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1 And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,

2 “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pi-ha-hi-roth, between Mig-dol and the sea, over against Baal-zephon; before it shall ye encamp by the sea.

3 For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, 'They are entangled in the land, the wilderness has shut them in.'

4 And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, that he shall follow after them; and I will be honoured upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host; that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord; And so they did.

5 And when it was told the king of Egypt that the people fled, the heart of Pharaoh and of his servants was turned against the people, and they said, “Why have we done this, that we have let Israel go from serving us?”

6 And he made ready his chariot, and took his people with him:

7 And he took six hundred chosen chariots, and all the chariots of Egypt, and captains over every one of them.

8 And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel; and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.

9 But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pi-ha-hi-roth, before Baal-zephon.

10 And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and saw the Egyptians marching after them; and they were very afraid; and the children of Israel cried out unto the Lord.

11 And they said unto Moses, “Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why then have you carried us forth out of Egypt?

12 Did we not say to you in Egypt, 'Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians?' For it would be better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.”

13 And Moses said unto the people, “Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, shall never be seen again.

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

15 And the Lord said unto Moses, “Why have you cried out to me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward,

16 But you, lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it; and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

17 And I, as you will see, I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them: and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.

18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.”

19 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, moved to and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them;

20 And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night.

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.

22 And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

23 And the Egyptians pursued, and went in after them to the midst of the sea, even all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch, the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and caused trouble among the Egyptians;

25 And took off their chariot wheels to slow them down; so that the Egyptians said, 'Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.'

26 And the Lord said unto Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen.

27 And Moses stretched forth his hand over the sea, and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.

28 And the waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them, such that none of them remained.

29 But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea; and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.

30 Thus the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore.

31 And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians; and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.

h.וישבו THAT THEY TURN backwards; all the third day they were moving nearer towards the Egyptians, in order to mislead Pharaoh, so that he should say: They have lost their way, as it is said, (v. 3) “so that Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, [They are entangled in the land]”.

h.ויחנו לפני פי החירת AND ENCAMP BEFORE PI-HAHIROTH — This is identical with Pithom (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:2:2), but now it obtained the name of פי החירת, because there they became בני חורין free-men (חירת is explained as חרות freedom). This was two high, precipitous rocks and the valley between them was called פי הסלעים the mouth (opening) of the rocks.

h.לפני בעל צפון BEFORE BAAL-ZEPHON — It (the idol of this name) alone had been left by God of all the gods of Egypt and, this, too, in order to mislead them — that they should say that their god was a difficult one to overcome. It was with reference to this that Job expressly said, (Job 12:23) “He causes the nations to err (מַשְׂגִיא, is taken in the sense of מַשְׁגִיא from root שגה to err) and then destroyeth them” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:2:2; cf. Rashi on this passage).

h.ואמר פרעה THEN PHARAOH WILL SAY — when he hears that they are turning back.

h.לבני ישראל means על בני ABOUT THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL. Similarly. (v. 14) “The Lord will fight לכם”, i. e. עליכם for you; (Genesis 20:13) “Say לי, he is my brother” i. e. say about me.

h.נבכים הם means, shut up and sunk deep. old French serrer. Of similar meaning are (Job 38:16) “the depths of (נבכי) the sea”; (Psalms 84:7) “in the vale of dejection (הבכא)”; (Job 28:11) “from the depths (מבכי) of the rivers.”

h.נבכים הם means THEY ARE SHUT UP in the wilderness — so that they do not know how to get out of it and whither they should go.

h.ואכבדה בפרעה AND I WILL BE HONOURED THROUGH PHARAOH — When the Holy One, blessed be He, takes vengeance on the wicked His name is magnified and honoured. Thus, too, it states, (Ezekiel 38:22, 23) “And I will plead against him [with pestilence and with blood etc.]”, and afterwards, “Thus I shall be magnified and sanctified etc.” And it states, (Psalms 76:3) “There He broke the fiery shafts of the bow”, and afterwards (after He has done this) (v. 2) “In Judah is God known. “Further it states, (Psalms 9:17) “The Lord is known because He executeth judgment” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:4:2).

h.בפרעה ובכל חילו THROUGH PHARAOH AND THROUGH ALL HIS FORCES — He began the wrongdoing and with him began the punishment (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:4:2; cf. Rashi on Exodus 7:28).

h.ויעשו כן AND THEY DID SO — This is stated in order to tell their praise — that they hearkened to Moses and did not say, How can we move nearer to our enemies; we ought rather to flee,” but they said, ‘‘It is ours only to carry out the bidding of the son of Amram” (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:4:3).

