Discovery BoxExodus 15:14-16 
Context15:14 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.
15:16 Fear and dread 6 will fall 7 on them;
by the greatness 8 of your arm they will be as still as stone 9
until 10 your people pass by, O Lord,
until the people whom you have bought 11 pass by.
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.
6 tn The two words can form a nominal hendiadys, “a dreadful fear,” though most English versions retain the two separate terms.
7 tn The form is an imperfect.
8 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.
9 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.
10 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).
11 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).
