Bitter Water Made Sweet
Exodus 15:22-27
Genesis
Exodus
Leviticus
Numbers
Deuteronomy
Joshua
Judges
Ruth
1 Samuel
2 Samuel
1 Kings
2 Kings
1 Chronicles
2 Chronicles
Ezra
Nehemiah
Esther
Job
Psalm
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song
Isaiah
Jeremiah
Lamentations
Ezekiel
Daniel
Hosea
Joel
Amos
Jonah
Micah
Nahum
Habakkuk
Zephaniah
Haggai
Zechariah
Malachi
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
Jude
Revelation
Exo.15.22 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויסע: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- משה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- ישראל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- סוף: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ויצאו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- אל: NEG
- מדבר: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- שור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וילכו: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,pl
- שלשת: NUM,m,pl,abs
- ימים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- במדבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- מצאו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Numbers 33:8 (structural): Itinerary list that recounts the same stage of the exodus—the movement from the sea into the Wilderness of Shur (same post-Red Sea camping/march).
- Exod.15:25 (verbal): Immediate narrative continuation: after three days without water they arrive at Marah, where the waters are bitter and undrinkable (directly linked episode).
- Exod.17:1 (thematic): A later desert episode where the people lack water and complain (’there was no water for the people to drink’), repeating the motif of thirst and testing in the wilderness.
- Deut.8:2 (thematic): Moses’ retelling of the wilderness journey as a time of testing and dependence—God led Israel through the wilderness to humble and test them (theological reflection on the same trek).
- Ps.78:15-16 (thematic): The psalm retells wilderness events—God splitting rocks and providing water—addressing the problem of thirst and God’s provision for Israel in the desert.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then Moses made Israel set out from the Sea of Reeds, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and did not find water.
- Then Moses made Israel set out from the Sea of Reeds, and they went out into the Wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water.
Exo.15.23 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויבאו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- מרתה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- יכלו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לשתת: VERB,qal,inf,NA,NA,NA
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ממרה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- כי: CONJ
- מרים: NOUN,f,sg,prop
- הם: PRON,personal,3,m,pl
- על: PREP
- כן: ADV
- קרא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- שמה: ADV
- מרה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Exod.15:25 (structural): Immediate continuation of the Marah episode — God gives a statute and makes the bitter waters sweet (wood thrown into the water), explaining and resolving Exod 15:23.
- Num.21:4-9 (thematic): Another wilderness complaint episode where Israel grumbles about conditions and God provides a remedy (bronze serpent); parallels the pattern of complaint, danger, and divine intervention in the wilderness.
- Num.5:11-31 (verbal): The legal 'bitter water' (הַמָּיִם הָמָרִים) used in the jealousy/ordeal ritual employs the same root מר (mar, 'bitter'), a lexical parallel to the bitter waters of Marah.
- Rev.8:10-11 (thematic): The star Wormwood makes waters bitter as a judgment; echoes the motif of waters turned bitter, linking bitter water with divine action and judgment.
- Ps.78:15-16 (thematic): Psalmic retelling of wilderness traditions: God splitting rock and giving water. Serves as a thematic counterpart to Marah — both are key Israelite wilderness water episodes emphasizing God’s control over life-giving (or life-threatening) water.
Alternative generated candidates
- They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water from Marah, for it was bitter; therefore its name was called Marah.
- They came to Marah, but they could not drink the water from Marah, for the waters were bitter; therefore he called its name Marah.
Exo.15.24 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- וילנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- העם: NOUN,m,sg,def
- על: PREP
- משה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לאמר: INF,qal,infc
- מה: PRON,int
- נשתה: VERB,qal,impf,1,c,pl
Parallels
- Exod.17:1-7 (verbal): A near-immediate parallel: the people again quarrel with Moses for lack of water and ask 'What shall we drink?', and God provides water at Massah/Meribah—same complaint and setting repeated.
- Num.20:2-13 (verbal): Later, at Kadesh/Meribah the people complain about no water, 'Why have you brought us up... to die with thirst?'; the narrative repeats the murmuring motif and its consequences for Moses.
- Ps.78:18-20 (thematic): The psalm recounts Israel's repeated testing and complaining over provision ('They tested God in their hearts... they said, “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?”'), echoing the theme of murmurings about water/food.
- Deut.6:16 (allusion): Moses' warning—'Do not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah'—explicitly alludes to the water-testing incident behind the Exodus murmurs and condemns that complaint.
Alternative generated candidates
- And the people grumbled against Moses, saying: What shall we drink?
- And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?
Exo.15.25 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויצעק: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויורהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- עץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וישלך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- המים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- וימתקו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- המים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- שם: ADV
- שם: ADV
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- חק: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ומשפט: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ושם: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נסהו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Exod.17:1-7 (thematic): Another wilderness episode where Israelites find only bitter water and God provides a remedy (water from the rock); both passages involve testing the people and naming the place (Massah/Meribah).
