Passage

Exodus 15.11

Book: Exodus · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

9. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. 10. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: They sank as lead in the mighty waters.

11. Who is like unto thee, O Jehovah, among the gods? Who is like thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, The earth swallowed them. 13. Thou in thy lovingkindness hast led the people that thou hast redeemed: Thou hast guided them in thy strength to thy holy habitation. (Exodus 15:9-13, ASV)

WEB

9. The enemy said, ‘I will pursue. I will overtake. I will divide the plunder. My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them.’ 10. You blew with your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.

11. Who is like you, Yahweh, among the gods? Who is like you, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?

You stretched out your right hand. The earth swallowed them. 13. “You, in your loving kindness, have led the people that you have redeemed. You have guided them in your strength to your holy habitation. (Exodus 15:9-13, WEB)

KJV

9. The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy them. ^{destroy: or, repossess} 10. Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters.

11. Who is like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders? ^{gods: or, mighty ones?}

Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the earth swallowed them. 13. Thou in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation. (Exodus 15:9-13, KJV)

YLT

9. The enemy said, I pursue, I overtake; I apportion spoil; Filled is my soul with them; I draw out my sword; My hand destroyeth them: 10. Thou hast blown with Thy wind The sea hath covered them; They sank as lead in mighty waters.

11. Who [is] like Thee among the gods, O Jehovah? Who [is] like Thee, honourable in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders?

Thou hast stretched out Thy right hand, Earth swalloweth them! 13. Thou hast led forth in Thy kindness The people whom Thou hast redeemed. Thou hast led on in Thy strength Unto Thy holy habitation. (Exodus 15:9-13, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Moses and Israel, singing after the crossing
Audience: the LORD, in praise
Location: the far shore of the sea
Time period: the exodus generation; the date is disputed between a fifteenth- and a thirteenth-century BC exodus

Theological reading

Who is like you, O LORD, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

The verse sits in the Song of the Sea, generally regarded on linguistic grounds as among the oldest poetry in the Hebrew Bible.

The question is rhetorical and its form matters for the development of monotheism. It does not say the other gods do not exist; it says none is comparable. That mode of speech, incomparability rather than non-existence, is characteristic of the earlier material and is treated at OT Polytheism Objection Defeater. Later texts, particularly in Isaiah, move to explicit denial: there is no god besides me.

Whether the earlier form implies henotheism or is simply the rhetoric of praise is the interpretive question, and honest treatment presents the development rather than flattening it.

The name Michael, who is like God, is the same question turned into a name.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

H0410 - el, el, Strong's H0410
H6213 - asah, asah, Strong's H6213
H3068 - YHWH, YHWH, Strong's H3068

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

OT Polytheism Objection Defeater

Concepts:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.