Exodus 15:2

(2) The Lord is my strength and song.—Heb., My strength and song is Jah. The contracted form of Jehovah, Jah, is here used for the first time; but its existence in the current speech has already been indicated by the name Moriah, which occurs in Gen_22:1. It is here used on account of the rhythm.

He is become my salvation.—Heb,, he has been to me for salvation: i.e., “he has saved me out of the hand of Pharaoh.” The beauty and force of the passage causes Isaiah to adopt it into one of his most glorious poems, the “joyful thanksgiving of the faithful for the mercies of God,” contained in his twelfth chapter. (See Exo_15:2.)

I will prepare him an habitation.—So Onkelos and Aben-Ezra; but Jarchi, the Targums of Jerusalem and Jonathan, the LXX., and Vulg., with most moderns, translate, “I will glorify him.” It is a strong objection to the rendering of the Authorised Version that Moses is not likely to have had the idea of preparing God a habitation until the revelation of God’s will on the subject was made to him on Sinai (Exodus 25-27). The law of parallelism also requires such a meaning as “glorify” to correspond with the “exalt” of the next clause.

My father’s God.—“Father” here, by a common Hebrew idiom, stands for “forefathers” generally. (Comp. Note on Exo_3:6.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 15:2 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.

Ver. 2. I will prepare him a habitation.] Or, I will adorn him i I will give him ornaments and trimmings. Such God accounts our poor praises.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exo 15:2. Israel rejoiceth in God, as their strength, song, and salvation — Happy, therefore, the people whose God is the Lord: they are weak in themselves, but he strengthens them; his grace is their strength: they are oft in sorrow, but in him they have comfort; he is their song: sin and death threaten them, but he is, and will be their salvation. He is their fathers’ God — This they take notice of, because, being conscious of their own unworthiness, they had reason to think that what God had now done for them was for their fathers’ sake, Deu 4:37. I will prepare him a habitation — This version is countenanced by the Chaldee, Extruam ei sanctuarium, I will build him a sanctuary, referring probably to the tabernacles soon to be built, to which there seems also to be an allusion in Exo 15:13. Rab. Salom., however, considers the Hebrew word here used as being derived from נוי, נוהand נאה, and translates it, I will declare his beauty and his praise. To the same purpose the Seventy, δοξασω, and the Vulgate, glorificabo, I will glorify him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Exodus

‘MY STRENGTH AND SONG’

Exo 15:2.

These words occur three times in the Bible: here, in Isa 12:2, and in Psa 18:14.

I. The lessons from the various instances of their occurrence. The first and second teach that the Mosaic deliverance is a picture-prophecy of the redemption in Christ. The third {Psa 18:14}, long after, and the utterance of some private person, teaches that each age and each soul has the same mighty Hand working for it. ‘As we have heard, so have we seen.’

II. The lessons from the words themselves.

{a} True faith appropriates God’s universal mercy as a personal possession. ‘My Lord and my God!’ ‘He loved me, and gave Himself for me.’

{b} Each single act of mercy should reveal God more clearly as ‘My strength.’ The ‘and’ in the second clause is substantially equivalent to ‘for.’ It assigns the reason for the assurance expressed in the first. Because of the experienced deliverance and God’s manifestation of Himself in it as the author of ‘salvation,’ my faith wins happy increase of confidence that He ‘is the strength of my heart.’ Blessed they who bring that treasure out of all the sorrows of life!

{c} The end of His deliverances is ‘praise.’ ‘He is my song.’ This is true for earth and for heaven. The ‘Song of Moses and the Lamb.’

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15:2 This statement is quoted in two other places, Ps 118:14 and Isa 12:2, which shows its importance. The “God of your father” (Exod 3:6) had become my God. The Israelites now knew God for themselves and not just as a historical memory.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Or, the occasion of my song of praise.

To worship him therein.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 2. The Lord is my strength and song] How judiciously are the members of this sentence arranged! He who has God for his strength, will have him for his song; and he to whom Jehovah is become salvation, will exalt his name. Miserably and untunably, in the ears of God, does that man sing praises, who is not saved by the grace of Christ, nor strengthened by the power of his might.

