"The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace."
Exodus 14:14 · King James Bible
Where it is
The Red Sea is the long, narrow gulf of water that separates Africa from the Arabian peninsula, joining the Indian Ocean at the strait of Bab-el-Mandeb. The Hebrew name is Yam Suph, literally "Sea of Reeds." The crossing described in Exodus 14 probably took place at the northern end — either the Gulf of Suez, the Bitter Lakes region, or one of the reed-choked lagoons in between — as Israel fled from Egypt toward Sinai.
Why it matters in the Bible
When Pharaoh finally lets Israel go after the tenth plague, they set out from Rameses with the Lord going before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21). Pharaoh changes his mind. Six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt pursue them. Israel is trapped between the mountains, the desert, and the sea.
The people panic. Moses answers: "Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord… The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace" (Exodus 14:13–14). Then the Lord tells Moses: "speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward."
Moses stretches out his rod over the sea. The Lord causes a strong east wind to blow all night. The waters divide. Israel walks through the midst of the sea on dry ground, with walls of water to their right and left. Pharaoh's chariots follow, their wheels clog, and when Moses stretches his hand back the sea returns and the whole army is swept away. Not a man survives.
On the far shore Moses leads Israel in the Song of Moses (Exodus 15) — the oldest hymn in the Bible: "I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." Miriam picks up a timbrel and all the women follow her with dancing.
The Red Sea crossing becomes the central image of salvation in the Old Testament. The Psalms sing of it. The prophets recall it. The New Testament (1 Corinthians 10:1–2) calls it a baptism: Israel was "baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea." Every Passover haggadah, every Easter vigil, every Christian baptism to this day carries the echo of that dry road through the deep.
For the household
When a family finds itself trapped between what is behind and what is ahead, this is the passage to read aloud. "The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace" — followed by — "speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward." Salvation is God's work. But God's people do walk.