Exodus 15:25

And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them,

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
cried	וַיִּצְעַ֣ק vai.yitz.'Ak	H6817	to shriek · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
LORD	יְהוָ֗ה Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
LORD	יְהוָה֙ Yah.weh	H3068	Jehovah · proper noun, a title
shewed	וַיּוֹרֵ֤הוּ vai.yo.Re.hu	H3384	properly · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
tree	עֵ֔ץ 'Etz	H6086	a tree (from its firmness) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
cast	וַיַּשְׁלֵךְ֙ vai.yash.leKh	H7993	to throw out · conjunction + verb, hiphil sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
waters	הַמַּ֔יִם ha.Ma.yim	H4325	water · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
waters	הַמָּ֑יִם ha.Ma.yim	H4325	water · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
sweet	וַֽיִּמְתְּק֖וּ vai.yim.te.Ku	H4985	to suck · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
made	שָׂ֥ם sam	H7760	to put (used in a great variety of applications · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
statute	חֹ֥ק chok	H2706	an enactment · noun, common masculine singular absolute
ordinance	וּמִשְׁפָּ֖ט u.mish.Pat	H4941	properly · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
proved	נִסָּֽהוּ ni.Sa.hu	H5254	to test · verb, piel perfect, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Deuteronomy 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee,…
Psalms 66:10 For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried.
Judges 3:1 Now these are the nations which the LORD left, to prove Israel by them, even as many of Israel as had not known all the wars of Canaan;
Judges 2:22 That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not.
Judges 3:4 And they were to prove Israel by them, to know whether they would hearken unto the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their father…
Exodus 16:4 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every da…
Deuteronomy 8:16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee g…
2 Kings 2:21 And he went forth unto the spring of the waters, and cast the salt in there, and said, Thus saith the LORD, I have healed these waters; ther…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 15:22–end

It should seem, it was with some difficulty that Moses prevailed with Israel to leave that triumphant shore on which they sang the foregoing song. They were so taken up with the sight, or with the song, or with the spoiling of the dead bodies, that they cared not to go forward, but Moses with much ado brought them from the Red Sea into a wilderness. The pleasures of our way to Canaan must not retard our progress, but quicken it, though we have a wilderness before us. Now here we are told, I. That in the wilderness of Shur they had no water, Exo 15:22. This was a sore trial to the young travellers, and a diminution to their joy; thus God would train them up to difficulties. David, in a dry an…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 15:25

the Lord showed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet--Some travellers have pronounced this to be the Elvah of the Arabs--a shrub in form and flower resembling our hawthorn; others, the berries of the Ghurkhud--a bush found growing around all brackish fountains. But neither of these shrubs are known by the natives to possess such natural virtues. It is far more likely that God miraculously endowed some tree with the property of purifying the bitter water--a tree employed as the medium, but the sweetening was not dependent upon the nature or quality of the tree, but the power of God (compare Joh 9:6). And hence the "statute and ordinance" that followed…

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Adam Clarke on Exodus 15:25

He cried unto the Lord - Moses was not only their leader, but also their mediator. Of prayer and dependence on the Almighty, the great mass of the Israelites appear to have had little knowledge at this time. Moses, therefore, had much to bear from their weakness, and the merciful Lord was long-suffering. The Lord showed him a tree - What this tree was we know not: some think that the tree was extremely bitter itself, such as the quassia; and that God acted in this as he generally does, correcting contraries by contraries, which, among the ancient physicians, was a favourite maxim, Clavus clavo expellitur. The Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem say that, when Moses prayed, "the Word of the Lor…

The Church Fathers

As wood sweetens Marah so that seventy palm trees are watered by its streams, so the cross makes the waters of the law lifegiving to the seventy who are Christ's apostles.
— Jerome, LETTER 69.6

Again, water is restored from its defect to its native grace of "sweetness" by the tree of Moses. That tree was Christ, restoring of himself the veins of what had been envenomed and bitter nature into the all-salutary waters of baptism.
— Tertullian, ON BAPTISM 9.2

Marah was a fountain of most bitter water. Moses cast wood into it and it became sweet. For water without the preaching of the cross of the Lord is of no avail for future salvation. But after it has been consecrated by the mystery of the saving cross, it is made suitable for the use of the spiritual laver and of the cup of salvation. As then Moses, that is, the prophet, cast wood into that fountain, so too the priest utters over this font the proclamation of the Lord's cross, and the water is made sweet for the purpose of grace.
— Ambrose of Milan, On the Mysteries 3.14

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Music — Jubal was the inventor of musical instruments (Gen. 4:21). The Hebrews were much given to the cultivation of music. Their whole history and literature afford abundant evidence of this. After the…
Poetry — Has been well defined as “the measured language of emotion.” Hebrew poetry deals almost exclusively with the great question of man’s relation to God. “Guilt, condemnation, punishment, pardon,…
Red Sea — The sea so called extends along the west coast of Arabia for about 1,400 miles, and separates Asia from Africa. It is connected with the Indian Ocean, of which it is an arm, by the Strait of…
Songs — Of Moses (Ex. 15; Num. 21:17; Deut. 32; Rev. 15:3), Deborah (Judg. 5), Hannah (1 Sam. 2), David (2 Sam. 22, and Psalms), Mary (Luke 1:46-55), Zacharias (Luke 1:68-79), the angels (Luke 2:13), Simeon…
Afflictions Made Beneficial · In trying our faith and obedience — In trying our faith and obedience
Desert, Journey Of Israel Through The · Water sweetened — Water sweetened
Marah · waters sweet — waters sweet
Miracles · .Sweetening the waters of Marah — .Sweetening the waters of Marah
Miracles Wrought Through Servants Of God · Moses and Aaron: Water sweetened — Moses and Aaron: Water sweetened
Ordinance · A — A
Trouble · .About water — .About water

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Exodus 15:25

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 15:22–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 15:25

Adam Clarke on Exodus 15:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 15:25

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 15:22–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 15:25

Adam Clarke on Exodus 15:25

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Exodus 15:25

John Calvin on Exodus 15:22–end

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 15:22–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 15:25

Rashi on Exodus 15:25