It is worthy of observation that the word which we translate LORD here, is not יהוה JEHOVAH in the original, but יה JAH; "as if by abbreviation," says Mr. Parkhurst, "for יהיה yeheieh or יהי yehi. It signifies the Essence οων, He who IS, simply, absolutely, and independently. The relation between יה Jah and the verb היה to subsist, exist, be, is intimated to us the first time יה Jah is used in Scripture, (Ex 15:2:) 'My strength and my song is יה JAH, and he is become ( vajehi) to me salvation.'" See Ps 68:5; Ps 89:6; Ps 94:7; Ps 115:17-18; Ps 118:17.

JAH יה is several times joined with the name Jehovah יהוה so that we may be sure that it is not, as some have supposed, a mere abbreviation of that word. See Isa 12:2; Isa 26:4. Our blessed Lord solemnly claims to himself what is intended in this Divine name יה JAH, Joh 8:58: "Before Abraham was, (γενεσθαι, was born,) εγω ειμι, I AM," not I was, but I am, plainly intimating his Divine eternal existence. Compare Isa 43:13. And the Jews appear to have well understood him, for then took they up stones to cast at him as a blasphemer. Compare Col 1:16-17, where the Apostle Paul, after asserting that all things that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, were created, εκτισται, by and for Christ, adds And HE IS (αυτος εστι, not ην, was) before all things, and by him all things συνεστηκε, have subsisted, and still subsist. See Parkhurst.

From this Divine name יה Jah the ancient Greeks had their Ιη, Ιη, in their invocations of the gods, particularly of Apollo (the uncompounded ONE) the light; and hence EI, written after the oriental manner from right to left, afterwards IE, was inscribed over the great door of the temple at Delphi! See Clarke on Ex 3:14, and the concluding observations there.

I will prepare him a habitation] ואנוהו veanvehu. It has been supposed that Moses, by this expression, intended the building of the tabernacle; but it seems to come in very strangely in this place. Most of the ancient versions understood the original in a very different sense.

The Vulgate has et glorificabo eum; the Septuagint δοξασω αυτον, I will GLORIFY him; with which the Syriac, Coptic, the Targum of Jonathan, and the Jerusalem Targum, agree. From the Targum of Onkelos the present translation seems to have been originally derived; he has translated the place ואבני לה מקדש veebnei leh makdash, "And I will build him a sanctuary," which not one of the other versions, the Persian excepted, acknowledges. Our own old translations are generally different from the present: Coverdale, "This my God, I will magnify him;" Matthew's, Cranmer's, and the Bishops' Bible, render it glorify, and the sense of the place seems to require it. Calmet, Houbigant, Kennicott, and other critics, contend for this translation.

My father's God] I believe Houbigant to be right, who translates the original, אלהי אבי Elohey abi, Deus meus, pater meus est, "My God is my Father." Every man may call the Divine Being his GOD; but only those who are his children by adoption through grace can call him their FATHER. This is a privilege which God has given to none but his children. See Ga 4:6.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2. Yah is my strength and a song] i.e. the source of my strength and the theme of my song. Yah, the abbreviated form of Yahweh, occurs otherwise in Exo_17:16, Isa_12:2 (in a citation of the present verse), Exo_26:4 (post-exilic), Exo_38:12 (Hezekiah’s song), Son_8:6; otherwise only in late Psalms (40 times, mostly in ‘Hallelu-yah’).

my … I] The poet speaks, as Hebrew poets often do (e.g. Isa_61:10; Psa_44:4; Psa_44:6; Psa_118:5-21; Psa_118:28), in the name, and as the representative, of the nation.

is become my salvation] lit. is become to me a salvation, i.e. a source of deliverance (‘salvation,’ as Exo_14:13): cf. exactly the same Heb. in 2Sa_10:11 ‘then thou shalt be to me for salvation,’ EVV. ‘thou shalt help me.’ This and the last line are cited in Isa_12:2 b, and Psa_118:14.

praise] The Heb. word occurs only here. If correct, it would seem to mean beautify or adorn (viz. with praises). But this is a great deal to supply; and probably, by a slight change, we should read acknowledge or thank (Psa_9:1, &c.; and especially Psa_118:28 a). AV. prepare him an habitation follows the Targ. and Rabbis in treating hinwâh, improbably, as a denominative from nâweh, ‘habitation’ (v. 13).

