Exodus 14:19-31

Contemporary English Version

¹⁹ All this time God’s angel had gone ahead of Israel’s army, but now he moved behind them. A large cloud had also gone ahead of them, ²⁰ but now it moved between the Egyptians and the Israelites. The cloud gave light to the Israelites, but made it dark for the Egyptians, and during the night they could not come any closer.

²¹ Moses stretched his arm over the sea, and the Lord sent a strong east wind that blew all night until there was dry land where the water had been. The sea opened up, ²² and the Israelites walked through on dry land with a wall of water on each side.

²³ The Egyptian chariots and cavalry went after them. ²⁴ But before daylight the Lord looked down at the Egyptian army from the fiery cloud and made them panic. ²⁵ Their chariot wheels got stuck,^[a] and it was hard for them to move. So the Egyptians said to one another, “Let’s leave these people alone! The Lord is on their side and is fighting against us.”

²⁶ The Lord told Moses, “Stretch your arm toward the sea—the water will cover the Egyptians and their cavalry and chariots.” ²⁷ Moses stretched out his arm, and at daybreak the water rushed toward the Egyptians. They tried to run away, but the Lord drowned them in the sea. ²⁸ The water came and covered the chariots, the cavalry, and the whole Egyptian army that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them was left alive. ²⁹ But the sea had made a wall of water on each side of the Israelites; so they walked through on dry land.

³⁰ On that day, when the Israelites saw the bodies of the Egyptians washed up on the shore, they knew that the Lord had saved them. ³¹ Because of the mighty power he had used against the Egyptians, the Israelites worshiped him and trusted him and his servant Moses.