- 2 Kings 2:19-22 (structural): Elisha heals the spring of Jericho by casting salt into the water so it becomes wholesome—close structural parallel: a prophetic figure throws a substance into waters to make them fit to drink.
- Deut.8:2 (verbal): Uses the language of God 'testing' Israel in the wilderness; connects with Exodus 15:25’s statement that God set statutes and there 'tested' them, linking testing and covenant instruction.
- Ps.78:15-16 (thematic): Psalmic retelling of Israel’s wilderness experiences, describing God providing water from the rock and the people's testing/complaining—parallels Exodus’ themes of provision, testing, and divine intervention.
Alternative generated candidates
- And he cried out to YHWH, and YHWH showed him a piece of wood; and he cast it into the water, and the water became sweet. There he set for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them.
- So he cried out to YHWH, and YHWH showed him a piece of wood; and he threw it into the waters, and the waters were made sweet. There he set for him a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested him.
Exo.15.26 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אם: CONJ
- שמוע: VERB,qal,infabs
- תשמע: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לקול: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- אלהיך: NOUN,m,sg,prsuf-2ms
- והישר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- בעיניו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs+3ms
- תעשה: VERB,qal,imf,2,m,sg
- והאזנת: VERB,hiph,impf,2,m,sg
- למצותיו: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs+3,m,sg
- ושמרת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- כל: DET
- חקיו: NOUN,m,pl,abs+3,m,sg
- כל: DET
- המחלה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- אשר: PRON,rel
- שמתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- במצרים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- אשים: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- עליך: PREP+2ms
- כי: CONJ
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- רפאך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2,m,sg
Parallels
- Exod.23:25 (verbal): Promises removal of sickness as a blessing for serving Yahweh (“I will take away sickness from the midst of thee”), closely mirroring the Exodus 15 assurance that God will not lay Egyptian diseases on obedient Israel.
- Deut.7:15 (verbal): A closely parallel covenant promise: if Israel obeys, the LORD will take away all sickness from among them — echoing the conditional protection from Egyptian diseases in Exod 15:26.
- Deut.28:58-61 (thematic): Describes God bringing the diseases of Egypt as part of covenant curses; thematically contrasts Exod 15:26, which promises those same maladies will not be visited on obedient Israel.
- Ps.103:3 (verbal): Speaks of God as the one who ‘heals all your diseases’ — a theological and verbal echo of Exod 15:26’s title for God, ‘the LORD your healer’ (YHWH rofekha).
- Jer.30:17 (thematic): Yahweh’s promise to restore health and heal Israel’s wounds parallels the theme of divine healing and restoration found in Exod 15:26, though in a later prophetic context.
Alternative generated candidates
- And he said: If you will diligently listen to the voice of YHWH your God, and do what is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, none of the diseases that I put on Egypt will I put upon you, for I am YHWH your healer.
- And he said, If you will diligently listen to the voice of YHWH your God, and do what is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will not put on you any of the diseases that I put on Egypt, for I am YHWH, your healer.
Exo.15.27 - Details
Original Text
Morphology
- ויבאו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- אילמה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ושם: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שתים: NUM,card,f
- עשרה: NUM,card,m,pl
- עינת: NOUN,f,sg,construct
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ושבעים: CONJ+NUM,card,pl,abs
- תמרים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ויחנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- שם: ADV
- על: PREP
- המים: NOUN,m,pl,def
Parallels
- Numbers 33:9 (verbal): Repeats the itinerary entry naming Elim and its wells/palm trees (same place and details in the wilderness march).
- Exodus 15:22-25 (structural): Immediate context contrast: after Marah's bitter waters and God's provision at Marah, the narrative moves to Elim, an oasis of abundant water and shade.
- Deuteronomy 8:7-9 (thematic): Describes a land of springs, wells and fruit trees—uses the same vocabulary of water sources and trees to signify divine provision and habitation.
- Psalm 78:15-16 (thematic): Speaks of God providing water in the wilderness—making springs and streams—paralleling the motif of God supplying water and rest for Israel at Elim.
Alternative generated candidates
- And they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees; and they camped there by the water.
- Then they came to Elim, and there were twelve springs of water and seventy date-palms; and they camped there by the waters.
Then Moses led Israel on from the Sea of Reeds; they went into the wilderness of Shur, and they went three days in the wilderness and did not find water.
They came to Marah, but they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter; therefore its name was called Marah. And the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What shall we drink?" And he cried out to YHWH, and YHWH showed him a tree; he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet. There he set for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them. And he said: If you will diligently listen to the voice of YHWH your God, and do what is right in his eyes, and give ear to his commandments and keep all his statutes, I will put on you none of the diseases that I put on Egypt; for I am YHWH, your healer.
Then they came to Elim; and there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there by the waters.