Exodus 14 v.1: Then God spoke to Moshe, saying: v.2: Speak to the people of Israel, that they should return and camp before Pi-Hahirot, between Migdal and between the sea, which directly faces Ba al Tsafon. Encamp by the sea. v.3: So Pharaoh will say of the people of Israel: They are confused by this land. They are trapped in the wilderness. v.4: I ve made the mind of Pharaoh very firm, so that he will pursue them, so that I will receive glory through Pharaoh and his entire armed force; then Egypt will know that I am Adonai. So they did this (camped at Pi-Hahirot). v.4: The word used for glory is kavod,(כבוד) which is the same word used for honor in v.17. Please refer to our comment to v.17 to understand the nuance of this word. v.5: Then it was told to the King of Egypt that the people fled; so Pharaoh and his servants had a change of heart towards the people. And they said, What have we done because we sent Israel away from being our slaves? v.6: So he harnessed his chariot and he took his people with him. v.7: Then he took 600 chosen chariots, and all the other chariots of Egypt, along with officers for each one. v.7: The Hebrew can also read that Pharaoh took officers to oversee the entire entourage of chariots, and not an officer for each chariot. We favor the translation as we have done it, that Pharaoh put a highly trained officer in each chariot. v.8: So Adonai strengthened the mind of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. v.8: The Hebrew word lev means mind or resolve. It is also the word used for an anatomical heart, which is not the meaning in this verse.
v.9: Then the Egyptians pursued after them, and caught up with them (while) encamped at the sea. Every horse and chariot of Pharaoh; his horsemen and his army, (were) at Pi-Hahirot, which directly faces Ba al Tsafon. v.10: As Pharaoh drew near, the people of Israel looked up and there was Egypt, coming after them! And they feared greatly; then the people of Israel cried out to Adonai. v.10: A colorful Hebrew idiom is used for looked up. It is vayis u et eynehem את עיניהם),(וישאו meaning they lifted up their eyes. v.11: So they said to Moshe: Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you took us to die in the wilderness? What s this that you ve done to us, to take us out of Egypt? v.12: Isn t this what we said to you in Egypt, saying: Leave us alone, and we will serve Egypt, because it s better for us to serve Egypt than to die in the wilderness. v.12: The word na avdah we will serve has the meanings of worship, slave, and work in other places in the Torah, as well as serve. We chose serve due to the context. v.13: But Moshe said to the people, Don t fear! Hold your ground, then, see the salvation that God will carry out for you today. So, what you see today Egypt, you will not see again, not ever! v.13: The Hebrew text uses an emphatic, double poetic form to stress the never again seeing Egypt emphasis of this verse. The grammar used could also mean what you see today WITH Egypt, you will never again see, not ever! We chose to use the prior translation, although both have meaning for us. An interesting remez (a hint), is made by using the word tosifu (תוסיפו) in the text; that is, again. It is the same word as Joseph s name, and perhaps is a reminder that as Joseph came into Egypt (under great duress), yet he stood strong and feared God, not his adversaries. This same attitude was needed in leaving (cf. hold your ground ). v.14: Adonai will fight for you, and you will not make a noise. 2
v.15: Then God said to Moshe: Why are you crying out to me? Talk to the people of Israel, so that they will continue to move on. v.16: So, you lift up your staff and stretch out your hand upon the sea, and divide it. Then the people of Israel will go into the sea on dry ground. v.17: Then I will definitely harden the mindset of Egypt so that they will come after you, and I will be honored by Pharaoh and all his military, his chariots, and his horsemen. v.17: The word kavod (כבוד) honor describes what God will receive from Pharaoh and his forces. The word literally means weight, and the idiom means by giving Him weight, Egypt would pay attention to the message that God has for them (which is relayed by verse 18). v.18: So Egypt will know that I am Adonai when I am honored by Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen. v.18: The word used for knowing is yada,(ידע) meaning, intimately know by experience. v.19: And the Messenger of God traveled, walking from the front of the camp to the rear, so that the cloud pillar went from the front to the rear. v.19: The Messenger of God is the same wording as the Angel of the Lord. In Hebrew, it is the mal ak Adonai ה ).(מלאך We translate it Messenger, but it could be rendered angel, as well. v.20: So he went between the camp of Egypt and between the camp of Israel, and the cloud and the darkness were present. Then he lit up the night so that neither side drew close to the other all night. v.20: The wording can be translated another way, which would indicate that the cloud lit up the night, instead of the Angel. However, the Angel brings the cloud to the border between the camps. We chose to translate that the Angel lit up the night, but again, it could be that the 3