h.ויגד למלך מצרים AND IT WAS TOLD THE KING OF EGYPT — He sent public officers with them, and as soon as they had reached the three days’ journey which he had fixed for them to go and return, and these perceived that they were not going back to Egypt, they came and told Pharaoh on the fourth day (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:5:1). On the fifth and sixth they pursued after them: on the night of the seventh day they went down into the sea and on the following morning they (the Israelites) sang the Song of Praise and this was the seventh day of Passover. And that is why we read “The Song” (Exodus 15:1 ff.) as the Scriptural lesson on the seventh day of the Festival (Megillah 31a; Seder Olam 5; cf. Sotah 12b).

h.ויהפך [AND THE HEART…] WAS TURNED — it was turned (changed) from what it had been, because he had said to them (Exodus 12:31) “Arise, go out from the midst of my people”, and his servants’ hearts were changed because formerly they had said to him, (Exodus 10:7) “How long shall this man be a snare unto us? [let the men go etc.]”. Now, however, they (their hearts) were changed, prompting them to pursue them, because of the property that they had handed over to them (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:5:3).

h.מעבדנו means from serving us (i. e. the word is an infinitive with an objective suffix and not a noun signifying “from our service”, which would require מֵעֲבוֹדָתֵנוּ).

h.ויאסר את רכבו AND HE MADE READY HIS CHARIOT — he himself (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:6:1)

h.ואת עמו לקח עמו AND TOOK HIS PEOPLE WITH HIM — he drew them on by fine words, as follows: “We have been stricken and they have taken our money and yet we have let them go free. Come with me and I will not behave with you as other kings. It is the way of other kings that their subjects go in front of them into the battle, but I will go in front of you” — as, indeed, it is said, (v. 10) “And Pharaoh הקריב” (the Hiphil): which signifies he brought himself near and hastened in front of his army. — “It is the way of other kings to take the booty at the beginning as he chooses (to have first pick of the booty), but I will be equal to you in the division of the booty” — as, indeed, it states that he said, (Exodus 15:9) “I will divide the spoil”Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:6:2.

h.בחור means CHOSEN. The word בחור is singular number — the idea is: each and every chariot in that number was a selected one.

h.וכל רכב מצרים signifies AND with these were ALL THE other CHARIOTS OF EGYPT. And whence came all these animals required for the chariots? If you say that they were from the cattle of the Egyptians — but you know it is stated, (Exodus 9:6) “And all the cattle of the Egyptians died”. And if you say that they were from the Israelites’ cattle — but is it not stated, (Exodus 10:26) “Our cattle, also, shall go with us”! Then whose were they? They were of those “who feared the word of the Lord” and saved their cattle by bringing them into their stables (Exodus 9:20). Deriving it from here (on account of this fact) R. Simeon said: The best amongst the Egyptians — kill him (otherwise he will afterwards devise evil against you); the best amongst the serpents — crush its brains (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:7:1).

h.ושלשים על כלו means army-captains, as the Targum has it.

h.ויחזק ה׳ את לב פרעה AND THE LORD ALLOWED THE HEART OF PHARAOH TO BE HARDENED — the meaning is, that he was in doubt whether to pursue or not, and He hardened his heart to pursue (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:8:1).

h.ביד רמה WITH A HIGH HAND — with high and open daring (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:8:2).

h.ופרעה הקריב — It should have written ופרעה קרב “and Pharaoh came near” — what is the force of the Hiphil הקריב, “He caused to come near”? He made himself come near — he forced himself to go in front of them as he had arranged with them (cf. Rashi on v. 6).

h.נסע אחריהם [EGYPT] JOURNEYED AFTER THEM (נסע is singular) — the Egyptians journeyed after them with one mind and as one man (hence the use of the singular) (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:10:3). Another explanation of והנה מצרים נסע אחריהם is: the singular denotes that they saw, not the Egyptians, but the guardian angel of Egypt coming from heaven to assist the Egyptians. Thus is it explained in the Tanchuma (cf. Exodus Rabbah 21:5).

h.ויצעקו AND THEY CRIED — they took to hand the handicraft of their fathers (they had recourse to prayer as their fathers had always done in times of trouble). In the case of Abraham it is said, (Genesis 19:27) “[And Abraham went] to the place where he had stood in prayer”. In the case of Isaac: (Genesis 24:63) “[He went out towards evening] to pray”. In the case of Jacob: (Genesis 28:11) “He prayed to the Omnipresent God” (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:10:4; Midrash Tanchuma, Vayera 9, and Rashi on the texts quoted).

h.המבלי אין קברים signifies, was it on account of lack of graves — because there were no graves in Egypt in which to be buried — that thou didst bring us out from there? old French si pour faillance de non fossés.