My father’s God] my ancestral God; cf. on Exo_3:6.

I will exalt him] Psa_30:1; and especially Psa_118:28 b.

2–5. Jehovah is the object of the poet’s praise, Jehovah, the potent and irresistible ‘man of war,’ who has overwhelmed His enemies in the sea.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Lord is my strength and song,..... The strength of Moses and the children of Israel against the fears of the Egyptians, and of entrance into the Red sea; who inspired them with courage, and strengthened their faith, neither to fear being destroyed by the one, or drowned in the other; and so in the glory of his nature, and of his divine perfections, of his justice, holiness, faithfulness, truth, and goodness, he was the subject matter of their song. As Christ is the strength of his spiritual Israel, the author and giver of strength unto them, the strength of their lives, their hearts, and graces; and who strengthens them to do his will and work, to exercise every grace, withstand corruptions, resist temptations, bear afflictions, and overcome every enemy; and who on the account of the glory of his person, the beauty, fitness, and fulness of it, and because of his offices of Mediator, Saviour, prophet, priest, and King, as well as by reason of what he has done for them, the righteousness he has brought in, and the salvation he has wrought out, is the sum and substance of their song of praise:

and he is become my salvation; the salvation of Israel in a temporal sense, having saved them out of the hands of the Egyptians their enemies; and the salvation or Saviour of his spiritual Israel, who are saved by him with an everlasting salvation; he is not only their Saviour, but salvation itself; being not only the author of it, and that being in him for them, but made that itself unto them, even their all in all; their righteousness, atonement, peace, light, life, food, health, comfort, and joy; all their grace being in him, and from him, as well as their eternal glory and happiness: and this he is to them now, he is their salvation by impetration having obtained it by his obedience, sufferings, and death; and by application, they being convinced of their need of salvation by him, and the suitableness of it to them, seek to him for it, desire that and no other, which is brought nigh unto them by the Spirit of God, and witnessed to by him as theirs; so that they are already saved by grace, through faith and hope in Christ; and of their particular interest in it, they have knowledge by the same Spirit, which fills them with joy unspeakable and full of glory. This and the preceding clause are words so very expressive, and contain such fulness of matter, and such interesting things, that both the psalmist David, and the church, in the times of the evangelic prophet Isaiah, have borrowed them to express their sense of the great things the Lord was to them, and had done for them, Psa 118:14.

he is my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; Christ is God, truly God, as appears from the names given him, particularly Jehovah; from the perfections ascribed to him, from the works done by him, and from the worship of him both by angels and men; and he is his people's God, their Immanuel, God in their nature, the God in whom they believe, and in whom they have an interest; he is the God of their salvation, the Lord their righteousness; their Lord, head, and King; their husband, beloved, Father, brother, friend; their God and guide, even unto death; their portion and exceeding great reward, now and hereafter: wherefore Moses, or the people of Israel, or both, determine to "prepare" him an "habitation", being concerned that he had no better dwelling place among them than he had; and seem to have some respect unto, and knowledge of an habitation hereafter to be built, the tabernacle and temple; which were typical of the human nature of Christ, and of his church; but then they were both of God's preparing, and not men's; wherefore an habitation in the hearts of, his people may be chiefly designed; the preparation of which, though it is principally and efficaciously of the Spirit of God, yet in some sense may be said to be prepared by the saints, when they show a concern for grace to be in exercise; to have duty regularly and constantly performed in a manner acceptable to him, and that no disturbance be given to occasion his departure from them. The Septuagint version is, "I will glorify him"; with soul and body, which are both his; and so much to the same purpose other versions, "I will decorate or beautify" (t) him; declare his beauty and glory, and speak in praise of it: "my father's God, and I will exalt him"; Christ was not only the God of Amram, the father of Moses, who was a good man; but the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as he declared himself to be, Exo 3:6, the ancestors not only of Moses, but of all the children of Israel. This shows the antiquity of Christ, that he was their fathers' God, and that he is to be trusted and depended on, as he was by their fathers, and to be regarded, and highly valued and esteemed, having been their fathers' friend, and is a reason why he should be exalted by them; for though he cannot be raised higher than he is, being the Son of the Highest, God over all, blessed for ever, whose kingdom ruleth over all, and is now as man ascended on high, and is highly exalted by his Father, and at his right hand, and glorified by him with himself; yet he may be said to be exalted and lifted up by us, when we celebrate and set forth the height of his glory and excellency, by asserting his proper deity, ascribing the same perfections, worlds, and worship to him, as to his Father, by attributing distinct divine personality to him, confessing his eternal sonship, owning him in all his offices, and giving him the glory due unto him on account of them, and for salvation wrought out by him; the whole honour and praise of it belong to him: he may and should be exalted in the hearts of his people, in their thoughts and affections, and with their lips in songs of praise; and in the house of God, and the ordinances of it, where everyone should speak of his glory; the reasons are, because he is above all in his person and perfections, is the only Mediator, Saviour, and Redeemer, and to exalt him is the way to be exalted, Pro 4:8.

