This volume continues from Graham I. Davies commentary on Exodus 1-10 and takes the reader up to the end of Exodus chapter 18, covering the release of the Israelites from Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea.


Davies brings together all the relevant aids to exegesis - linguistic, textual, archaeological, historical, literary, and theological - to help the reader understand the texts at hand. In addition to the parting of the waters and the defeat of Pharaoh's army the chapters commented upon also include the so-called 'Song of the Sea' in Exodus 15, a complex hymn that Davies studies in depth, and the provision of manna in the desert. The textual issues are varied and Davies navigates them deftly, providing close commentary and profound insights into these well-known texts.

Two results of Davies's research are to place the old hypothesis of an Elohistic source on a much stronger footing and to reaffirm that both it and the J source extended through both Genesis and Exodus.