Exodus 15:14-15

15:14 The nations will hear ¹  and tremble;

anguish ²  will seize ³  the inhabitants of Philistia.

15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, ⁴ 

trembling will seize ⁵  the leaders of Moab,

and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.

Exodus 23:31

23:31 I will set ⁶  your boundaries from the Red Sea to the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert to the River, ⁷  for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand, and you will drive them out before you.

¹ tn This verb is a prophetic perfect, assuming that the text means what it said and this song was sung at the Sea. So all these countries were yet to hear of the victory.

² tn The word properly refers to “pangs” of childbirth. When the nations hear, they will be terrified.

³ tn The verb is again a prophetic perfect.

⁴ tn This is a prophetic perfect.

⁵ tn This verb is imperfect tense.

⁷ tn The form is a perfect tense with vav consecutive.

⁸ tn In the Hebrew Bible “the River” usually refers to the Euphrates (cf. NASB, NCV, NRSV, TEV, CEV, NLT). There is some thought that it refers to a river Nahr el Kebir between Lebanon and Syria. See further W. C. Kaiser, Jr., “Exodus,” EBC 2:447; and G. W. Buchanan, The Consequences of the Covenant (NovTSup), 91-100.