Lift up your rod is literally “and you [singular], you raise your staff.” Since the your is emphasized, Revised English Bible has “and you are to raise high your staff,” and New Jerusalem Bible has “Your part is to raise your staff.” (See also 9.23.) And stretch out your hand over the sea seems a bit wordy, but it refers to the same hand that holds the rod. It is better to say “Lift up your walking stick and hold it out over the sea” (Good News Translation). And divide it translates the Hebrew word used for splitting wood, but here it describes splitting the sea. The imperative form is used as a command for Moses to be the one to divide the sea, but Good News Translation finds it more natural to say “The water will divide.” Contemporary English Version has “The water will open up.”

That the people of Israel may go is literally “and the sons of Israel will enter.” The idea of that (“in order that”) and may go is suggested by the context. On dry ground assumes that the bottom of the sea will become dry when the water is split. Through the sea is literally “in the middle of the sea.” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “march into the sea.” The idea of “walking through the sea” is interpreted from the context. Contemporary English Version‘s model will be helpful for many translators: “make a road where they can walk through on dry ground.” In some languages, though, the use of the word sea will indicate a place filled with water. In such cases one may say, for example, “walked on dry land between the walls of water on each side.” It should be understood that they are in the place where the sea used to be.

An alternative translation model for this verse is:

• Lift up your walking stick and hold it out over the sea. The water will divide and provide a path for the Israelites to walk on dry ground between the walls of water on each side.

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .