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Read the Bible

Complete Jewish Bible

Exodus 15:27

(A: v, S: iv) They came to Eilim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and camped there by the water.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Elim;   Israel;   Thompson Chain Reference - Palm-Tree;   Trees;   Wells;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Desert, Journey of Israel through the;   Palm-Tree, the;   Travellers;   Trees;   Wells;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Elim;   Miracle;   Palm-Tree;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Trees;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Exodus, Theology of;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Judgments of God;   Singing;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Elim;   Exodus;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Ain;   Arabia;   Elim;   Palmtree;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Elim;   Exodus, Book of;   Palms;   Plants in the Bible;   Wanderings in the Wilderness;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Elim;   Exodus;   Joy;   Moses;   Palm Tree;   Poetry;   Praise;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Numbers (2);   Palm Tree;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Elim ;   Palm, Palm Tree,;   Wanderings of the Israelites;   Wells;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Journeyings of israel from egypt to canaan;   Ouches;   Palm palm tree;   Smith Bible Dictionary - E'lim;   Palm Tree;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Palm;   Tree;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Palm Tree;  

Encyclopedias:

- Condensed Biblical Cyclopedia - On to Sinai;   International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Cistern;   Elim;   Moses;   Number;   Palm Tree;   Sinai;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Ain Musa;   Aloes;   Delmedigo, Joseph Solomon;   Elim;   Exodus;   Joshua B. Hananiah;   Numbers and Numerals;   Palm;   Tree-Worship;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
King James Version
And they came to Elim, where were twelve wells of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
Lexham English Bible
And they came to Elim, and twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees were there, and they encamped there at the water.
New Century Version
Then the people traveled to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. So the people camped there near the water.
New English Translation
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the water.
Amplified Bible
Then the children of Israel came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.
New American Standard Bible
Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And they came to Elim, where were twelue fountaines of water, and seuentie palme trees, and they camped thereby the waters.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.
Contemporary English Version
Later the Israelites came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees. So they camped there.
Darby Translation
And they came to Elim; and twelve springs of water were there, and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the waters.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then the people traveled to Elim. At Elim there were twelve springs of water and 70 palm trees. So the people made their camp there near that water.
English Standard Version
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.
George Lamsa Translation
And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the water.
Good News Translation
Next they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees; there they camped by the water.
Christian Standard Bible®
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy date palms, and they camped there by the water.
Literal Translation
And they came to Elim. And there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. And they camped by the waters.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And they came vnto Elim, where there were twolue welles of water, and seuentie palme trees, and there they pitched by ye water syde.
American Standard Version
And they came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm-trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
Bible in Basic English
And they came to Elim where there were twelve water-springs and seventy palm-trees: and they put up their tents there by the waters.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the children of Israel came to Elim, where were twelue welles of water, and threescore and ten palme trees: and they pitched their tentes there by the waters.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And they came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and three score and ten palm-trees; and they encamped there by the waters.
King James Version (1611)
And they came to Elim: where were twelue wels of water, and threescore and ten palme trees, and they encamped there by the waters.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And they came to Ælim, and there were there twelve fountains of water, and seventy stems of palm-trees; and they encamped there by the waters.
English Revised Version
And they came to Elim, where were twelve springs of water, and threescore and ten palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
Berean Standard Bible
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Forsothe the sones of Israel camen in to Helym, where weren twelue wellis of watris, and seuenti palm trees, and thei settiden tentis bisidis the watris.
Young's Literal Translation
And they come to Elim, and there [are] twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees; and they encamp there by the waters.
Update Bible Version
And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and 70 palm-trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
Webster's Bible Translation
And they came to Elim, where [were] twelve wells of water, and seventy palm-trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
World English Bible
They came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped there by the waters.
New King James Version
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy palm trees; so they camped there by the waters.
New Living Translation
After leaving Marah, the Israelites traveled on to the oasis of Elim, where they found twelve springs and seventy palm trees. They camped there beside the water.
New Life Bible
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve wells of water and seventy trees. They set up their tents there beside the water.
New Revised Standard
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then came they in to Elim, and there, were twelve fountains of water and seventy palm-trees, - so they encamped there, by the waters.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the children of Israel came into Elim, where there were twelve fountains of water, and seventy palm trees: and they encamped by the waters.
Revised Standard Version
Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they encamped there by the water.
THE MESSAGE
They came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees. They set up camp there by the water.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and seventy date palms, and they camped there beside the waters.

