The children of Israel went into the middle of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
Parallel translations
- KJV And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.
- BSB and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on their right and on their left.
- NKJV So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.
- NASB So the sons of Israel went through the midst of the sea on the dry land, and the waters were like a wall to them on their right and on their left.
- NLT So the people of Israel walked through the middle of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water on each side!
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Israel walked through the sea on dry ground with the waters standing as walls on either side.
Overview
The central miracle of the exodus: God's people pass safely through the very waters that will destroy their enemies. The walls of water frame a corridor of grace prepared by God alone. The New Testament treats this passage as a type of baptism and of salvation through judgment (1 Cor 10:1-2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Heb 11:29By faith, they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land. When the Egyptians tried to do so, they were swallowed up.
- Exod 15:19For the horses of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and Yahweh brought back the waters of the sea on them; but the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea.
- Ps 66:6He turned the sea into dry land. They went through the river on foot. There, we rejoiced in him.
- Ps 78:13He split the sea, and caused them to pass through. He made the waters stand as a heap.
- Exod 14:29But the children of Israel walked on dry land in the middle of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand, and on their left.
- Exod 15:8With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Isa 63:13Who led them through the depths, like a horse in the wilderness, so that they didn’t stumble?
- Neh 9:11You divided the sea before them, so that they went through the middle of the sea on the dry land; and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into the mighty waters.
- 1 Cor 10:1Now I would not have you ignorant, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
- Num 33:8They traveled from before Hahiroth, and crossed through the middle of the sea into the wilderness. They went three days’ journey in the wilderness of Etham, and encamped in Marah.
- Zech 2:5For I,’ says Yahweh, ‘will be to her a wall of fire around it, and I will be the glory in the middle of her.
- Hab 3:8–10Was Yahweh displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of salvation?
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 14:22 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.