h.אשר דברנו אליך במצרים [THE WORD] THAT WE SPOKE UNTO THEE IN EGYPT — And where had they said this? (Exodus 5:21) “The Lord look upon you and judge!” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:11)

h.ממתנו means THAN THAT WE SHOULD DIE. If the word had been punctuated with a Melopum (our חולם i. e. מִמּוֹתֵנוּ) it would have to be explained “than our death” (מוֹתֵנוּ our death from the noun מָוֶת) but now that it is punctuated with a שורק (our Kibbutz) it must be explained by “than that we should die”. And similar is, (Exodus 16:3) “Would that מוּתֵנוּ” i. e. “that we should die”; similar is, (II Samuel 19:1) “Would that מוּתִי” in the history of Absalom, which means “that I should die”. It is an infinitive like (Zephaniah 3:8) “Until the day קוּמִי for ever”, and as (II Chronicles 18:26) “Until the day שׁוּבִי in peace” — which signify שאקום “that I shall arise”, and שאשוב “that I shall return”.

h.כי אשר ראיתם את מצרים וגו׳ means WHAT (the fact that) YE HAVE SEEN them (THE EGYPTIANS), is only היום THIS DAY — to-day it it that ye see them, BUT YE SHALL NEVER AGAIN see them.

h.ילחם לכם means He will fight on your behalf; similar is (v. 25) “For the Lord fighteth for them (להם)”; so too, (Job. 13:8) “will ye contend for God (לאל)?” and thus, too, (Genesis 24:7) “and who spoke on my behalf (לי)”, and so, too, (Judges 6:31) “Will ye plead for Baal (לבעל)?”

h.מה תצעק אלי WHEREFORE CRIEST THOU UNTO ME? — there is no mention that he prayed to God concerning this, but this teaches us that Moses stood in prayer. Whereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “It is no time now to pray at length, when Israel is placed in trouble”. Another explanation of מה תצעק אלי (taking it in the sense of “Wherefore criest thou? אלי it is to Me — concerns Me”) — upon Me rests this matter and not upon thee. The idea contained in this explanation is similar to what is expressed elsewhere: (Isaiah 45:11) “Concerning My sons and concerning the work of My hands will ye command Me?” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:15:2)

h.דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו SPEAK UNTO THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL THAT THEY JOURNEY ONWARDS — There is nothing for them to do but to journey on, for the sea will not stand in their way: their ancestors’ merits and their own, and the faith that they placed in Me so that they left Egypt will suffice to divide the sea for them (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:15:1; Shemot Rabbah 21:8).

h.וילך מאחריהם AND WENT BEHIND THEM to divide the camp of Egypt from the camp of Israel and to receive the arrows and the missiles of the Egyptians. Everywhere it says “The Angel of the Lord (ה׳)” whilst here we have The Angel of God (אלהים).”! The name אלהים really denotes, wherever it occurs, “Judge” (lit., “judgment”). Therefore the use of this term here teaches us that Israel was, at that moment, arraigned in judgment, whether to be saved or to be destroyed together with Egypt (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:19).

h.ויסע עמוד הענן AND THE PILLAR OF CLOUD WENT [FROM BEFORE THEM] — When it became dark and the pillar of cloud handed over the camp to the pillar of fire, the cloud did not go away as it was accustomed to go away altogether in the evening, but it went and betook itself behind them to make it dark for the Egyptians.

h.ויבא בין מחנה מצרים AND IT CAME BETWEEN THE CAMP OF EGYPT — A parable: it may be compared to one who is proceeding on a journey, his son walking in front of him. If, now, brigands come to capture him (the son), he takes him away from in front of him and places him behind himself. If a wolf then comes behind him he places him again in front. If brigands come in front of him and wolves behind him, he places him on his arm and fights against them. Thus did God do for Israel, as it says, (Hosea 11:3) “I led Ephraim — He took them upon His arms” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:19).

h.ויהי הענן והחשך AND THERE WAS CLOUD AND DARKNESS to the Egyptians.

h.ויאר AND IT — the pillar of fire — ILLUMINATED the night for the Israelites, and went before them as was its way to go every night, whilst the darkness of the cloud was turned towards the Egyptians.

h.ולא קרב זה אל זה SO THAT ONE APPROACHED NOT ANOTHER — [This does not mean that one person did not approach another but]: this camp did not approach that camp (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:20:2).

h.ברוח קדים עזה BY A POWERFUL EAST WIND — i. e. by the east wind which is the most powerful of the winds. This is the wind by which the Holy One, blessed be He, exacts punishment from the wicked, as it is said, (Jeremiah 18:17) “I will scatter them as with an east wind”; (Hosea 13:15) “An east wind shall come, the wind of the Lord”; (Ezekiel 27:26) “The east wind hath broken thee in the heart of the sea”; (Isaiah 27:8) “He hath removed her with His rough blast in the day of the east wind” (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:21:2).

