Discovery BoxExodus 15:4 
Context15:4 The chariots of Pharaoh 1 and his army he has thrown into the sea,
and his chosen 2 officers were drowned 3 in the Red Sea.
Exodus 15:9-10
Context15:9 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.
Exodus 15:19
Context15:19 For the horses of Pharaoh came with his chariots and his footmen into the sea,
and the Lord brought back the waters of the sea on them,
but the Israelites walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.”
1 tn Gesenius notes that the sign of the accusative, often omitted in poetry, is not found in this entire song (GKC 363 §117.b).
2 tn The word is a substantive, “choice, selection”; it is here used in the construct state to convey an attribute before a partitive genitive – “the choice of his officers” means his “choice officers” (see GKC 417 §128.r).
3 tn The form is a Qal passive rather than a Pual, for there is not Piel form or meaning.
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.
