Exodus 15:20
in Exodus 15Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her with tambourines and dancing.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.
KJV
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.
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This verse in Exodus 15
Commentary
11 notes on this verseAnd Miriam the prophetess - We have already seen that Miriam was older than either Moses or Aaron: for when Moses was exposed on the Nile, she was a young girl capable of managing the stratagem used for the preservation of his life; and then Aaron was only three years and three months old, for he was fourscore and three years old when Moses was but fourscore, (see Exo 7:7); so that Aaron was older than Moses, and Miriam considerably older than either, not less probably than nine or ten years of age. See Clarke’s notes on Exo 2:
This site's exposition
Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister
on Exodus 15:20-21
Miriam is the first woman in Scripture called a prophetess. The word next falls on Deborah at Judges 4:4.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
This name is related to prophecy and salutary to those reborn. It is the badge of virginity, the glory of purity, the indication of chastity, the sacrificial gift of God, the height of hospitality, the sum total of sanctity. Rightly therefore is this motherly name …
"The prophetess Miriam took.…" How did she become a prophetess? Either, like Isaiah's wife, she had the honorary title of prophecy, although she was not a prophetess, or because she was just a woman.
But besides other things the action of Miriam the prophetess also gives rise to these surmisings of ours. Directly the sea was crossed she took in her hand a dry and sounding timbrel and conducted the women's dance. By this timbrel the story may mean to imply virginity, as first perfected by Miriam; whom indeed I would believe to be a type of Mary the mother of God. Just as the timbrel emits a loud sound because it is devoid of all moisture and reduced to the highest degree of dryness, so has virginity a clear and ringing report amongst men because it repels from itself the vital sap of merely physical life. Thus, Miriam's timbrel being a dead thing, and virginity being a deadening of the bodily passions, it is perhaps not very far removed from the bounds of probability that Miriam was a virgin.
And Miriam taking the timbrel led the dances with maidenly modesty. But consider whom she was then prefiguring. Was she not a type of the church, who as a virgin with unstained spirit joins together the religious gatherings of the people to sing divine songs?
This is what Moses sang and the sons of Israel with him, what Miriam the prophetess sang and the daughters of Israel with her. It is what we too now should sing, whether it means men and women or means our spirit and our flesh. "Those who belong to Christ Jesus," you see, as the apostle says, "have crucified their flesh with its passions and desires." This can be suitably understood in the drum which Miriam took to accompany this song: flesh, you see, is stretched over wood to make a drum. So they learn from the cross how to accompany in confession the sweet strains of grace.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
When God brought Israel out of Egypt, it is said ( Micah vi. 4 ), He sent before them Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, though we read not of any thing memorable that Miriam did but this. But those are to be reckoned great blessings to a people who assist them, and go before them, in praising God.
And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Miriam the prophetess--so called from her receiving divine revelations (Nu 12:1; Mic 6:4), but in this instance principally from her being eminently skilled in music, and in this sense the word "prophecy" is sometimes used in Scripture (1Ch 25:1;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
And Miriam the prophetess - The part here assigned to Miriam and the women of Israel is in accordance both with Egyptian and Hebrew customs. The men are represented as singing the hymn in chorus, under the guidance of Moses; at each interval Miriam and the women sang the refrain, marking the time with the timbrel, and with the measured rhythmical movements always associated with solemn festivities. Compare Jdg 11:34; 2Sa 6:5, and marginal references. The word used in this passage for the timbrel is Egyptian, and judging from its etymology and the figures which are joined with it in the inscriptions, it was probably the round instrument. Miriam is called a prophetess, evidently Num 12:2 because she and Aaron had received divine communications. The word is used here in its proper sense of uttering words suggested by the Spirit of God. See Gen 20:7. She is called the sister of Aaron, most probably to indicate her special position as coordinate, not with Moses the leader of the nation, but with his chief aid and instrument.
