1. Then the Lord said to Moses,
2. “Tell the Israelites to turn back to Pi Hahiroth. Tell them to camp for the night between Migdol and the Red Sea. This is near Baal Zephon.
3. The king will think, ‘The Israelites are lost, trapped by the desert.’
4. I will make the king stubborn again so he will chase after them. But I will defeat the king and his army. This will bring honor to me. Then the people of Egypt will know that I am the Lord.” The people of Israel did just as they were told.
5. The king of Egypt was told that the people of Israel had already left. Then he and his officers changed their minds about them. They said, “What have we done? We have let the people of Israel leave. We have lost our slaves!”
6. So the king prepared his war chariot and took his army with him.
7. He took 600 of his best chariots. He also took all the other chariots of Egypt. Each chariot had an officer in it.
8. The Lord made the king of Egypt stubborn. So he chased the Israelites, who were leaving victoriously.
9. The king of Egypt came with his horses, chariot drivers and army. And they chased the Israelites. They caught up with the Israelites while they were camped by the Red Sea. This was near Pi Hahiroth and Baal Zephon.
10. The Israelites saw the king and his army coming after them. They were very frightened and cried to the Lord for help.
11. They said to Moses, “What have you done to us? Why did you bring us out of Egypt to die in the desert? There were plenty of graves for us in Egypt.
12. We told you in Egypt, ‘Let us alone! Let us stay and serve the Egyptians.’ Now we will die in the desert.”