Thus is the usual conjunction waw, understood here as introducing another summary statement. The LORD saved Israel uses the same word root (saved) as in the noun in verse 13 (“salvation”). Israel here is used collectively, referring to the nation as well as “the people of Israel” (Good News Translation). If a particular receptor language can say “the whole nation of Israel” or something similar, that term should be used here. But translators in most languages will have to use Good News Translation‘s model. That day refers to the day they crossed the Red Sea, not to the day when they left Egypt (12.41). From the hand of the Egyptians, of course, means “from the power of the Egyptians” (New American Bible), but New Jerusalem Bible has “from the clutches of the Egyptians.” Good News Translation and others simply say “from the Egyptians.”

And Israel saw the Egyptians again speaks of Israel collectively, but the emphasis is on saw, which is repeated in the following verse. The word for dead has a broad meaning, without indicating how they died. It may be more natural to say “lying dead” (Good News Translation), or as Contemporary English Version puts it, “the Israelites saw the bodies [corpses] of the Egyptians washed up on the shore.” Upon the seashore is literally “on the lip of the sea,” meaning along the edge of the sea.

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 .