The nations will hear and tremble; anguish will grip the people of Philistia. The song looks beyond Egypt to the wider world: the nations will hear. The Exodus is not a private transaction between God and Israel; it is a public declaration before all peoples. Rahab will cite the sea crossing in Joshua 2:10 as the reason the inhabitants of Canaan lost their courage. The Philistines who will later be Israel's enemies are here already trembling at the news. The global dimension of the Exodus — nations hearing and trembling — is the beginning of the worldwide proclamation that Exodus 9:16 declared to be one of the plague's purposes: that God's name might be proclaimed in all the earth. The song declares that proclamation already underway before Israel has taken a step toward Canaan.

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