Exodus 15:12
ESV
You stretched out your right hand; the earth swallowed them.
NIV
"You stretch out your right hand, and the earth swallows your enemies.
NASB
You reached out with Your right hand, The earth swallowed them.
CSB
You stretched out your right hand, and the earth swallowed them.
NLT
You raised your right hand, and the earth swallowed our enemies.
KJV
Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them.
NKJV
You stretched out Your right hand; The earth swallowed them.
What does Exodus 15:12 mean?
In ancient writing, the "right hand" was a symbol of someone's strength and power. This statement is part of a celebration (Exodus 15:1) over Israel's rescue from Egypt. God parted the waters of the Red Sea, allowing the Hebrews to cross safely. He then collapsed the same waters over the attacking Egyptian army (Exodus 14:21–29). God had commanded Moses to gesture with his hand, both to part and to close the water (Exodus 14:16, 26). Yet here Moses credits the hand of God with this miracle. Moses is clear that he has no power; it is all from the Lord."The earth" might be a poetic reference to the planet: nature itself. The waters of the sea wiped out the Egyptian army. However, geologists note that the Red Sea—including its northwestern extension, the Gulf of Suez—is the site of a tectonic rift. This is a border between two plates of earth's crust which slowly move relative to each other. This movement causes occasional earthquakes. Some suggest God used an earthquake, or series of earthquakes, to part and reform the waters of the sea. However, other than this verse, nothing in Scripture hints at any tremors associated with the miracle.