(t) Sept. "glorificabo eum", V. L. "laudabo eume", Syr. Samar. "hunc decorabo", Tigurine version; "condecorabo eum", Piscator.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Praise. The printed Hebrew is here irregular, but some manuscripts agree with the Vulgate, Chaldean, and Arabic. (Kennicott, i. p. 400.) --- To him my praise is due on all titles. (Haydock) --- God. Hebrew el, "the strong one." (Menochius)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

My strength and song; the matter or subject of the present song of praise.

An habitation; a place for his service and worship, where he will dwell by his special presence.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

2-5. First strain.

JAH — A poetic abbreviation of JAHVEH, restricted in use to the higher kinds of poetry, and found often in compound names, as Yirm’jah, (Jeremiah;) also in certain formulas, as Hallelu-jah, (Praise ye Jah.)

This is my God — A gesture here directs the hearer heavenward.

The God of my father — Father is taken collectively, bringing up to view the patriarchs, the covenants made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It was as their God that Jehovah spoke to Moses from the burning bramble. This is a double strain, of two quatrains, or four-line stanzas. Parallelisms of thought and expression, such as are described in the Introduction, will be noticed in the first three lines of the first quatrain, the fourth line proclaiming in simple grandeur JEHOVAH as the hero of this victory. So in the second quatrain the lines of the first couplet are parallel with each other, and then those of the second also, in both instances rising in climax. Similar parallels are readily traced throughout the ode.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Lord is my strength and song. Literally, "My strength and song is Jah." The name Jah had not previously been used. It is commonly regarded as an abbreviated form of Jehovah, and was the form generally used in the termination of names, as Abijah, Ahaziah, Hezekiah, Zedekiah, Mount Moriah, etc. It takes the place of "Jehovah" here, probably on account of the rhythm. He is become my salvation. Literally, "He has been to me for salvation," i.e. , "He has delivered me out of the hand of Pharaoh and his host, and so saved me from destruction." I will prepare him a habitation. This translation seems to have come originally from the Targum of Onkelos, who paraphrases the single word of the text by the phrase "I will build him a sanctuary." The meaning is a possible one: but most modern commentators prefer to connect the verb used with a root meaning "beautiful," and translate "I will glorify him." (So Gesenius. Rosenmuller, Knobel, Kalisch, Cook. The LXX have doxasw. The Vulgate has glorificabo. The Syrian and Coptic versions agree, as do also the Targums of Jonathan and of Jerusalem.) The God of my father. See the comment on Exo_3:6.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Israel rejoiceth in God, as their strength, song, and salvation - Happy therefore the people whole God is the Lord: They are weak themselves, but he strengthens them, his grace is their strength: they are oft in sorrow, but in him they have comfort, he is their song: sin and death threaten them, but he is, and will be, their salvation. He is their fathers God - This they take notice of, because being conscious of their own unworthiness, they had reason to think that what God had now done for them was for their fathers sake, Deut. iv, 37.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Yahweh is my strength

Possible meanings are 1) "Yahweh is the one who gives me strength" or 2) "Yahweh is the strong one who protects me." (See: Metonymy)

song

Moses calls Yahweh his song because Yahweh is the one he sings about. AT: "the one I sing about" (See: Metonymy)

he has become my salvation

Moses calls God his salvation because God saved him. AT: "he has saved me" or "he is the one who saves me" (See: Metonymy)