The words behind it
14 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וַתִּקַּח֩ | vatikach | and she took | H3947 → | 966 times |
| מִרְיָ֨ם | miryam | Miriam | H4813 → | |
| הַנְּבִיאָ֜ה | haneviah | the prophetess | H5031 → | |
| אֲח֧וֹת | ʾachot | [the] sister of | H269 → | 114 times |
| אַהֲרֹ֛ן | ʾaharon | Aaron | H175 → | 347 times |
| אֶת־ | ʾet- | <obj.> | H853 → | 10935 times |
| הַתֹּ֖ף | hatof | the tambourine | H8596 → | |
| בְּיָדָ֑הּ | beyadah | in hand her | H3027 → | 1618 times |
| וַתֵּצֶ֤אןָ | vatetzena | and they went out | H3318 → | 1067 times |
| כָֽל־ | khol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הַנָּשִׁים֙ | hanashim | the women | H802 → | 781 times |
| אַחֲרֶ֔יהָ | ʾachareiha | behind her | H310 → | 715 times |
| בְּתֻפִּ֖ים | betupim | with tambourines | H8596 → | |
| וּבִמְחֹלֹֽת׃ | uvimcholot | and with dancing | H4246 → |
וַתִּקַּח֩and she took
vatikachH3947 →966 times
מִרְיָ֨םMiriam
miryamH4813 →
הַנְּבִיאָ֜הthe prophetess
haneviahH5031 →
אֲח֧וֹת[the] sister of
ʾachotH269 →114 times
אַהֲרֹ֛ןAaron
ʾaharonH175 →347 times
אֶת־<obj.>
ʾet-H853 →10935 times
הַתֹּ֖ףthe tambourine
hatofH8596 →
בְּיָדָ֑הּin hand her
beyadahH3027 →1618 times
וַתֵּצֶ֤אןָand they went out
vatetzenaH3318 →1067 times
כָֽל־all
khol-H3605 →5413 times
הַנָּשִׁים֙the women
hanashimH802 →781 times
אַחֲרֶ֔יהָbehind her
ʾachareihaH310 →715 times
בְּתֻפִּ֖יםwith tambourines
betupimH8596 →
וּבִמְחֹלֹֽת׃and with dancing
uvimcholotH4246 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
1 Samuel 18:6As the troops were returning home after David had killed the Philistine, the women came out of all the cities of Israel to meet King Saul with singing and dancing, with joyful songs, and…
it leads to
- Judges 11:34
And when Jephthah returned home to Mizpah, there was his daughter coming out to meet him with tambourines and dancing! She was his only child; he had no son or daughter besides her.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 68:25
The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Judges 11:34
Through
Psalms 150:4Praise Him with tambourine and dancing; praise Him with strings and flute.
it leads to
- Psalms 149:3
Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
- Isaiah 38:20
The LORD will save me; we will play songs on stringed instruments all the days of our lives in the house of the LORD.
- Psalms 149:3
Through
Psalms 149:3Let them praise His name with dancing, and make music to Him with tambourine and harp.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 31:13
Then the maidens will rejoice with dancing, young men and old as well. I will turn their mourning into joy, and give them comfort and joy for their sorrow.
- 1 Chronicles 15:28–29
So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the LORD with shouting, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and with cymbals and the music of harps and lyres.
- 2 Samuel 6:16
As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him…
- Jeremiah 31:13
Through
Psalms 68:25The singers lead the way, the musicians follow after, among the maidens playing tambourines.
it leads to
- 1 Chronicles 13:8
David and all the Israelites were celebrating before God with all their might, with songs and on harps and lyres, with tambourines, cymbals, and trumpets.
- 1 Chronicles 13:8
Where this verse is studied
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1 name in this verse with a page on the site.
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Concerning Virginity 1.3.12; Augustine of Hippo, SERMON 363.4; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON EXODUS 15.4.2; Gregory of Nyssa, On Virginity 19; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Peter Chrysologus, SERMON 146.