Over the Red Sea

Pharaoh refuses to let Israelites go, so God sends 10 plagues. Moses warns Pharaoh that all firstborn will die if he doesn't relent. Israelites eat special meal, Pharaoh tells them to leave. Egyptians give them presents. God guides them with pillars of cloud and fire. Pharaoh changes his mind, pursues Israelites. Israelites are terrified, blame Moses. Moses assures them God will save them. Moses stretches hand over sea, God parts it for Israelites. Egyptians follow, but their chariots get stuck. Egyptians want to flee, but it's too late. Moses stretches hand again, sea drowns Egyptians. Israelites fear and believe in God. Miriam leads joyful dance. Israelites travel, find bitter water. Moses throws a tree in it, water becomes sweet. They camp at Elam with water and palm trees. Over the Red Sea. When Pharaoh refused to let the Israelites go to worship God in the wilderness, God sent 10 plagues on the land of Egypt. First, the waters of the river turned to blood, and then came a plague of frogs. And still, Pharaoh's heart stayed hard. Plague after plague afflicted the Egyptians. And at last, Moses warned the king that all the firstborn of the land would perish if he did not relent. And so it happened. Only in the territory of the Israelites were the houses passed over and the inhabitants spared. Moses had commanded the Israelites to eat a special meal, staff in hand, and with their sandals on their feet. And indeed, that very night, Pharaoh told Moses to take his people and depart. The Egyptians were so terrified of them by this time that they gave them presents of gold and silver and jewels and clothes and hurried them off. There were a very great many of the Israelites, and they took everything they possessed, and their sheep and cattle. The nearest way to Canaan was along the Traitor's Road, but they would have to pass through the land of some friends of the Egyptians who might have fought with them. So God told Moses to guide the people another way. God sent a pillar of cloud to go before them by day and a pillar of fire by night to show them which way to go. But it seemed that even yet their troubles were not over. For as soon as Pharaoh learned that the people had really gone, he changed his mind and made ready 600 chariots with their captains. And riding in his own chariot, he pursued after the children of Israel, determined to bring them back into bondage. The Egyptian host caught up with them just as they were in camping by the sea. Oh, how terrified the people were, fathers and mothers and little children. They saw the army of Egypt coming after them and they completely lost heart. They cried in their distress to Moses and blamed him for having brought them out of Egypt. But Moses stood up bravely and cried, do not fear, stand and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will show to you today. For the Egyptians who you have seen today, you will never see again. The Lord shall fight for you and you need only be still. Then God said, tell the children of Israel that they are to go forward. How could they go forward? For the sea completely blocked their path and they seemed hemmed in on all sides. But Moses knew that God would save them and at God's command, stretched out his hand over the sea. God sent a strong wind, which drove the water back on either side of them and left a path of dry ground for the people to pass over, right through the midst of the seabed. When the Egyptians saw what was happening, they followed after them, but the chariots wheels began to become clogged and the army was thrown into confusion. So the Egyptians began to fear greatly and they cried out as the morning dawned, let us flee from the face of Israel for the Lord is fighting for them. But now it was too late for the Lord said to Moses, stretch out your hand over the sea that the waters may come again upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots and upon their horsemen. So the waters came rushing back once more and all the Pharaoh's chariots and horses, his captains and his soldiers were drowned. There remained not so much as one of them alive. The Israelites saw the Egyptians dead upon the seashore and the people feared the Lord and believed in him and his servant Moses. Miriam, the sister of Aaron and Moses took a tambourine in her hand and led all the women in a joyful dance. Miriam saying, sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. He has thrown the horse and his rider into the sea. Then Moses led Israel on into the wilderness of Shur and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. When they came to Marah, they found that the water was too bitter to drink. So the people again murmured against Moses saying, what shall we drink? Moses called out to the Lord and the Lord showed him a tree which Moses threw into the water and the waters were made sweet. Then they traveled on to Elam where there were 12 springs of water and 70 palm trees. And there they camped for a while.