The canticle of Moses. The bitter waters of Mara are made sweet.
15:1. Then Moses and the children of Israel sung this canticle to the
Lord, and said: Let us sing to the Lord: for he is gloriously magnified,
the horse and the rider he hath thrown into the sea.
15:2. The Lord is my strength and my praise, and he is become salvation
to me: he is my God, and I will glorify him: the God of my father, and I
will exalt him.
15:3. The Lord is as a man of war, Almighty is his name.
15:4. Pharao's chariots and his army he hath cast into the sea: his
chosen captains are drowned in the Red Sea.
15:5. The depths have covered them, they are sunk to the bottom like a
stone.
15:6. Thy right hand, O Lord, is magnified in strength: thy right hand,
O Lord, hath slain the enemy.
15:7. And in the multitude of thy glory thou hast put down thy
adversaries: thou hast sent thy wrath, which hath devoured them like
stubble.
15:8. And with the blast of thy anger the waters were gathered together:
the flowing water stood, the depths were gathered together in the midst
of the sea.
15:9. The enemy said: I will pursue and overtake, I will divide the
spoils, my soul shall have its fill: I will draw my sword, my hand shall
slay them.
15:10. Thy wind blew and the sea covered them: they sunk as lead in the
mighty waters.
15:11. Who is like to thee, among the strong, O Lord? who is like to
thee, glorious in holiness, terrible and praise-worthy, doing wonders?
15:12. Thou stretchedst forth thy hand, and the earth swallowed them.
15:13. In thy mercy thou hast been a leader to the people which thou
hast redeemed: and in thy strength thou hast carried them to thy holy
habitation.
15:14. Nations rose up, and were angry: sorrows took hold on the
inhabitants of Philisthiim.
15:15. Then were the princes of Edom troubled, trembling seized on the
stout men of Moab: all the inhabitants of Chanaan became stiff.
15:16. Let fear and dread fall upon them, in the greatness of thy arm:
let them become immoveable as a stone, until thy people, O Lord, pass
by: until this thy people pass by, which thou hast possessed.
15:17. Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them in the mountain of thy
inheritance, in thy most firm habitation, which thou hast made, O Lord;
thy sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
15:18: The Lord shall reign for ever and ever.
15:19. For Pharao went in on horseback with his chariots and horsemen
into the sea: and the Lord brought back upon them the waters of the sea:
but the children of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst thereof.
15:20. So Mary the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in
her hand: and all the women went forth after her with timbrels and with
dances.
15:21. And she began the song to them, saying: Let us sing to the Lord,
for he is gloriously magnified, the horse and his rider he hath thrown
into the sea.
15:22. And Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea, and they went forth
into the wilderness of Sur: and they marched three days through the
wilderness, and found no water.
15:23. And they came into Mara, and they could not drink the waters of
Mara because they were bitter: whereupon he gave a name also agreeable
to the place, calling it Mara, that is, bitterness.
15:24. And the people murmured against Moses, saying: What shall we
drink?
15:25. But he cried to the Lord, and he shewed him a tree, which when he
had cast into the waters, they were turned into sweetness. There he
appointed him ordinances, and judgments, and there he proved him,
15:26. Saying: If thou wilt hear the voice of the Lord thy God, and do
what is right before him, and obey his commandments, and keep all his
precepts, none of the evils that I laid upon Egypt, will I bring upon
thee: for I am the Lord thy healer.
15:27. And the children of Israel came into Elim, where there were
twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped by
the waters.