The fall of Nineveh :: :: University of Virginia Library

“From Egypt's bondage loosed,
Toward the Red Sea Israel fled:
But the haughty king, from the ten plagues 'scaped,
And hardened still at heart,
And unbelieving still,
Pharaoh the impious one,
Mocking Jehovah's might, drove after them.
With horse, and with chariots, fiercely drove he;
And cried aloud,
While his eyes flashed fire,
And the white foam hung at his lip,
‘Pursue! pursue!
Pursue, and spoil, and slay with the sword!
Their God will not help them now.’

“Then Israel saw, and feared,
And trembled, and cried out,
‘Were there no graves in Egypt left,
That we come to perish here?’
But Moses said, ‘fear not;
Fear not; for this great host,
That now ye see
In the pride of their strength,
Ye never shall see more.
To God this fight belongs;
Not to the might of man:
He will His hand put forth,
His dread Almighty hand;

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The God of hosts,
The Great I Am,
Jehovah will do battle now;
And ye shall stand and see.’

“'Twas night. By the Red Sea's brink they stood,
Stood thronging, and afraid:
Dark was the sky
To Egypt's host:
But the pillar of fire
That with Israel went,
A cloud by day, and a fire by night,
Burned red o'er the surging deep.
Like waves of flame the waters rolled,
Red billows broke at their feet:
Then they thought that the hour
Of their doom was come;
For the sword was behind,
The sea was before,
And farther they might not flee.
They heard the tramp of the vengeful foe,
Driving in darkness on;
And trembled, and feared,
And smote on their breasts,
And wailed aloud,
And rent their hair;
For they knew not if God would help.

“But Moses heard
The voice of the Lord,
And stretched his rod o'er the sea:
The heaving waters knew the sign,
And as a lake lay still:
Sank then 'neath the rod; but, to either hand,
Rose cliff-like, and left between,
A path for a multitude, horsemen, and foot,
And chariots in wide array;
A broad, dry path from shore to shore,
Through the bed of the secret deep.
And lo! already, to guide them on,

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Far down in the awful chasm,
The fiery pillar shone!
Then Israel knew
The hand of the Lord;
And bowed the head, and spake no word,
But down the steep road went,
Down—down—
Down till the heaped-up waters, red
In the fiery pillar's gleam,
Like rocks of burning ruby towered,
High and more high, as they journeyed down.

“But, fierce as flame,
Came on the foe:
He stood on the awful brink:
Amazed he beheld the sea-depths bared,
And the waters piled on high;
And he saw, by the gleam of the fiery cloud,
Far below,
Far in the ocean-chasm below,
As in the depth of a mountain-dell,
The silent host of Israel,
Treading the bed of the deep.
Yet with rage and with hate was he blind,
And knew not the hand of God;
But called aloud, and lashed his steeds
Furiously down the steep brink of the sea;
Furiously down drave he;
And his horse, and his chariots, after him went,
Down—down—
To the depths of the dusk abyss,
The king and his reckless host,
Drove in their madness down.

“The watery rocks yet stood,
Like walls to prop the sky.
The sky above, and the waters above,
To right, and to left, and behind, and before,
To them were the universe now.

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They looked around; and their hearts 'gan fail,
And their threats into silence sank.
No sound was heard, save the pant of the steeds,
The tramp of the hoofs, and the grinding wheels,
Heavily through the sea-bed's sands,
Heavily laboring on.

“But, at the morning watch,
The Lord looked out from the cloud;
With face of wrath, and lightning eye,
From the innermost depths of the cloud,
On the host of Egypt looked.
Astonied they saw; and their blood grew cold,
And the joints of their loins were loosed.
Then they howled, and shrieked,
And cried aloud,
As they gazed on the terrible brow,
Let us turn, let us turn,
From the wrath of the Lord;
Turn—turn, and from Israel flee!
God for them fighteth,
God is their strength,
Haste, haste, and from Israel flee!’

“Then they turned and fled,
Chariots and horse,
Backward turned they, and fled.
The sound of the scourge unceasing was heard,
The shout and the cry,
The groan of the steed,
And the stamp of the driver's foot;
For the Lord had crazed
Their chariot-wheels,
That heavily they drave;
Heavily, heavily,
Heavily drave they on.

“But, on the farther shore,
Stood Israel, and looked back.

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The surgeless deep
Was red as fire,
Beneath the eye of wrath:
They saw the thronged Egyptian host,
The brazen car, and the gleaming mail,
Deep down in the yawning chasm
Of waters laboring on:
They heard, like the howl
Of the distant storm,
Their wailing, and their cries:
They stood and looked,
And spake not a word:
For they felt that the arm
Of God was put forth,
And their hour of deliverance come.

“Then again the voice
To Moses came,
The still small voice of the Lord.
He stood by the shore,
Stretched forth his hand,
And lifted his rod o'er the sea.
The mountain cliffs
Of water felt
The will of God, and sank.
Down, with precipitous overthrow,
Deep thundering they sank!
On Pharaoh, and his host,
His chariots and his horse,
They sank, and covered them!
One death-shriek, as the watery cliffs leaned o'er,
Arose,—then all was gone!
A waste of rolling, roaring foam
Blotted them out!
The clouds were washed with the hissing spray;
The eternal hills with the deep boilings shook.

“Thus did the Lord save Israel on that day
From the oppressor's hands,

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Who long and harshly had oppressëd them.
Then Moses and his people, praising God,
Lifted the voice, and sang exultingly;
‘We will sing unto the Lord,
For he hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea!
Pharaoh's chariots, and his horse,
Hath He cast into the sea:
His chosen captains hath He drownëd!
The depths have covered them!
They sank into the bottom as a stone!
They sank as lead in the mighty waters!
Sing ye then unto the Lord,
For He hath triumphed gloriously;
The horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.’”