Exodus 15:3

THE MESSAGE

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD is a man of war. The LORD is his name.

King James Version
The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

Lexham English Bible
Yahweh is a man of war; Yahweh is his name.

New Century Version
The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

New English Translation
The Lord is a warrior, the Lord is his name.

Amplified Bible
"The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.

New American Standard Bible
"The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.

Geneva Bible (1587)
The Lord is a man of warre, his Name is Iehouah.

Legacy Standard Bible
Yahweh is a warrior;Yahweh is His name.

Contemporary English Version
The Lord is his name, and he is a warrior!

Complete Jewish Bible
Adonai is a warrior; Adonai is his name.

Darby Translation
Jehovah is a man of war; Jehovah, his name.

Easy-to-Read Version
The Lord is a great soldier. The Lord is his name.

English Standard Version
The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is his name.

George Lamsa Translation
The LORD is a mighty warrior: the LORD is his name.

Good News Translation
The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

Christian Standard Bible®
The Lord is a warrior;the Lord is his name.

Literal Translation
Jehovah is a Man of war; Jehovah is His name.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The LORDE is the right man of warre, LORDE is his name.

American Standard Version
Jehovah is a man of war: Jehovah is his name.

Bible in Basic English
The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
The Lorde is a man of warre, the Lorde is his name.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
The LORD is a man of war, The LORD is His name.

King James Version (1611)
The Lord is a man of warre: the Lord is his Name.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The Lord bringing wars to nought, the Lord is his name.

English Revised Version
The LORD is a man of war: the LORD is his name.

Berean Standard Bible
The LORD is a warrior, the LORD is His name.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
The Lord is as a man fiyter, his name is Almiyti;

Young's Literal Translation
Jehovah [is] a man of battle; Jehovah [is] His name.

Update Bible Version
Yahweh is a man of war: Yahweh is his name.

Webster's Bible Translation
The LORD [is] a man of war: the LORD [is] his name.

World English Bible
Yahweh is a man of war. Yahweh is his name.

New King James Version
The LORD is a man of war; The LORD is His name.

New Living Translation
The Lord is a warrior; Yahweh is his name!

New Life Bible
The Lord is a fighter. The Lord is His name.

New Revised Standard
The Lord is a warrior; the Lord is his name.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Yahweh is a warlike one, - Yahweh, is his name.

Douay-Rheims Bible
The Lord is as a man of war, Almighty is his name.

Revised Standard Version
The LORD is a man of war; the LORD is his name.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The LORD is a warrior; The LORD is His name.

Contextual Overview

¹Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to God , giving voice together, I'm singing my heart out to God —what a victory! He pitched horse and rider into the sea. God is my strength, God is my song, and, yes! God is my salvation. This is the kind of God I have and I'm telling the world! This is the God of my father— I'm spreading the news far and wide! God is a fighter, pure God , through and through. Pharaoh's chariots and army he dumped in the sea, The elite of his officers he drowned in the Red Sea. Wild ocean waters poured over them; they sank like a rock in the deep blue sea. Your strong right hand, God , shimmers with power; your strong right hand shatters the enemy. In your mighty majesty you smash your upstart enemies, You let loose your hot anger and burn them to a crisp. At a blast from your nostrils the waters piled up; Tumbling streams dammed up, wild oceans curdled into a swamp. ⁹ The enemy spoke, "I'll pursue, I'll hunt them down, I'll divide up the plunder, I'll glut myself on them; I'll pull out my sword, my fist will send them reeling." ¹⁰You blew with all your might and the sea covered them. They sank like a lead weight in the majestic waters. Who compares with you among gods, O God ? Who compares with you in power, in holy majesty, In awesome praises, wonder-working God? ¹²You stretched out your right hand and the Earth swallowed them up. But the people you redeemed, you led in merciful love; You guided them under your protection to your holy pasture. ¹⁴When people heard, they were scared; Philistines writhed and trembled; Yes, even the head men in Edom were shaken, and the big bosses in Moab. Everybody in Canaan panicked and fell faint. Dread and terror sent them reeling. Before your brandished right arm they were struck dumb like a stone, Until your people crossed over and entered, O God , until the people you made crossed over and entered. You brought them and planted them on the mountain of your heritage, The place where you live, the place you made, Your sanctuary, Master, that you established with your own hands. Let God rule forever, for eternity! ¹⁹ Yes, Pharaoh's horses and chariots and riders went into the sea and God turned the waters back on them; but the Israelites walked on dry land right through the middle of the sea. ²⁰Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine, and all the women followed her with tambourines, dancing. Miriam led them in singing, Sing to God — what a victory! He pitched horse and rider into the sea!

