Exodus 15:13-18

15:13 By your loyal love you will lead ¹  the people whom ²  you have redeemed;

you will guide ³  them by your strength to your holy dwelling place.

15:14 The nations will hear ⁴  and tremble;

anguish ⁵  will seize ⁶  the inhabitants of Philistia.

15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified, ⁷ 

trembling will seize ⁸  the leaders of Moab,

and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.

15:16 Fear and dread ⁹  will fall ¹⁰  on them;

by the greatness ¹¹  of your arm they will be as still as stone ¹² 

until ¹³  your people pass by, O Lord,

until the people whom you have bought ¹⁴  pass by.

15:17 You will bring them in ¹⁵  and plant them in the mountain ¹⁶  of your inheritance,

in the place you made ¹⁷  for your residence, O Lord,

the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.

15:18 The Lord will reign forever and ever!

[15:13]  ¹ tn The verbs in the next two verses are perfect tenses, but can be interpreted as a prophetic perfect, looking to the future.

[15:13]  ² tn The particle זוּ (zu) is a relative pronoun, subordinating the next verb to the preceding.

[15:13]  ³ tn This verb seems to mean “to guide to a watering-place” (See Ps 23:2).

[15:14]  ⁴ 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.

[15:14]  ⁵ tn The word properly refers to “pangs” of childbirth. When the nations hear, they will be terrified.

[15:14]  ⁶ tn The verb is again a prophetic perfect.

[15:15]  ⁷ tn This is a prophetic perfect.

[15:15]  ⁸ tn This verb is imperfect tense.

[15:16]  ⁹ tn The two words can form a nominal hendiadys, “a dreadful fear,” though most English versions retain the two separate terms.

[15:16]  ¹⁰ tn The form is an imperfect.

[15:16]  ¹¹ tn The adjective is in construct form and governs the noun “arm” (“arm” being the anthropomorphic expression for what God did). See GKC 428 §132.c.

[15:16]  ¹² sn For a study of the words for fear, see N. Waldman, “A Comparative Note on Exodus 15:14-16,” JQR 66 (1976): 189-92.

[15:16]  ¹³ tn Clauses beginning with עַד (’ad) express a limit that is not absolute, but only relative, beyond which the action continues (GKC 446-47 §138.g).

[15:16]  ¹⁴ tn The verb קָנָה (qanah) here is the verb “acquire, purchase,” and probably not the homonym “to create, make” (see Gen 4:1; Deut 32:6; and Prov 8:22).

[15:17]  ¹⁵ tn The verb is imperfect.

[15:17]  ¹⁶ sn The “mountain” and the “place” would be wherever Yahweh met with his people. It here refers to Canaan, the land promised to the patriarchs.

[15:17]  ¹⁷ tn The verb is perfect tense, referring to Yahweh’s previous choice of the holy place.