Exodus 15 - 16, John 1:1-34, Psalm 59

The Song of Moses and Israel

15^aThen Moses and the sons of Israel sang this song to Yahweh ¹and said, “²^,^bI will sing to Yahweh, for He ³is highly exalted;^cThe horse and its rider He has hurled into the sea.

²“¹^,^aYah is my strength and song,And He has become my salvation;^bThis is my God, and I will praise Him;^cMy father’s God, and I will ^dextol Him.³“^aYahweh is a warrior;^bYahweh is His name.⁴“^aPharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea;And the choicest of his officers are sunk in the ¹Red Sea.⁵“The deeps cover them;^aThey went down into the depths like a stone.⁶“^aYour right hand, O Yahweh, is majestic in power,^bYour right hand, O Yahweh, shatters the enemy.⁷“And in the greatness of Your ¹exaltation You ^apull down those who rise up against You;^bYou send forth Your burning anger, and it ^cdevours them as chaff.⁸“^aAnd at the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up,^bThe flowing waters stood up like a heap;The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.⁹“^aThe enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will ^bdivide the spoil;My ¹desire shall be fulfilled against them;I will draw out my sword, my hand will dispossess them.’¹⁰“^aYou blew with Your wind, the sea covered them;^bThey sank like lead in the ¹mighty waters.¹¹“^aWho is like You among the gods, O Yahweh?Who is like You, ^bmajestic in holiness,^cFearsome in praises, ^dworking wonders?¹²“^aYou stretched out Your right hand,The earth swallowed them.¹³“In Your lovingkindness You have ^aguided the people whom You have ^bredeemed;In Your strength You have led them ^cto Your holy habitation.¹⁴“^aThe peoples have heard, they tremble;Anguish has seized the inhabitants of Philistia.¹⁵“Then the ^achiefs of Edom were dismayed;^bThe leaders of Moab, trembling seizes them;^cAll the inhabitants of Canaan have melted away.¹⁶“^aTerror and dread fall upon them;^bBy the greatness of Your arm they are still as stone;Until Your people pass over, O Yahweh,Until the people pass over whom You ^chave purchased.¹⁷“^aYou will bring them and ^bplant them in ^cthe mountain of Your inheritance,^dThe place, O Yahweh, which You have made for You to inhabit,^eThe sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established.¹⁸“^aYahweh shall reign forever and ever.”

¹⁹^aFor the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them, but the sons of Israel walked on ^bdry land through the midst of the sea.

²⁰^aAnd Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took the ^btambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with ¹^,^cdancing. ²¹And Miriam answered them, “^aSing to Yahweh, for He ¹is highly exalted;The horse and his rider He has hurled into the sea.”

Yahweh Sweetens the Water

²²^aThen Moses ¹had Israel set out from the ²Red Sea, and they went out into ^bthe wilderness of ^cShur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. ²³And they came to ^aMarah, but they could not drink the waters ¹of Marah, for they were ²bitter; therefore it was named ³Marah. ²⁴So the people ^agrumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵Then he ^acried out to Yahweh, and Yahweh showed him ^ba tree; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There He ^cset for them a statute and a judgment, and there He ^dtested them. ²⁶And He said, “^aIf you will earnestly listen to the voice of Yahweh your God, and do what is right in His sight, and give ear ^bto His commandments, and keep all His statutes, ^cI will put none of the diseases on you which I have put on the Egyptians; for I, ^dYahweh, am your healer.”

²⁷Then they came to ^aElim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

Yahweh Rains Bread from Heaven

16Then they set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the sons of Israel came to the wilderness of ^aSin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on ^bthe fifteenth day of the second month after their departure from the land of Egypt. ²And the whole congregation of the sons of Israel ^agrumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. ³And the sons of Israel said to them, “^aWould that we had died by the hand of Yahweh in the land of Egypt, ^bwhen we sat by the pots of ¹meat, when we ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to put this whole assembly to death with hunger.”

⁴Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, ^aI will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may ^btest them, whether or not they will walk in My ¹law. ⁵“^aNow it will be on the sixth day, they shall prepare what they bring in, and it will be twice as much as they gather daily.” ⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the sons of Israel, “At evening ¹^,^ayou will know that Yahweh has brought you out of the land of Egypt; ⁷and in the morning ¹you will see ^athe glory of Yahweh, for ^bHe hears your grumblings against Yahweh; and ^cwhat are we, that you grumble against us?”

Yahweh Gives Meat and Bread

⁸And Moses said, “This will happen when Yahweh gives you ¹meat to eat in the evening and bread to the full in the morning; for Yahweh hears your grumblings which you grumble against Him. And what are we? Your grumblings are ^anot against us but against Yahweh.”

