Exodus 14:30

14:30 So the Lord saved ¹  Israel on that day from the power ²  of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead ³  on the shore of the sea.

Exodus 15:9-10

15:9 The enemy said, ‘I will chase, ⁴  I will overtake,

I will divide the spoil;

my desire ⁵  will be satisfied on them.

I will draw ⁶  my sword, my hand will destroy them.’ ⁷ 

15:10 But ⁸  you blew with your breath, and ⁹  the sea covered them.

They sank ¹⁰  like lead in the mighty waters.

Deuteronomy 11:4

11:4 or what he did to the army of Egypt, including their horses and chariots, when he made the waters of the Red Sea ¹¹  overwhelm them while they were pursuing you and he ¹²  annihilated them. ¹³ 

Nehemiah 9:11

9:11 You split the sea before them, and they crossed through ¹⁴  the sea on dry ground! But you threw their pursuers ¹⁵  into the depths, like a stone into surging ¹⁶  waters.

¹ tn The Hebrew term וַיּוֹשַׁע (vayyosha’) is the key summation of the chapter, and this part of the book: “So Yahweh saved Israel.” This is the culmination of all the powerful works of God through these chapters.

² tn Heb “the hand,” with “hand” being a metonymy for power.

³ tn The participle “dead” is singular, agreeing in form with “Egypt.”

⁴ sn W. C. Kaiser observes the staccato phrases that almost imitate the heavy, breathless heaving of the Egyptians as, with what reserve of strength they have left, they vow, “I will…, I will…, I will…” (“Exodus,” EBC 2:395).

⁵ tn The form is נַפְשִׁי (nafshi, “my soul”). But this word refers to the whole person, the body and the soul, or better, a bundle of appetites in a body. It therefore can figuratively refer to the desires or appetites (Deut 12:15; 14:26; 23:24). Here, with the verb “to be full” means “to be satisfied”; the whole expression might indicate “I will be sated with them” or “I will gorge myself.” The greedy appetite was to destroy.

⁶ tn The verb רִיק (riq) means “to be empty” in the Qal, and in the Hiphil “to empty.” Here the idea is to unsheathe a sword.

⁷ tn The verb is יָרַשׁ (yarash), which in the Hiphil means “to dispossess” or “root out.” The meaning “destroy” is a general interpretation.

⁸ tn “But” has been supplied here.

⁹ tn Here “and” has been supplied.

¹⁰ tn The verb may have the idea of sinking with a gurgling sound, like water going into a whirlpool (R. A. Cole, Exodus [TOTC], 124; S. R. Driver, Exodus, 136). See F. M. Cross and D. N. Freedman, “The Song of Miriam,” JNES 14 (1955): 243-47.

¹¹ tn Heb “Reed Sea.” “Reed Sea” (or “Sea of Reeds”) is a more accurate rendering of the Hebrew expression יָם סוּף (yam suf), traditionally translated “Red Sea.” See note on the term “Red Sea” in Exod 13:18.

¹² tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

¹³ tn Heb “and the Lord destroyed them to this day” (cf. NRSV); NLT “he has kept them devastated to this very day.” The translation uses the verb “annihilated” to indicate the permanency of the action.

¹⁴ tn Heb “in the midst of.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “those who pursued them.”

¹⁶ tn Heb “mighty.”