God Destroyed the Egyptians

¹But the wicked Egyptians were assailed with merciless wrath to the very end,[#19:1 In 19:1-22, the Egyptians, the residents of Sodom, Lot, and manna are alluded to but not explicitly named in the Greek text.]

for God knew in advance what they would do.

²He knew that they would let your people leave

and anxiously send them on their way,

but he also knew they would change their minds and pursue your people.

³While the Egyptians were still mourning

and lamenting at the graves of their dead,

they reached another foolish decision

and pursued the very ones they had urged to leave.

⁴Their well-deserved fate led them to this end,

causing them to forget all that had happened

so they would complete their torments with one final punishment.

⁵Then your people could experience an amazing journey,

but the Egyptians would meet an extraordinary death.

Nature Obeyed God’s Commands

⁶All creation had its very nature recreated

in obedience to your commands,

so that your servants might be protected from harm.

⁷A cloud overshadowed their camp,

and dry land appeared where water had stood before.

This provided a clear path through the Red Sea—

a grassy plain instead of raging waves.

⁸The whole nation passed through under your protection

after they had witnessed amazing miracles.

⁹They ranged like horses and skipped like lambs,

praising you, O Lord, who had delivered them.

¹⁰They still remembered what had happened while they were living in Egypt as foreigners—

how the ground brought forth flies instead of animals

and the river teemed with vast numbers of frogs instead of fish.

¹¹Later they saw a new kind of bird

when their cravings led them to ask for delicacies.

¹²To satisfy their desires, quail came to them from the sea.

¹³Punishments came upon the sinners,

but not without prior signs from crashing thunder.

They suffered justly because of their wicked deeds,

for they had shown more hatred of strangers than even the residents of Sodom had shown.

¹⁴The residents of Sodom refused to welcome strangers when they arrived,

but the Egyptians made slaves of guests who had served them well.

¹⁵And besides this, while the residents of Sodom will receive some sort of punishment

for being hostile toward strangers,

¹⁶the Egyptians were worse, for first they welcomed the strangers with a celebration,

but then they enslaved the very people they had first received with joy.

They harshly afflicted them even though they shared the same rights.

¹⁷The Egyptians were struck with blindness,

like those at the door of Lot, the righteous man.

They were surrounded by deep darkness

and groped to find the door to their own house.

¹⁸For the elements changed places with each other,

just as on a harp the tune is varied by rearranging the notes,

yet each note keeps its same sound.

This may be clearly deduced by looking at what happened.

¹⁹Land animals were turned into water creatures,

and creatures that swim walked on land.

²⁰Fire kept its normal power even in water,

and water forgot its fire-quenching nature.

²¹But the flames did not consume the flesh

of perishable animals that walked through the fire.

Nor did the flames melt the manna—that heavenly food that melts as easily as ice.

²²For in all things, O Lord, you have exalted and glorified your people.

You have never failed to help them at any time or place.