Keluaran 15:4-6

15:4 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.

15:5 The depths have covered them, ⁴ 

they went down to the bottom ⁵  like a stone.

15:6 Your right hand, O Lord, was majestic ⁶  in power,

your right hand, O Lord, shattered the enemy.

[15:4]  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).

[15:4]  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).

[15:4]  ³ tn The form is a Qal passive rather than a Pual, for there is not Piel form or meaning.

[15:5]  ⁴ tn The verb form is יְכַסְיֻמוּ (yÿkhasyumu) is the Piel preterite. Normally a vav (ו) consecutive is used with the preterite, but in some ancient poems the form without the vav appears, as is the case frequently in this poem. That such an archaic form is used should come as no surprise, because the word also uses the yod (י) of the root (GKC 214 §75.dd), and the archaic suffix form (GKC 258 §91.l). These all indicate the antiquity of the poem.

[15:5]  ⁵ tn The parasynonyms here are תְּהֹמֹת (tÿhomot, “deep, ocean depths, deep waters”) and מְצוֹלֹת (mÿtsolot, “the depths”); S. R. Driver says properly the “gurgling places” (Exodus, 134).

[15:6]  ⁶ tn The form נֶאְדָּרִי (ne’dari) may be an archaic infinitive with the old ending i, used in place of the verb and meaning “awesome.” Gesenius says that the vowel ending may be an old case ending, especially when a preposition is inserted between the word and its genitive (GKC 253 §90.l), but he suggests a reconstruction of the form.