Yahweh is a warrior

Moses calls God a warrior because God powerfully fought against the Egyptians and won. AT: "Yahweh is like a warrior" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

save

God

praise

ancestor

exalt

name

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

עזי וזמרת יה — Onkelos translated this by “my might and my praise”, taking עָזִּי the same as עֻזִּי, and וְזִמְרָת the same as וְזִמְרָתִי. But I wonder at the wording of the text if this translation is correct, for you will find no similar example of its punctuation (i. e. of עָזִּי) in the Scriptures except in three passages where it is, in each case, followed by וזמרת. In all other passages it is punctuated with שורק (i. e. our Kibbutz); e. g., (Jeremiah 16:19) ה' עֻזִּי ומעזי (Psalms 59:10) עֻזּו אליך אשמרה So, too, every word of two letters that is punctuated with a Melopum (our חולם) when it is lengthened by the addition of a third letter (i. e. when it has a pronominal suffix as in the examples given below), and the second has not a Sheva (חטף), the first is punctuated with a שורק (Kibbuts) — as, for instance, עֹז and עֻזִּי; ‎רֹק and ‎רֻקִי; ‎חֹק and ‎חֻקִי; ‎עֹל and עֻלִי as in (Isaiah 14:25) “then shall his yoke (עֻלּוֹ, from עֹל) depart from him”; — כֹּל and כֻּלּוֹ, as in (Exodus 14:7) “and captains over each of them (כֻּלּוֹ) — from כֹּל. But these three examples of עָזִּי וְזִּמְרָת, viz., that occuring here and that in Isaiah (12:2) and that in Psalms (118:14), are punctuated with short Kametz, whereas the translation of Onkelos would require עֻזִּי and not עָזִּי. Then further, in not one of them (these three passages) is it written וזמרתי, as Onkelos translates, but וזמרת and remarkably enough all of them are immediately followed by ויהי לי לישועה. — Therefore I say in explanation of the wording of the text that עָזִּי is not the same as עֻזִּי and וְזִמְרָת is not the same as וְזִמְרָתִי, but עָזִּי is a noun without a suffix of any kind, as we find in (Psalms 123:1) “The one who sits (הַיֹּשְׁבִי) in heaven”; (Obadiah 3:3) “The one who dwells (שֹׁכְנִי) in the cleft of the rock”; (Deuteronomy 33:16) “He that dwelleth (שֹׁכְנִי) in the bush” (where the syllable at the end of the word is part of the noun and is not the pronominal suffix denoting “my”). The praise, therefore, proclaimed in these words is this: The עז and the זִמְרָת of God, this was to me as a help. The word וזמרת is a noun in the construct state to the word which expressess the Divine Name (יָהּ), in the same sense as (Judges 5:23) “to the help of (לעזרַת — const.) the Lord”; (Isaiah 9:18) “through the wrath of (בעברת — constr.) the Lord”; (Ecc. 3:18) “because of (דברַת — const.) the sons of man”. The expression וזמרת has the meaning of the root which we find in (Leviticus 25:4) “thou shalt not prune (תזמר)” and in (Isaiah 25:5) “the cutting down (זמיר) of the terrible ones”, both of which have the meaning “lopping off” and “cutting down”. Thus the verse signifies: “The strength and vengeance of our God has become to us a help”. Do not be puzzled by the expression ויהי — that it does not state היה — for we have other verses also that use this idiom, and the following is an example of such a construction: (1 Kings 6:5) “round about the wall of the house, both of the temple and the most holy place, he made (ויעש) a side structure”, and it should have said (instead of ויעש etc.) עשה לו צלעות סביב. Similarly in Chronicles, (2 10:17) “But as for the children of Israel who dwelt in the cities of Judah, Rehoboam reigned (וימלך) over them”, where it should have said מלך עליהם. Other examples are: (Numbers 14:16) “Because the Lord was unable etc…. He slaughtered them (וישחטם)”, where it should have said שחטם; (Numbers 14:36, 37) “And the men whom Moses sent … they died (וימתו)”, where it should have said מתו; (Exodus 9:21) “And he that regarded not the word of the Lord left (ויעזב) his cattle, etc.”, where it should have said עזב‎.