cloud lit up the night. The Hebrew is not specific here, just saying he or it. The Targum s translation is both helpful and revealing, though it is also a commentary: And it went in between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, and was a cloud and darkness to the Egyptians, but to Israel it shined all night, and each was not able to come near to the other all night (Targum Onkelos, Clem translation). v.21: Then Moshe stretched forth his hand on the sea, and Adonai made the sea move with a strong east wind all night long, so that He made the seabed dry, and the waters divided. v.21: Made the sea move is literally what the Hebrew states. More idiomatic English could read, Adonai drew the sea back or something similar. East wind is ruach gadim קדים),(רוח which could also mean wind from Kedem, meaning from before the very first, though we have chosen to translate this otherwise in order to render the text more literally. v.22: So the people of Israel went into the sea on dry ground, and the water was a wall to their right and to their left. v.23: Then Egypt pursued and went after them into the sea, every horse and chariot of Pharaoh, and his horsemen. v.24: And in the morning military watch, God looked at the camp of Egypt, and with the pillar of fire and the cloud He totally confused the camp of Egypt. v.24: The word for totally confused is veya ham.(ויהם) It is related to the word for shocked, which is hamum.(המום) A valid understanding here is that God totally shocked or flabbergasted the Egyptian military force. v.25: Then He spun the wheels off of their chariots and they drove with heaviness; and Egypt said: I will flee before Israel because Adonai fights for them against Egypt. v.25: The word fights could be translated as fought, referring to the time of the plagues, when God judged and fought against Egypt. However, because biblical Hebrew has no present tense in its narrative 4
portions, we could translate this as: Adonai fought for them, and fights for them, against Egypt. In other words, God s war against Pharaoh was in the past and in the present. v.26: And God said to Moshe: Stretch out your hand on the sea, so that the waters will return upon Egypt, on its chariots and on its horsemen. v.26: The text literally reads, his horsemen, but we matched the possessive pronouns, instead of rendering the text: on its chariots and on his horsemen. The possessives refer back to Egypt, that is, Egypt s chariots and horsemen. v.27: So Moshe stretched forth his hand on the sea; and before daybreak, the sea returned to its permanent position. Then the Egyptians fled from it; and God shook out Egypt inside the sea. v.27: The word for permanent position is eitan,(איתן) and it can also mean strength. We translated this as a position, though the imagery could be that of the sea being divided up, so it would not have its full strength, nor its currents and its flow of water. Therefore, eitan could be referring to this imagery. Shook out Egypt is the word na er.(נער) It is what a person does to a carpet when taking it outside and shaking it to clean it from dust. This is done by God, to Egypt. v.28: Then the water returned and covered the chariots and the horsemen. Of all of Pharaoh s entire force, not a single one who came after them into the sea remained. v.29: But the people of Israel walked on dry ground inside of the sea. For them, the water was a wall to their right and to their left. v.30: On that day, God delivered Israel from the hand of Egypt, and Israel saw Egypt die on the sea shore. v.30: The term on that day, bayom hahu ההוא) (ביום appears in many places in the Torah. In the Prophets, it often refers to the last time period in human history. In our verse, it means during a specific 24- hour time period. Hand of Egypt is an ancient idiom for influence or 5
power, authority of Egypt (since Egypt does not have a physical hand ). v.31: So Israel saw and understood the great hand that God did to Egypt. And the people saw God and believed in God and in Moshe his servant. v.31: The word for saw, vayar (וירא) means to both see and understand in many verses. We translated it that way in its first appearance in this verse due to the context, but we did not do so later in the verse, the second time it is used. 6