My Handiwork is drowning ...

At The Israel Museum, displayed together for the first time, alongside a fragment of the book of Exodus from the late 1st century BCE, discovered in Qumran, and another fragment of Exodus dating to the 10th or 11th century CE is an

ancient fragment of the Song of the Sea

Ancient Fragments Reunited

Two parts of the ancient biblical manuscript separated across centuries and continents were reunited for the first time in a joint display ... The 1,300-year-old fragments, which are among only a handful of Hebrew biblical manuscripts known to have survived the era in which they were written, existed separately and with their relationship unknown, until a news photograph of one's public unveiling in 2007 caught the attention of the scholars who would eventually link them.

Then Moses and the entire congregation sang this Song of Praise to G-d for their miraculous rescue.

"I will sing unto the Lord, for He is highly exulted; The horse and its rider has He thrown into the sea.

The Lord is -my strength and song, And He is become my salvation; This is my G-d and I will glorify Him; MY father's G-d, and I will exalt Him. The Lord is the lord of war, The Lord is His name.

Pharaoh's chariots and his host has He cast into the sea. And his chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea. The deeps cover them they went down into the depths like a stone.

Your right hand, 0 Lord, is glorious in power, Your right hand, 0 Lord, dashes in pieces the enemy.

And in the greatness of Your excellency You overthrow them that rise up against Thee; You send forth Your wrath; it consumes them as stubble.

And with the blast of Your nostrils the waters were piled up, the floods stood upright as a heap; The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.

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.'

You did blow Your wind, the sea covered them. They sank as lead in the mighty waters.

Who is like unto Thee, 0 Lord, among the mighty? Who is like -unto Thee, glorious in holiness, Fearful in praises, doing wonders? You stretch out Your right hand, the earth swallowed them.

You in Your love have led the people that You have redeemed; You lost guided them in Your strength to Your holy habitation.

The Peoples have beard, they trembled; Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia. Then were the chiefs of Edom affrighted; The mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh hold upon them; All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away.

Terror and dread falleth upon them. By the greatness of Your arm they are as still as a stone; Till Your people pass over, 0 Lord, Till the people Pass over that You have gotten. You bringest them in, and plantest them in the mountain of Your inheritance. The place, 0 Lord, which You have made for Thee to dwell in, The sanctuary, 0 Lord, which Your hands have established. The Lord shall reign for ever and ever."

As the last words of the song died away, Miriam seized her timbrel, and followed by a multitude of Hebrew maidens and women, went forth proclaiming:

"Sing again to the Lord,

for He is gloriously exalted;

The horse and its rider

has He thrown into the sea."

"And the sea returned to its strength... The waters returned, and covered the chariots, and the horsemen, and all the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them."

Beshalach : Exodus 13:17-17:16

In that hour, the ministering angels wished to sing songs of praise before G-d, but He rebuked them, saying: "My handiwork is drowning in the sea, and you wish to sing before me?!"

(Talmud, Sanhedrin 39b)