came forth out of Egypt, and out of the house of bondage, for with a strong hand hath the Lord brought you forth out of this place: that you eat no leavened bread.

    ⁴This day you go forth in the month of new corn.

    ⁵And when the Lord shall have brought thee into the land of the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Amorrhite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to thy fathers that he would give thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey, thou shalt celebrate this manner of sacred rites in this month.

    ⁶Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread: and on the seventh day shall be the solemnity of the Lord.

    ⁷Unleavened bread shall you eat seven days: there shall not be seen any thing leavened with thee, nor in all thy coasts.

    ⁸And thou shalt tell thy son in that day, saying: This is what the Lord did to me when I came forth out of Egypt.

    ⁹And it shall be as a sign in thy hand, and as a memorial before thy eyes: and that the law of the Lord be always in thy mouth, for with a strong hand the Lord hath brought thee out of the land of Egypt.

    ¹⁰Thou shalt keep this observance at the set time from days to days.

    ¹¹And when the Lord shall have brought thee into the land of the Chanaanite, as he swore to thee and thy fathers, and shall give it thee:

    ¹²Thou shalt set apart all that openeth the womb for the Lord, and all that is first brought forth of thy cattle: whatsoever thou shalt have of the male sex, thou shalt consecrate to the Lord.

    ¹³The firstborn of an ass thou shalt change for a sheep: and if thou do not redeem it, thou shalt kill it. And every firstborn of men thou shalt redeem with a price.

    ¹⁴And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What is this? thou shalt answer him: With a strong hand did the Lord bring us forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.

    ¹⁵For when Pharao was hardened, and would not let us go, the Lord slew every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of beasts: therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all that openeth the womb of the male sex, and all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.

    ¹⁶And it shall be as a sign in thy hand, and as a thing hung between thy eyes, for a remembrance: because the Lord hath brought us forth out of Egypt by a strong hand.

    ¹⁷And when Pharao had sent out the people, the Lord led them not by the way of the land of the Philistines which is near: thinking lest perhaps they would repent, if they should see wars arise against them, and would return into Egypt.

    ¹⁸But he led them about by the way of the desert, which is by the Red Sea: and the children of Israel went up armed out of the land of Egypt.

    ¹⁹And Moses took Joseph's bones with him: because he had adjured the children of Israel, saying: God shall visit you, carry out my bones from hence with you.

    ²⁰And marching from Socoth they encamped in Etham in the utmost coasts of the wilderness.

    ²¹And the Lord went before them to shew the way by day in a pillar of a cloud, and by night in a pillar of fire: that he might be the guide of their journey at both times.

    ²²There never failed the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, before the people.

   

Exodus 14

 ¹And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

    ²Speak to the children of Israel: Let them turn and encamp over against Phihahiroth which is between Magdal and the sea over against Beelsephon: you shall encamp before it upon the sea.

    ³And Pharao will say of the children of Israel: They are straitened in the land, the desert hath shut them in.

    ⁴And I shall harden his heart, and he will pursue you: and I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in all his army: and the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord. And they did so.

    ⁵And it was told the king of the Egyptians that the people was fled: and the heart of Pharao and of his servants was changed with regard to the people, and they said: What meant we to do, that we let Israel go from serving us?

    ⁶So he made ready his chariot, and took all his people with him.

    ⁷And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots that were in Egypt: and the captains of the whole army.

    ⁸And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharao king of Egypt, and he pursued the children of Israel: but they were gone forth in a mighty hand.

    ⁹And when the Egyptians followed the steps of them who were gone before, they found them encamped at the sea side: all Pharao's horse and chariots, and the whole army were in Phihahiroth before Beelsephon.

    ¹⁰And when Pharao drew near, the children of Israel, lifting up their eyes, saw the Egyptians behind them: and they feared exceedingly, and cried to the Lord.

    ¹¹And they said to Moses: Perhaps there were no graves in Egypt, therefore thou hast brought us to die in the wilderness: why wouldst thou do this, to lead us out of Egypt?

    ¹²Is not this the word that we spoke to thee in Egypt, saying: Depart from us that we may serve the Egyptians? for it was much better to serve them, than to die in the wilderness.

    ¹³And Moses said to the people: Fear not: stand and see the great wonders of the Lord, which he will do this day: for the Egyptians, whom you see now, you shall see no more for ever.

    ¹⁴The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

    ¹⁵And the Lord said to Moses: Why criest thou to me? Speak to the children of Israel to go forward.

    ¹⁶But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch forth thy hand over the sea, and divide it: that the children of Israel may go through the midst of the sea on dry ground.

    ¹⁷And I will harden the heart of the Egyptians to pursue you: and I will be glorified in Pharao, and in all his host, and in his chariots, and in his horsemen.

    ¹⁸And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall be glorified in Pharao, and in his chariots and in his horsemen.