h.ויבקעו המים AND THE WATERS WERE DIVIDED — all the waters in the world (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:2:2).

h.כל סוס פרעה (The word סוס is singular) — But was there only one horse? But the use of the singular teaches us that they were all accounted before the Omnipresent as only one horse (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:1:6).

h.באשמרת הבקר IN THE MORNING WATCH — The three divisions of the night are each called an אשמורה “a watch” (Berakhot 3b), and that which immediately precedes the morning is called “the morning watch”. I am of opinion that because the night is divided for the watches (משמרות) of the song of the ministering angels — company after company — into three divisions, therefore each division of the night is termed, for all purposes, an אשמרת (another form of משמר the angel’s watch), and this is what Onkelos has in mind when he translates אשמרת by מטרת.

h.‎ וישקף means HE LOOKED, as much as to say, He turned towards them to destroy them (cf. Rashi on Genesis 18:16), and its rendering in the Targum, ואסתכי, is also an expression denoting looking, just as he translates (Numbers 23:14), “the field of the watchers (צפים)” by “the field of,סכותא” which denotes “looking”.

h.בעמוד אש וענן THROUGH THE PILLAR OF FIRE AND CLOUD — viz., the pillar of cloud descended and made it (the bed of the sea) like clay, and the pillar of fire made it boiling hot so that the horses’ hoofs fell off (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:24).

h.ויהם has the meaning of confusion. old French estordison. He cast them into confusion; He took away their ensigns. And we read in the Chapters of Rabbi Eliezer, the son of Rabbi José, the Galilean: Wherever it speaks of מהומה (forms from the root המם) it signifies a thundering sound; and the following passage is the father of all of them (i. e. that from which this meaning is quite evident): (I Samuel 7:10) “And the Lord thundered with a great sound … upon the Philistines and discomfited them (ויהמם)”.

h.ויסר את אפן מרכבותיו AND HE REMOVED THEIR CHARIOT WHEELS — Through the power of the fire of the pillar of fire the wheels were burnt and the chariots were thus dragged along and those who were sitting in them were thrown about and their limbs were all put out of joint (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:25).

h.וינהגהו בכבדות signifies: And He treated them with a treatment that was hard and harsh to them. In the measure that they (the Egyptians) had meted out to the Israelites was it meted out to them, for (9:34) “He hardened his heart, he and his servants”, and therefore here: “He treated them (the Egyptians) in a hard manner” (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:25).

h.נלחם להם במצרים FIGHTETH FOR THEM במצריים — means against the Egyptians. Another explanation of במצרים is: in the land of Egypt, for just as these were smitten at the Sea so, too, were smitten those who remained in Egypt (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:25).

h.וישכו המים means THE WATERS that were standing erect as a wall SHALL RETURN to their places and form a cover over the Egyptians.

h.לפנות בקר AT THE TURNING OF THE MORNING at the time when the morning turns to come).

h.לאיתנו means TO ITS ORIGINAL STRENGTH (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:27).

h.נסים לקראתו FLED TOWARDS IT — because they were thrown into confusion and were bewildered and on that account ran towards it.

h.'וינער ה AND THE LORD OVERTHREW (or, shook out or emptied out) — as a person empties out a pot, turning what is on top underneath and what is underneath on top: thus they were emptied out of their chariots and they rose and fell till at last they were broken to pieces in the sea, and the Holy One, blessed be He, put vitality (strength) in them so that they could bear the pain (and thus their agony was protracted) (cf. Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:27).

h.וינער — Onkelos renders this by ושניק which is an expression for confounding in Aramaic, and there are many examples of it in the Agadic expositions.

h.ויכסו את הרכב… לכל חיל פרעה AND COVERED THE CHARIOTS … AND ALL THE FORCES OF PHARAOH — in regard to the ל of לכל, this is the way of Scripture verses (of Biblical Hebrew) to write a redundant ל, as in (Exodus 27:3) “all (לכל) its vessels shalt thou make of copper”.. So, too, (Exodus 27:19) ‘‘all (לכל) the vessels of the dwelling in all the service thereof”; (Numbers 4:32) “and their pins and their cords and all (לכל) their vessels”. It is only an elegancy of style.

h.וירא ישראל את מצרים מת AND ISRAEL SAW THE EGYPTIANS DEAD — because the sea threw them out on its shore in order that the Israelites should not say: “Just as we have come up from out of the sea on this part, so they have come up on another part of this shore, but far away from us, and they will pursue us” (Mekhilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 14:31:1; Pesachim 118b; Arakhin 15a).

h.את היד הגדלה denotes THE GREAT power which the HAND of the Holy One, blessed be He, had exercised. There are many meanings that are appropriate to the expression יד, hand, but all of them really signify the actual hand, and he who is explaining it must adapt the language according to the meaning of the passage.