Contextual Overview

22 Moshe led Isra'el onward from the Sea of Suf. They went out into the Shur Desert; but after traveling three days in the desert, they had found no water. 23 They arrived at Marah but couldn't drink the water there, because it was bitter. This is why they called it Marah [bitterness]. 24 The people grumbled against Moshe and asked, "What are we to drink?" 25 Moshe cried to Adonai ; and Adonai showed him a certain piece of wood, which, when he threw it into the water, made the water taste good. There Adonai made laws and rules of life for them, and there he tested them. 26 He said, "If you will listen intently to the voice of Adonai your God, do what he considers right, pay attention to his mitzvot and observe his laws, I will not afflict you with any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians; because I am Adonai your healer." 27 (A: v, S: iv) They came to Eilim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and camped there by the water.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Elim: This was on the northern skirts of the desert of Sin, and, according to Dr. Shaw, two leagues from Tor, and near 30 from Corondel, which he conjectures to be Marah, where there is a small rill, which is brackish. He found but nine of the wells, the other three being filled up with sand; but the 70 palm trees had increased into more than 2,000. Numbers 33:9, Isaiah 12:3, Ezekiel 47:12, Revelation 7:17, Revelation 22:2

Reciprocal: Exodus 16:1 - took Exodus 18:1 - done Exodus 20:2 - brought Joshua 24:6 - Egyptians Psalms 78:13 - He divided Psalms 89:10 - Thou hast Psalms 135:9 - sent tokens Jeremiah 2:6 - brought us up Jeremiah 21:2 - according Ezekiel 20:6 - to bring Daniel 9:15 - that hast Matthew 19:28 - the twelve

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And they came to Elim,.... On the twenty fifth of Nisan; for, according to Aben Ezra, they stayed but one day at Marah. Elim, as a late traveller r says, was upon the northern skirts of the desert of Sin, two leagues from Tor, and near thirty from Corondel; according to Bunting s it was eight miles from Marah:

where were twelve wells of water, and seventy palm trees; and so a very convenient, commodious, and comfortable place to abide at for a time, since here was plenty of water for themselves and cattle, and shady trees to sit under by turns; for as for the fruit of them, that was not ripe at this time of the year, as Aben Ezra observes. Thevenot t seems to confound the waters here with the waters of Marah; for he says, the garden of the monks of Tor is the place which in holy Scripture is called Elim, where were sventy palm trees and twelve wells of bitter water; these wells, adds he, are still in being, being near one another, and most of them within the precinct of the garden, the rest are pretty near; they are all hot, and are returned again to their first bitterness; for I tasted says he, of one of them, where people bathe themselves, which by the Arabs is called Hammam Mouse, i.e. the "bath of Moses"; it is in a little dark cave: there is nothing in that garden but abundance of palm trees, which yield some rent to the monks, but the seventy old palm trees are not there now. This does not agree with an observation of the afore mentioned Jewish writer, that palm trees will not flourish in the ground where the waters are bitter; though they delight in watery places, as Pliny u says; and yet Leo Africanus w asserts, that in Numidia the dates (the fruit of palm trees) are best in a time of drought. A later traveller x tells us, he saw no more than nine of the twelve wells that are mentioned by Moses, the other three being filled up by those drifts of sand which are common in Arabia; yet this loss is amply made up by the great increase in the palm trees, the seventy having propagated themselves into more than 2000; under the shade of these trees is the Hammam Mouse, or "bath of Moses", particularly so called, which the inhabitants of Tor have in great veneration, acquainting us that it was here where the household of Moses was encamped. Dr. Pocock takes Elim to be the same with Corondel; about four hours or ten miles south of Marah, he says, is the winter torrent of Corondel in a very narrow valley, full of tamarisk trees, where there is tolerable water about half a mile west of the road; beyond this, he says, about half an hour, or little more than a mile, is a winter torrent called Dieh-Salmeh; and about an hour or two further, i.e. about three or four miles, is the valley or torrent of Wousset, where there are several springs of water that are a little salt; and he thinks that one of them, but rather Corondel, is Elim, because it is said afterwards,