⁹Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, ‘^aCome near before Yahweh, for He has heard your grumblings.’” ¹⁰Now it happened as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the sons of Israel, that they turned toward the wilderness, and behold, ^athe glory of Yahweh appeared in the cloud. ¹¹And Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ¹²“^aI have heard the grumblings of the sons of Israel; speak to them, saying, ‘¹At twilight you shall eat ²meat, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, so that ^byou shall know that I am Yahweh your God.’”

¹³So it happened at evening that ^athe quails came up and covered the camp, and in the morning ^bthere was a layer of dew around the camp. ¹⁴^aThen the layer of dew ¹evaporated, and behold, on the ²surface of the wilderness ^bthere was a fine flake-like thing, fine as the frost on the ground. ¹⁵And the sons of Israel saw it and said to one another, “¹What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “^aIt is the bread which Yahweh has given you to eat. ¹⁶“This is ¹what Yahweh has commanded, ‘Gather of it every man ²as much as he should eat; you shall take an ³^,^aomer apiece according to the number of persons each of you has in his tent.’” ¹⁷And the sons of Israel did so; some gathered much and some little. ¹⁸And they measured it with an ¹omer, and ^ahe who had gathered much had no excess, and he who had gathered little had no lack; every man gathered ²as much as he should eat. ¹⁹And Moses said to them, “^aLet no man leave any of it until morning.” ²⁰But they did not listen to Moses, and some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul; and Moses was angry with them. ²¹So they gathered it morning by morning, every man ¹as much as he should eat; but the sun would grow hot, and it would melt.

Yahweh Gives Bread for Two Days

²²^aNow it happened that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. Then all the ^bleaders of the congregation came and told Moses. ²³And he said to them, “This is what Yahweh has spoken: ^aTomorrow is a sabbath observance, a holy sabbath to Yahweh. Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and ^ball that is in excess ¹put aside to be kept until morning.” ²⁴So they ¹put it aside until morning, as Moses had commanded, and ^ait did not become foul nor was there any worm in it. ²⁵And Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to Yahweh; today you will not find it in the field. ²⁶“^aSix days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the sabbath, there will be ¹none.”

²⁷Now it happened on the seventh day, that some of the people went out to gather, but they found none. ²⁸Then Yahweh said to Moses, “^aHow long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My ¹laws? ²⁹“See, Yahweh has given you the sabbath; therefore He gives you bread for two days on the sixth day. Remain every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” ³⁰So the people rested on the seventh day.

³¹And the house of ^aIsrael named it ¹manna, and it was like ^bcoriander seed, white, and its taste was like wafers with honey. ³²Then Moses said, “This is ¹what Yahweh has commanded, ‘Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” ³³And Moses said to Aaron, “^aTake a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before Yahweh to be kept throughout your generations.” ³⁴As Yahweh commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before ^athe Testimony to be kept. ³⁵^aAnd the sons of Israel ate the manna forty years, until they came to an inhabited land; they ate the manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. ³⁶(Now ^aan ¹omer is a tenth of an ²ephah.)

The Deity of Jesus Christ

1^aIn the beginning was ^bthe Word, and the Word was ^cwith God, and ^dthe Word was God. ²¹He was in the beginning with God. ³^aAll things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. ⁴^aIn Him was life, and the life was ^bthe Light of men. ⁵^aAnd the Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.

The Witness of John the Baptist

⁶There was a man having been sent from God, whose name was ¹^,^aJohn. ⁷¹He came ²^,^aas a witness, to bear witness about the Light, ^bso that all might believe through him. ⁸¹^,^aHe was not the Light, but he came to bear witness about the Light.

⁹There was ^athe true Light ¹which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. ¹⁰He was in the world, and ^athe world ¹was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. ¹¹He came to what was His ¹own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. ¹²But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become ^achildren of God, even ^bto those who believe in His name, ¹³^awho were ¹born, not of ²blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Word Became Flesh

¹⁴And ^athe Word ^bbecame flesh, and ¹^,^cdwelt among us, and ^dwe beheld His glory, glory as of the ²only begotten from the Father, full of ^egrace and ^ftruth. ¹⁵John *^abore witness about Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘^bHe who comes after me ¹has been ahead of me, ^cfor He existed before me.’” ¹⁶For of His ^afullness ¹we have all received, and grace ²upon grace. ¹⁷For ^athe Law was given through Moses; ^bgrace and ^ctruth came through Jesus Christ. ¹⁸^aNo one has seen God at any time; ^bthe only begotten God who is ^cin the bosom of the Father, ^dHe has explained Him.

