But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. The verse repeats verse 22 almost verbatim. The repetition is not accidental — it frames the Egyptian army's fate (verse 28) between two statements of Israel's safe passage. The structure is chiastic: Israel walked safely (v.22), Egypt pursued (v.23–27), Egypt perished (v.28), Israel walked safely (v.29). The sandwich structure insists that the story's center is not the destruction of Egypt but the salvation of Israel, and the destruction is the necessary corollary of the salvation. The walls of water on the right and left that made Israel's passage safe made Egypt's pursuit fatal. The same reality — the sea divided — produces opposite outcomes for the two parties, as it has throughout the Exodus narrative.

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