    ¹⁹And the angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, removing, went behind them: and together with him the pillar of the cloud, leaving the forepart,

    ²⁰Stood behind, between the Egyptians' camp and the camp of Israel: and it was a dark cloud, and enlightening the night, so that they could not come at one another all the night.

    ²¹And when Moses had stretched forth his hand over the sea, the Lord took it away by a strong and burning wind blowing all the night, and turned it into dry ground: and the water was divided.

    ²²And the children of Israel went in through the midst of the sea dried up: for the water was as a wall on their right hand and on their left.

    ²³And the Egyptians pursuing went in after them, and all Pharao's horses, his chariots and horsemen through the midst of the sea,

    ²⁴And now the morning watch was come, and behold the Lord looking upon the Egyptian army through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, slew their host.

    ²⁵And overthrew the wheels of the chariots, and they were carried into the deep. And the Egyptians said: Let us flee from Israel: for the Lord fighteth for them against us.

    ²⁶And the Lord said to Moses: Stretch forth they hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and horsemen.

    ²⁷And when Moses had stretched forth his hand towards the sea, it returned at the first break of day to the former place: and as the Egyptians were fleeing away, the waters came upon them, and the Lord shut them up in the middle of the waves.

    ²⁸And the waters returned, and covered the chariots and the horsemen of all the army of Pharao, who had come into the sea after them, neither did there so much as one of them remain.

    ²⁹But the children of Israel marched through the midst of the sea upon dry land, and the waters were to them as a wall on the right hand and on the left:

    ³⁰And the Lord delivered Israel on that day out of the hands of the Egyptians.

    ³¹And they saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore, and the mighty hand that the Lord had used against them: and the people feared the Lord, and they believed the Lord, and Moses his servant.

   

Exodus 15

 ¹Then Moses and the children of Israel sung this canticle to the Lord: and said: Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and the rider he hath thrown into the sea.

    ²The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become salvation to me: he is my God and I will glorify him: the God of my father, and I will exalt him.

    ³The Lord is as a man of war, Almighty is his name.

    ⁴Pharao's chariots and his army he hath cast into the sea: his chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea.

    ⁵The depths have covered them, they are sunk to the bottom like a stone.

    ⁶Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength: thy right hand, O Lord, hath slain the enemy.

    ⁷And in the multitude of they glory thou hast put down thy adversaries: thou hast sent thy wrath, which hath devoured them like stubble.

    ⁸And with the blast of thy anger the waters were gathered together: the flowing water stood, the depth were gathered together in the midst of the sea.

    ⁹The enemy said: I will pursue and overtake, I will divide the spoils, my soul shall have its fill: I will draw my sword, my hand shall slay them.

    ¹⁰Thy wind blew and the sea covered them: they sunk as lead in the mighty waters.

    ¹¹Who is like to thee, among the strong, O Lord? who is like to thee, glorious in holiness, terrible and praiseworthy, doing wonders?

    ¹²Thou stretchedst forth thy hand, and the earth swallowed them.

    ¹³In thy mercy thou hast been a leader to the people which thou hast redeemed: and in thy strength thou hast carried them to thy holy habitation.

    ¹⁴Nations rose up, and were angry: sorrows took hold on the inhabitants of Philisthiim.

    ¹⁵Then were the princes of Edom troubled, trembling seized on the stout men of Moab: all the inhabitants of Chanaan became stiff.

    ¹⁶Let fear and dread fall upon them, in the greatness of thy arm: let them become unmoveable as a stone, until thy people, O Lord, pass by: until this thy people pass by, which thou hast possessed.

    ¹⁷Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thy inheritance, in thy most firm habitation which thou hast made, O Lord; thy sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.

    ¹⁸The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.

    ¹⁹For Pharao went in on horseback with his chariots and horsemen into the sea: and the Lord brought back upon them the waters of the sea: but the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst thereof.

    ²⁰So Mary the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand: and all the women went forth after her with timbrels and with dances:

    ²¹And she began the song to them, saying: Let us sing to the Lord, for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and his rider he hath thrown into the sea.

    ²²And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went forth into the wilderness of Sur: and they marched three days through the wilderness, and found no water.

    ²³And they came into Mara, and they could not drink the waters of Mara, because they were bitter: whereupon he gave a name also agreeable to the place, calling it Mara, that is, bitterness.

    ²⁴And the people murmured against Moses, saying: What shall we drink?

    ²⁵But he cried to the Lord, and he shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, they were turned into sweetness. There he appointed him ordinances, and judgments, and there he proved him,

    ²⁶Saying: If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do what is right before him, and obey his commandments, and keep all his precepts, none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon thee: for I am the Lord thy healer.

    ²⁷And the children of Israel came into Elim, where there were twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped by the waters.