<P> God causes the pharaoh to pursue the Israelites with chariots, and he overtakes them at Pi - hahiroth . When the Israelites see the Egyptian army they are afraid, but the pillar of fire and the cloud separates the Israelites and the Egyptians . At God's command Moses holds his staff out over the water, and throughout the night a strong east wind divides the sea, and the Israelites pass through with a wall of water on either side . The Egyptians pursue, but at daybreak God clogs their chariot - wheels and throws them into a panic, and with the return of the water the pharaoh and his entire army are destroyed . When the Israelites see the power of God they put their faith in God and in Moses, and sing a song of praise to the Lord for the crossing of the sea and the destruction of their enemies . (This song, at Exodus 15, is called the Song of the Sea). </P> <P> The narrative contains at least three and possibly four layers . In the first layer (the oldest), God blows the sea back with a strong east wind, allowing the Israelites to cross on dry land; in the second, Moses stretches out his hand and the waters part in two walls; in the third, God clogs the chariot wheels of the Egyptians and they flee (in this version the Egyptians do not even enter the water); and in the fourth, the Song of the Sea, God casts the Egyptians into tehomat, the mythical abyss . </P> <P> The Israelites' first journey is from Ramesses to Succoth . Ramesses is generally identified with modern Qantir, the site of the 19th dynasty capital Per - Ramesses, and Succoth with Tell el - Maskhuta in Wadi Tumilat, the biblical Land of Goshen . From Sukkoth the Israelites travel to Etham "on the edge of the desert," then turn back to Pi - hahiroth, located between Migdol and the sea and directly opposite Baal Zephon . None of these have been identified with certainty . One theory with a wide following is that they refer collectively to the region of Lake Timsah, a salt lake north of the Gulf of Suez, and the nearest large body of water after Wadi Tumilat . Lake Timsah was connected to Pithom in Gesem at various times by a canal, and a late 1st millennium text refers to Migdol Baal Zephon as a fort on the canal . </P> <P> The Hebrew term for the place of the crossing is "Yam Suph". Although this has traditionally been thought to refer to the salt water inlet located between Africa and the Arabian peninsula, known in English as the Red Sea, this is a mistranslation from the Greek Septuagint, and Hebrew suph never means "red" but rather "reeds". (While it is not relevant to the identification of the body of water, suph also puns on the Hebrew suphah ("storm") and soph ("end"), referring to the events of the Exodus). </P>

Where did the israelites cross the red sea map