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

a man: Psalms 24:8, Psalms 45:3, Revelation 19:11-21

name: Exodus 3:13, Exodus 3:15, Exodus 6:3, Exodus 6:6, Psalms 83:18, Isaiah 42:8

Reciprocal: Genesis 2:4 - Lord Exodus 14:14 - the Lord Psalms 35:2 - General Jeremiah 16:21 - and they Jeremiah 33:2 - the Lord

Cross-References

Genesis 12:2
I'll make you a great nation and bless you. I'll make you famous; you'll be a blessing. I'll bless those who bless you; those who curse you I'll curse. All the families of the Earth will be blessed through you."

Proverbs 13:12
Unrelenting disappointment leaves you heartsick, but a sudden good break can turn life around.

Proverbs 29:21
If you let people treat you like a doormat, you'll be quite forgotten in the end.

Jeremiah 12:1
You are right, O God , and you set things right. I can't argue with that. But I do have some questions: Why do bad people have it so good? Why do con artists make it big? You planted them and they put down roots. They flourished and produced fruit. They talk as if they're old friends with you, but they couldn't care less about you. Meanwhile, you know me inside and out. You don't let me get by with a thing! Make them pay for the way they live, pay with their lives, like sheep marked for slaughter. How long do we have to put up with this— the country depressed, the farms in ruin— And all because of wickedness, these wicked lives? Even animals and birds are dying off Because they'll have nothing to do with God and think God has nothing to do with them.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

The Lord is a man of war,.... A "man", which has respect to the future incarnation of Christ, for as yet he was not really man; though it was purposed, covenanted, agreed to, and prophesied of, that he should, as he after was; not a mere man, as appears by the following clause: "a man of war"; or a warrior; being engaged in war, and inured to it; having to do with very powerful enemies, Satan and his principalities and powers, the world, and the great men of it, antichrist, and all the antichristian states. A warrior well versed in all the arts of war, and abundantly qualified for it, having consummate wisdom, strength, and courage, and thoroughly furnished and accoutred for it; having on the breastplate of righteousness, the helmet of salvation, the garment of vengeance, and cloak of zeal, and a vesture dipped in blood; and with a sword girt on his thigh, or drawn, or coming out of his mouth; and with a bow and arrows, going forth conquering, and to conquer; for he is a victorious one, who has conquered sin, Satan, and the world, and will subdue all others, and make his people more than conquerors, through him. He is not a common man of war or warrior; he is the Captain of the Lord's host, the Leader and Commander of the people, the Generalissimo of the armies in heaven and earth, and is a Prince and King at the head of them:

the Lord is his name; or Jehovah, which proves him to be more than a man; and being so, it is no wonder that he is so mighty, powerful, and victorious.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

With the deliverance of Israel is associated the development of the national poetry, which finds its first and perfect expression in this magnificent hymn. It was sung by Moses and the people, an expression which evidently points to him as the author. That it was written at the time is an assertion expressly made in the text, and it is supported by the strongest internal evidence. In every age this song gave the tone to the poetry of Israel; especially at great critical epochs of deliverance: and in the book of Revelation Exodus 15:3 it is associated with the final triumph of the Church.

The division of the song into three parts is distinctly marked: Exodus 15:1-5; Exodus 15:6-10; Exodus 15:11-18 : each begins with an ascription of praise to God; each increases in length and varied imagery unto the triumphant close.

Exodus 15:1

He hath triumphed gloriously - Literally, He is gloriously glorious.

The horse and his rider - The word “rider” may include horseman, but applies properly to the charioteer.

Exodus 15:2

The Lord is my strength and song - My strength and song is Jah. See Psalms 68:4. The name was chosen here by Moses to draw attention to the promise ratified by the name “I am.”