they removed from Elim, and encamped at the Red sea; and the way to Corondel, to go to the valley of Baharum, is part of it near the sea, where he was informed there was good water, and so probably the Israelites encamped there; and Dr. Clayton y is of the same mind, induced by the argument he uses: a certain traveller z, in the beginning of the sixteenth century, tells us, that indeed the wells remain unto this day, but that there is not one palm tree, only some few low shrubs; but he could never have been at the right place, or must say a falsehood, since later travellers, who are to be depended upon, say the reverse, as the above quotations show. As to the mystical application of this passage, the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem make the twelve fountains answerable to the twelve tribes of Israel, and seventy palm trees to the seventy elders of the sanhedrim; and so Jarchi: and more evangelically the twelve fountains of water may denote the abundance of grace in Christ, in whom are the wells of salvation, and the sufficiency of it for all his people; and which the doctrine of the Gospel, delivered by his twelve apostles, discovers and reveals, and leads and directs souls unto; and the seventy palm trees may lead us to think of the seventy disciples sent out by Christ, and all other ministers of the word, who for their uprightness, fruitfulness, and usefulness, may be compared to palm trees, as good men in Scripture are, see Psalms 92:12,

and they encamped there by the waters; where they stayed, as Aben Ezra thinks, twenty days, since, in the first verse of the following chapter, they are said to come to the wilderness of Sin on the fifteenth day of the second month; here being everything agreeable to them for the refreshment of themselves and cattle, they pitched their tents and abode a while; as it is right in a spiritual sense for the people of God to abide by his word and ordinances.

r Shaw, ut supra. (Travels, p. 314.) s Travels, p. 82. t Travels into the Levant, B. 2. ch. 26. p. 166. u Nat. Hist. l. 13. c. 4. w Descriptio Africae, l. 1. p. 82. x Dr. Shaw, ut supra. (r) y Chronolgy of the Hebrew Bible, p. 296, 297. z Baumgarten. Peregrinatio, l. 1. c. 21. p. 44.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Elim - The valley of Gharandel, two hours’ journey south of Huwara.

Twelve wells - Read springs; the Hebrew denotes natural sources. These springs may have been perennial when a richer vegetation clothed the adjacent heights.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 15:27. They came to Elim — This was in the desert of Sin, and, according to Dr. Shaw, about two leagues from Tor, and thirty from Marah or Corondel.

Twelve wells of water — One for each of the tribes of Israel, say the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem.

And threescore and ten palm trees — One for each of the seventy elders.-Ibid.

Dr. Shaw found nine of the twelve wells, the other three having been choked up with sand; and the seventy palm trees multiplied into more than 2000, the dates of which bring a considerable revenue to the Greek monks at Tor. See his account at the end of this book, Exodus 40:38; Exodus 40:38. and see also the map. Thus sufficient evidence of the authenticity of this part of the sacred history remains, after the lapse of more than 3000 years.

IN the preceding notes the reader has been referred to Dr. Kennicott's translation and arrangement of the song of Moses. To this translation he prefixes the following observations: -

"This triumphant ode was sung by Moses and the sons of Israel: and the women, headed by Miriam, answered the men by repeating the two first lines of the song, altering only the first word, which two lines were probably sung more than once as a chorus.

"The conclusion of this ode seems very manifest; and yet, though the ancient Jews had sense enough to write this song differently from prose; and though their authority has prevailed even, to this day in this and three other poems in the Old Testament, (Deuteronomy 32:1-43; Judges 5:1-31; 2 Samuel 22:1-51), still expressed by them as poetry; yet have these critics carried their ideas of the song here to the end of Exodus 15:19. The reason why the same has been done by others probably is, they thought that the particle כי for, which begins Exodus 15:19, necessarily connected it with the preceding poetry. But this difficulty is removed by translating כי when, especially if we take Exodus 15:19-21 as being a prose explanation of the manner in which this song of triumph was performed. For these three verses say that the men singers were answered in the chorus by Miriam and the women, accompanying their words with musical instruments. 'When the horse of Pharaoh had gone into the sea, and the Lord had brought the sea upon them; and Israel had passed, on dry land, in the midst of the sea; then Miriam took a timbrel, and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dances; and Miriam (with the women) answered them (להם lahem, the men, by way of chorus) in the words, O sing ye, c.' That this chorus was sung more than once is thus stated by Bishop Lowth: Maria, cum mulieribus, virorum choro IDENTIDEM succinebat. - Praelect. 19.