A Voice in the Wilderness

¹⁹And this is ^athe witness of John, when ^bthe ¹Jews sent to him priests and Levites ^cfrom Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?” ²⁰And he confessed and did not deny, but confessed, “^aI am not the ¹Christ.” ²¹And they asked him, “What then? Are you ^aElijah?” And he *said, “I am not.” “Are you ^bthe Prophet?” And he answered, “No.” ²²Therefore, they said to him, “Who are you, so that we may give an answer to those who sent us? What do you say about yourself?” ²³He said, “I am ^aa voice of one crying in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the ¹Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

²⁴Now they had been sent from the Pharisees. ²⁵And they asked him, and said to him, “Why then are you baptizing, if you are not the ¹Christ, nor Elijah, nor ^athe Prophet?” ²⁶John answered them, saying, “^aI baptize with water, but among you stands One whom you do not know. ²⁷“This One is ^aHe who comes after me, of whom I am not worthy to untie the ^bstrap of His sandal.” ²⁸These things took place in Bethany ^abeyond the Jordan, where John was baptizing.

²⁹On the next day, he *saw Jesus coming to him and *said, “Behold, ^athe Lamb of God who ^btakes away the sin of the world! ³⁰“This is He of whom I said, ‘^aAfter me comes a man who has been ¹ahead of me, ^bfor He existed before me.’ ³¹“I did not know ¹Him, but so that He might be manifested to Israel, I came baptizing with water.” ³²And John ^abore witness saying, “^bI have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abided on Him. ³³“And I did not know ¹Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The One upon whom you see the Spirit descending and abiding on Him, ^athis is the One who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’ ³⁴“And I myself have seen, and have borne witness that this is ^athe Son of God.”

Deliver Me from My Enemies

For the choir director. ¹Al-tashheth. Of David. A ²Mikhtam. ³When Saul sent men and they watched the house in order to put him to death.

^aDeliver me from my enemies, O my God;⁴^,^bSet me securely on high away from those who rise up against me.²Deliver me from ^aworkers of iniquityAnd save me from ^bmen of bloodshed.³For behold, they ^ahave lain in wait for my soul;¹Fierce men ²^,^blaunch an attack against me,^cNot for my transgression nor for my sin, O Yahweh,⁴¹^,^aFor no guilt of mine, they run and set themselves against me.^bArouse Yourself to meet me, and see!⁵You, ^aO Yahweh God of hosts, the God of Israel,Awake to ¹^,^bpunish all the nations;^cDo not be gracious to any who are treacherous in ²iniquity. ³ Selah.⁶They ^areturn at evening, they howl like a ^bdog,And go around the city.⁷Behold, they ^apour forth speech with their mouth;^bSwords are in their lips,For, they say, “^cWho hears?”⁸But You, O Yahweh, ^alaugh at them;You ^bmock all the nations.⁹Because of ¹his ^astrength I will watch for You,For God is my ^bstronghold.¹⁰¹My God ^ain His lovingkindness will approach me;God will let me ^blook triumphantly upon ²my foes.¹¹Do not slay them, ^aor my people will forget;^bMake them wander about by Your power, and bring them down,O Lord, ^cour shield.¹²¹On account of the ^asin of their mouth and the word of their lips,Let them even be ^bcaught in their pride,And on account of ^ccurses and ²lies which they utter.¹³¹^,^aDestroy them in wrath, ²destroy them that they may be no more;That men may ^bknow that God ³rules in JacobTo the ends of the earth. Selah.¹⁴They ^areturn at evening, they howl like a dog,And go around the city.¹⁵They ^awander about ¹for foodAnd ²growl if they are not satisfied.¹⁶But as for me, I shall ^asing of Your strength;And I shall ^bjoyfully sing of Your lovingkindness in the ^cmorning,For You have been my ^dstrongholdAnd a ^erefuge in the day of my distress.¹⁷^aO my strength, I will sing praises to You;For God is my ^bstronghold, the ¹God who shows me lovingkindness.

Footnotes

59:TITLE1 Lit Do Not Destroy
59:TITLE2 Possibly Epigrammatic Poem, Atonement Psalm
59:TITLE3 1 Sam 19:11
59:14 Or May You put me in an inaccessibly high place
59:31 Or Strong
59:32 Or stir up strife
59:41 Lit Without guilt
59:51 Lit visit
59:52 Or wickedness
59:53 Selah may mean Pause, Crescendo, Musical Interlude
59:91 Many mss and some ancient versions my strength
59:101 Many mss and some ancient versions The God of my lovingkindness
59:102 Lit those who lie in wait for me
59:121 Or The sin of their mouth is the word of their lips,
59:122 Lit lying
59:131 Lit Bring to an end
59:132 Lit Bring to an end
59:133 Or is Ruler
59:151 Or to devour
59:152 Or tarry all night
59:171 Lit God of my lovingkindness