I will prepare Him an habitation - I will glorify Him. Our Authorized Version is open to serious objection, as suggesting a thought (namely, of erecting a temple) which could hardly have been in the mind of Moses at that time, and unsuited to the occasion.

Exodus 15:3

A man of war - Compare Psalms 24:8. The name has on this occasion a special fitness: man had no part in the victory; the battle was the Lord’s.

The Lord is his name - “Jah is His name.” See Exodus 15:2.

Exodus 15:4

Hath He cast - “Hurled,” as from a sling. See Exodus 14:27.

His chosen captains - See Exodus 14:7 note.

Exodus 15:5

As a stone - The warriors in chariots are always represented on the monuments with heavy coats of mail; the corslets of “chosen captains” consisted of plates of highly tempered bronze, with sleeves reaching nearly to the elbow, covering the whole body and the thighs nearly to the knee. The wearers must have sunk at once like a stone, or as we read in Exodus 5:10, like lumps of lead.

Exodus 15:7

Thy wrath - Literally, Thy burning, i. e. the fire of Thy wrath, a word chosen expressly with reference to the effect.

Exodus 15:8

The blast of God’s nostrils corresponds to the natural agency, the east wind Exodus 14:21, which drove the waters back: on the north the waters rose high, overhanging the sands, but kept back by the strongwind: on the south they laid in massive rollers, kept down by the same agency in the deep bed of the Red Sea.

Exodus 15:9

The enemy said - The abrupt, gasping utterances; the haste, cupidity and ferocity of the Egyptians; the confusion and disorder of their thoughts, belong to the highest order of poetry. They enable us to realize the feelings which induced Pharaoh and his host to pursue the Israelites over the treacherous sandbanks.

Exodus 15:10

Thou didst blow with thy wind - Notice the solemn majesty of these few words, in immediate contrast with the tumult and confusion of the preceding verse. In Exodus 14:28, we read only, “the waters returned,” here we are told that it was because the wind blew. A sudden change in the direction of the wind would bring back at once the masses of water heaped up on the north.

They sank as lead - See the note at Exodus 15:5.

Exodus 15:11

Among the gods - Compare Psalms 86:8; Deuteronomy 32:16-17. A Hebrew just leaving the land in which polytheism attained its highest development, with gigantic statues and temples of incomparable grandeur, might well on such an occasion dwell upon this consummation of the long series of triumphs by which the “greatness beyond compare” of Yahweh was once for all established.

Exodus 15:13

Thy holy habitation - Either Palestine, regarded as the land of promise, sanctified by manifestations of God to the Patriarchs, and destined to be both the home of God’s people, and the place where His glory and purposes were to be perfectly revealed: or Mount Moriah.

Exodus 15:14

The inhabitants of Palestina - i. e. the country of the Philistines. They were the first who would expect an invasion, and the first whose district would have been invaded but for the faintheartedness of the Israelites.

Exodus 15:15

The dukes of Edom - See Genesis 36:15. It denotes the chieftains, not the kings of Edom.

The mighty men of Moab - The physical strength and great stature of the Moabites are noted in other passages: see Jeremiah 48:29, Jeremiah 48:41.

Canaan - The name in this, as in many passages of Genesis, designates the whole of Palestine: and is used of course with reference to the promise to Abraham. It was known to the Egyptians, and occurs frequently on the monuments as Pa-kanana, which applies, if not to the whole of Palestine, yet to the northern district under Lebanon, which the Phoenicians occupied and called “Canaan.”

Exodus 15:17

In the mountain of thine inheritance - See Exodus 15:13.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Exodus 15:3. The Lord is a man of war — Perhaps it would be better to translate the words, Jehovah is the man or hero of the battle. As we scarcely ever apply the term to any thing but first-rate armed vessels, the change of the translation seems indispensable, though the common rendering is literal enough. Besides, the object of Moses was to show that man had no part in this victory, but that the whole was wrought by the miraculous power of God, and that therefore he alone should have all the glory.

The LORD is his name. — That is, JEHOVAH. He has now, as the name implies, given complete existence to all his promises. Genesis 2:4, and "Exodus 6:3".