Exodus 15:7-8

15:7 In the abundance of your majesty ¹  you have overthrown ² 

those who rise up against you. ³ 

You sent forth ⁴  your wrath; ⁵ 

it consumed them ⁶  like stubble.

15:8 By the blast of your nostrils ⁷  the waters were piled up,

the flowing water stood upright like a heap, ⁸ 

and the deep waters were solidified in the heart of the sea.

[15:7]  ¹ sn This expression is cognate with words in v. 1. Here that same greatness or majesty is extolled as in abundance.

[15:7]  ² tn Here, and throughout the song, these verbs are the prefixed conjugation that may look like the imperfect but are actually historic preterites. This verb is to “overthrow” or “throw down” – like a wall, leaving it in shattered pieces.

[15:7]  ³ tn The form קָמֶיךָ (qamekha) is the active participle with a pronominal suffix. The participle is accusative, the object of the verb, but the suffix is the genitive of nearer definition (see GKC 358 §116.i).

[15:7]  ⁴ sn The verb is the Piel of שָׁלַח (shalakh), the same verb used throughout for the demand on Pharaoh to release Israel. Here, in some irony, God released his wrath on them.

[15:7]  ⁵ sn The word wrath is a metonymy of cause; the effect – the judgment – is what is meant.

[15:7]  ⁶ tn The verb is the prefixed conjugation, the preterite, without the consecutive vav (ו).

[15:8]  ⁷ sn The phrase “the blast of your nostrils” is a bold anthropomorphic expression for the wind that came in and dried up the water.

[15:8]  ⁸ tn The word “heap” describes the walls of water. The waters, which are naturally fluid, stood up as though they were a heap, a mound of earth. Likewise, the flowing waters deep in the ocean solidified – as though they were turned to ice (U. Cassuto, Exodus, 175).