The people of Israel had left Egypt! Millions of people marched through the desert, guided by the pillar of cloud during the day and the pillar of fire during the night. They were finally free!

But God did not lead them by the shortest route. The most direct path to Canaan passed through the land of the Philistines, a warlike people. God thought: "Lest the people repent when they see war and return to Egypt."

Instead, God led them by the way of the wilderness, toward the Red Sea. They camped by the sea, at a place called Pi-hahiroth.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, Pharaoh's heart changed. He and his servants said: "What have we done, letting Israel go and cease serving us?"

Pharaoh prepared his chariot and took his army with him. He took six hundred chosen chariots and all the chariots of Egypt, with officers over all of them. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart, and he pursued the children of Israel.

The Egyptian army - horses, chariots, horsemen, and troops - set out after Israel. It was the most powerful army in the known world at that time, chasing runaway slaves.

The Israelites, camped by the sea, lifted their eyes and saw: the Egyptians were marching after them! They were very afraid and cried out to the Lord.

They said to Moses with anger and despair: "Were there no graves in Egypt that you brought us to die in the wilderness? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn't we tell you in Egypt: 'Leave us alone to serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness!"

The people were terrified. Behind them, the world's most powerful army. Ahead, the Red Sea - an impossible mass of water to cross. On the sides, mountains. They were trapped! There was no escape!

It seemed like the end. It seemed their freedom would last only a few days. It seemed that God had brought them out of Egypt only to die in the desert.

But Moses answered the people:

What extraordinary faith! Moses saw no humanly possible way out. But he knew God. And he knew that God had not brought them out of Egypt to abandon them now.

The Lord said to Moses: "Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward! Lift up your staff, stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground."

Divide the sea? It was impossible! But God is the God of the impossible.

The angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from before them and stood behind them, coming between the camp of Egypt and the camp of Israel.

On the Egyptian side, the cloud was darkness. On Israel's side, it lit up the night. Throughout the night, one could not approach the other.

God was protecting His people! The cloud formed a barrier between the Israelites and the Egyptians. The Egyptians could not advance!

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. The Lord made the sea go back by a strong east wind all that night, and turned the sea into dry land. The waters were divided!

The waters formed like walls on the right and on the left, creating a path through the middle of the sea. The seabed became dry - it wasn't mud or wet sand, but firm ground where they could walk.

It was an extraordinary miracle! God was opening a way where there was no way. He was making the impossible happen.

The children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground! Millions of people, with their flocks and their belongings, crossed the Red Sea walking on dry land.

Children looked in wonder at the walls of water on the right and left. Adults marched quickly, knowing they needed to cross while God held the waters divided.

It was an incredible procession! The people who moments before were desperate now marched to freedom through an impossible miracle of God.

When dawn came, the Egyptians saw the path open in the sea. Pharaoh ordered: "After them!" The Egyptians pursued them - all Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen entered after them into the midst of the sea.

In the morning watch, the Lord, in the pillar of fire and cloud, looked down on the Egyptian camp and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic. He clogged their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily.

The Egyptians began to be afraid: "Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians!"

But it was too late. They were in the middle of the sea.

The Lord said to Moses: "Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the water may come back upon the Egyptians, upon their chariots, and upon their horsemen."

Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. At the break of dawn, the sea returned to its normal course. The Egyptians fled into it, but the Lord threw the Egyptians into the midst of the sea.

But the people of Israel walked on dry ground through the sea, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

That day, the Lord saved Israel from the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Israel saw the great work that the Lord had done against the Egyptians, and the people feared the Lord, and believed in the Lord and in Moses his servant.

It was a complete miracle! God had opened the sea for His people to pass. He had protected Israel from the Egyptians. He had destroyed the world's most powerful army. He had proven that nothing was impossible for Him.

The people who had feared and complained now praised God! Moses and the people of Israel sang a song to the Lord:

The crossing of the Red Sea was one of the greatest miracles in history. It showed that God can do the impossible. That He delivers His people. That when all seems lost, God can open a way.

Israel would never forget this day. Future generations would tell this story to their children - how God divided the Red Sea and saved His people in a miraculous way.