"I shall now give what appears to me to be an exact translation of this whole song: -


MOSES. Part I

1. I will sing to JEHOVAH, for he hath triumphed

gloriously

The horse and his rider hath he thrown into

the sea.

2. My strength and my song is JEHOVAH;

And he is become to me for salvation:

This is my God, and I will celebrate him;

The God of my father, and I will exalt him.

3. Jehovah is mighty in Perhaps a

battle! - chorus sung

Jehovah is his name! by the men.

Chorus, by Miriam and the women.

Perhaps sung first in this place.

O sing ye to Jehovah, for he hath triumphed

gloriously:

The horse and his rider hath he thrown into the

sea.

MOSES. Part II

4. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he

cast into the sea;

And his chosen captains are drowned in the

Red Sea.

5. The depths have covered them, they went

down;

(They sank) to the bottom as a stone.

6. Thy right hand, Jehovah, is become glorious

in power;

Thy right hand, Jehovah, dasheth in pieces

the enemy.

7. And in the greatness of thine excellence

thou overthrowest them that rise against

thee.

Thou sendest forth thy wrath, which consumeth

them as stubble.

8. Even at the blast of thy displeasure the

waters are gathered together;

The floods stand upright as a heap,

Congealed are the depths in the very heart

of the sea.

O sing ye to JEHOVAH, c. Chorus by the

women.

MOSES. Part III

9. The enemy said: 'I will pursue, I shall

overtake

I shall divide the spoil, my soul shall be

satiated with them;

I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy

them.'

10. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea

covered them;

They sank as lead in the mighty waters.

11. Who is like thee among the gods, O

JEHOVAH?

Who is like thee, glorious in holiness!

12. Fearful in praises; performing wonders!

Thou stretchest out thy right hand, the

earth swalloweth them!

13. Thou in thy mercy leadest the people whom

thou hast redeemed;

Thou in thy strength guidest to the

habitation of thy holiness!

O sing ye to JEHOVAH, c. Chorus by the

women.

MOSES. Part IV

14. The nations have heard, and are afraid

Sorrow hath seized the inhabitants of

Palestine.

15. Already are the dukes of Edom in

consternation,

And the mighty men of Moab, trembling

hath seized them;

All the inhabitants of Canaan do faint

16. Fear and dread shall fall upon them;

Through the greatness of thine arm they

shall be still as a stone.

17. Till thy people, JEHOVAH, pass over

[Jordan;]

Till the people pass over whom thou hast

redeemed.

18. Thou shalt bring them and plant them in

the mount of thine inheritance:

The place for thy rest which thou, JEHOVAH,

hast made;

The sanctuary, JEHOVAH, which thy hands

have established.

Grand chorus by ALL.

JEHOVAH FOR EVER AND EVER SHALL REIGN."


1. When poetry is consecrated to the service of God, and employed as above to commemorate his marvellous acts, it then becomes a very useful handmaid to piety, and God is honoured by his gifts. God inspired the song of Moses, and perhaps from this very circumstance it has passed for current among the most polished of the heathen nations, that a poet is a person Divinely inspired; and hence the epithet of προφητης, prophet, and vates, of the same import, was given them among the Greeks and Romans.

2. The song of Moses is a proof of the miraculous passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea. There has been no period since the Hebrew nation left Egypt in which this song was not found among them, as composed on that occasion, and to commemorate that event. It may be therefore considered as completely authentic as any living witness could be who had himself passed through the Red Sea, and whose life had been protracted through all the intervening ages to the present day.

3. We have already seen that it is a song of triumph for the deliverance of the people of God, and that it was intended to point out the final salvation and triumph of the whole Church of Christ; so that in the heaven of heavens the redeemed of the Lord, both among the Jews and the Gentiles, shall unite together to sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. See Revelation 15:2-4. Reader, implore the mercy of God to enable thee to make thy calling and election sure, that thou mayest bear thy part in this glorious and eternal triumph.


 
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