Exodus 13:18

Instead, God led them to go around through the desert toward the Red Sea (OR, the Gulf of Suez). When the Israeli people left Egypt, they were carrying weapons to fight their enemies.

Translation for Translators

In The King James Version

But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.

In Context

17When the king of Egypt let the Israeli people go, God did not lead them to go through the land of the Philistines. That was a shorter way, but God said, “It would be bad if my people change their minds when they realize that they will have to fight the Philistines to take their land, and then decide to return to Egypt.”

19Moses/I had them take along the bones of Joseph with them/us, because Joseph long ago had made the Israeli people promise solemnly that they would do that. He had said to them, “God will enable your descendants to leave Egypt. When that happens, you must carry my bones with you.”

Read all of Exodus 13

Cross References

Exodus 12:51On that very day Yahweh brought all the tribes of the Israeli people out of Egypt.

Exodus 14:9the Egyptian army, with all the king’s horses and chariots and horsemen, pursued the Israelis. They caught up with them as they were camped near the sea, close to Pi-Hahiroth, in front of Baal-Zephon town.

Deuteronomy 32:10“He saw our ancestors when they were in a desert, wandering in a land ◄that was desolate/where no people lived►. He protected them and took care of them, as every person takes good care of his own eyes. [SIM, IDM]

Psalms 68:8After you did that, because when you, the God worshiped by us Israeli people, appeared to us at Sinai Mountain,, the earth shook, and rain poured down from the sky.

Matthew Henry on Exodus 13:18-22

The Pillar of Fire and Fire. ( b. c. 1491.) 17 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: 18 But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. 19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Exodus 13:18