Sing to יהוה, for He has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea.
I will sing to יהוה, for He has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea.
(2) יהוה is my strength and might;
He is become my deliverance.
This is my God and I will enshrine Him;
The God of my father’s [house], and I will exalt Him.
(3) יהוה, the Warrior—
יהוה is His name!
(4) Pharaoh’s chariots and his army
He has cast into the sea;
And the pick of his officers
Are drowned in the Sea of Reeds.
(5) The deeps covered them;
They went down into the depths like a stone.
(6) Your right hand, יהוה, glorious in power,
Your right hand, יהוה, shatters the foe!
(7) In Your great triumph You break Your opponents;
You send forth Your fury, it consumes them like straw.
(8) At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up,
The floods stood straight like a wall;
The deeps froze in the heart of the sea.
(9) The foe said,
“I will pursue, I will overtake,
I will divide the spoil;
My desire shall have its fill of them.
I will bare my sword—
My hand shall subdue them.”
(10) You made Your wind blow, the sea covered them;
They sank like lead in the majestic waters.
(11) Who is like You, יהוה, among the celestials;
Who is like You, majestic in holiness,
Awesome in splendor, working wonders!
(12) You put out Your right hand,
The earth swallowed them.
(13) In Your love You lead the people You redeemed;
In Your strength You guide them to Your holy abode.
(14) The peoples hear, they tremble;
Agony grips the dwellers in Philistia.
(15) Now are the clans of Edom dismayed;
The tribes of Moab—trembling grips them;
All the dwellers in Canaan are aghast.
(16) Terror and dread descend upon them;
Through the might of Your arm they are still as stone—
Till Your people cross over, יהוה,
Till Your people cross whom You have ransomed.
(17) You will bring them and plant them in Your own mountain,
The place You made to dwell in, יהוה,
The sanctuary, O my lord, which Your hands established.
(18) יהוה will reign for ever and ever!
Rabbi Danielle Upbin
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/songs-of-the-sea/
The two songs in fact serve different function, Shirat Hayam is a record of events when the Israelites had full faith in God and trust in Moses their leader. Miriam’s song functions more like prayer, its words more akin to liturgy.
Rabbi Dr. Gil Nativ, Talmud Scholar, Haifa: Miriam is the writer.
- The words “And Miriam chanted for them” - Va-ta’an lahem
- Moreover, the Bible employs the term lahem [“for them”] in the masculine form, rather than lahen in the feminine. As Rabbi Zadok HaCohen of Lublin points out in his book Kometz Ha-Minha, this indicates that Miriam was addressing a mixed company rather than an audience comprising only women.
- The Sages observed that “the Torah is not presented in chronological order” [Literally: There is no sooner or later in the Torah", Talmud, Pesahim 6b]. In other words, the order of events in the Bible does not necessarily reflect their historical sequence. It is possible that the original song composed by Miriam was not preserved in its entirety, while the subsequent song that was sung by Moses and the Israelites remained in the national memory and was later recorded.
“And they believed in the LORD and in his servant Moses… For when the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his horsemen went into the sea…the people of Israel walked on dry ground in the midst of the sea. Then Miriam, the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea… Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, “I will sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously…”
Ilana Kurshan, "Torah Sparks: Last Days of Pesach 5782" Fuchsberg Jerusalem Center:
Just before the sea split, the Israelites argued with one another about how to proceed. According to the Talmudic sage Rabbi Meir, the various tribes competed with one another about who would first set foot in the sea: “When the Jewish people stood at the Sea of Reeds, the tribes argued with one another. This one said: I am going into the sea first, and that one said: I am going into the sea first” (Sotah 36b). The tribe of Benjamin jumped in first, and the tribe of Judah—who felt they ought to be first—began pelting them with stones. According to Rabbi Meir, then, everyone wanted to go first. But Rabbi Yehuda argues that in fact the tribes were arguing not about who would get to jump in first, but who would have to, with each tribe insisting that they would not be the first to take the plunge. Then suddenly Nachshon ben Aminadav, the leader of the tribe of Judah, jumped in, and the other members of his tribe followed. According to both of these opinions, the Israelites were divided in rival tribal factions before the sea split, unable to act collectively as a people.
"Shirat Hayam marks the transition from the individual to the collective, giving voice to both the miracle of national deliverance and the power of communal prayer."