Reed Sea Or Red Sea?

This lesson does not deal with any deep doctrines of the Scriptures nor does it touch on personal and family conduct. I want to turn our attention to what seems to be a major discrepancy between the Old and New Testament. A discrepancy that centers upon the geography of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula.

If you were to ask a person or even a child, who has a modest knowledge of the Bible, what is the name of the body of water that the Israelites were able to miraculously cross as they escaped from Egypt and its bondage...99% would quickly and confidently say it is the Red Sea!

But what would you say if I told you that you will never truly find one verse in the Old Testament that states that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea? It is perfectly true. The Hebrew Old Testament does not ever mention the Red Sea.

But, one will say – 'Wait! The Old Testament does say that the Israelites crossed the Red Sea. Just turn to:

Exodus 15:1-4, 19-22, “Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the Lord, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name. Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea. The depths have covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone....For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea. 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. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea. So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water.”

Joshua 4:21-24, “And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. For the Lord your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over: That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the Lord your God for ever.”

Psalms 106:7-11, “Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his name's sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known. He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness. And he saved them from the hand of him that hated them, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. And the waters covered their enemies: there was not one of them left.”

So, with these selected texts that refer to the Israelites' escape through the Red Sea, how can I say that the Old Testament never refers to the Red Sea?

Well, I said the Hebrew Old Testament. The KJV translators and many translators who have come after them totally botched – horribly mistranslated – the Hebrew manuscripts. In every instance in the Old Testament where we read of the Red Sea (26 times), it should have been translated – 'The Reed Sea' or 'Sea of Reeds'. The Hebrew words are Yam Suph – the word Suph means 'reeds' and not even close to meaning 'red'.

The KJ translators knew the Hebrew language. How could they make such a horrible, blantant error in translation?

The truth is that the KJ translators knew that the Hebrew meant 'the Reed Sea' or 'Sea of Reeds' but they chose to ignore that fact. Why? Because they chose to render the name of that Sea as it is found in the Greek translation of the Old Testament rather than the original Hebrew translation. The Greek translation of the Old Testament is called the Septuagint.