זה אלי THIS IS MY GOD — In His glory did He reveal Himself to them and they pointed to Him — as it were — with the finger exclaiming “This is my God!” (Shir HaShirim Rabbah 3:15) A maid servant beheld at the Red Sea what even the prophets never saw (Mekhilta).

ואנוהו Onkelos translates this in the sense of a dwelling (viz., I will build Him a temple) as in (Isaiah 33:20) “a peaceful habitation (נוה)” and in (Isaiah 65:10) “a dwelling (נוה) for flocks”. Another explanation of ואנוהו is that it has the sense of נוי, “beauty”, and the meaning is: I will relate His splendour and praiseworthiness to the inhabitants of the world as, for example, was actually done by Israel: (Song 5:9, 10) The nations of the world ask, “What is thy beloved more than another beloved?” … and Israel replies, “My beloved is white and ruddy”, and thus you will find it in that whole section (cf. Mekhilta).

אלהי אבי MY FATHER’S GOD is this וארממנהו AND I WILL EXALT HIM. אלהי אבי He is not merely my God but He was MY FATHER’S GOD also — I am not the beginning of the sanctity (i. e. I am not the first to hallow Him by proclaiming Him God), this hallowing of Him and the proclamation of His Godship over me is something that has been held by me and has remained mine since the days of my fathers.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

THE ETERNAL IS MY STRENGTH AND SONG. Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra explained that the word ozi (my strength) is connected with the following word [v’zimrath — and song], thus rendering its sense: “my strength and the song of my strength is the Eternal.” This is my G-d ‘v’anveihu': I will make Him a habitation, [from the root naveh (habitation)]. This is my father’s G-d, and I will exalt Him, i.e., by recounting His greatness.Now this is surely the plain meaning of the verse. But [it should be noted that] Moses does not mention here the full Divine Name, [i.e., the Tetragrammaton, which consists of four letters], but instead mentions only the first two letters. In the entire Torah, it is the manner of Moses our teacher to mention the entire Great Name which He communicated to him, as it is said, This is My Name for ever, and this is My memorial unto all generations. And the Rabbis have already explained the verse, The hand is upon the throne of Y-ah, and is quoted by Rashi at the end of this Seder. to mean that “the Holy One, blessed be He, swore that His throne will not be perfect nor will His Name be complete until the seed of Amalek will be entirely blotted out.” [The question then arises: why is the full Divine Name not written here?]By way of the Truth, [that is, the mystic lore of the Cabala], the whole deliverance at the sea came through the angel of G-d — the one of whom it is written, for My Name is in him — just as it is said, and Israel saw the great hand. The “hand” alludes to the attribute of justice, which is the great hand that executes the vengeance. It is by this attribute that the sea was divided, as the prophet explained, Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Eternal… Art thou not it that dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep? and as I have written above. which is the attribute of justice… became revealed to them.” It is for this reason that Moses said that his strength and his song are this Name, [i.e., the first two letters of the Tetragrammaton, which allude to the attribute of justice], For in Y-ah the Eternal is an everlasting Rock. And so did [the psalmist] explain: What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest?… At the presence of the G-d of Jacob. alludes here to the attribute of justice. And so the Rabbis have said in the Mechilta: “When Israel went into the sea, the Shechinah (Divine presence) was with them, as it is said, And the angel of G-d journeyed.” And in Eileh Shemoth Rabbah, it is said: “The word oz (strength) [or ozi, “my strength,” as is mentioned in this verse], alludes only to judgment, as it is said, ‘v’oz’ (And the strength) of a king is he who loveth justice.” This is My G-d ‘v’anveihu.’ “I will elevate [the Great Name, i.e., the Tetragrammaton], to the G-d of the most high naveh (abode), this being the G-d of my fathers, to whom He had appeared as E-il Sha-dai. And now I shall exalt Him by the complete Name, for henceforth the Name will be ish milchamah, [literally, “man of war,” but here alluding to the attribute of justice]. And His Name will be the Eternal, [meaning that the Name comprises justice with mercy], to mean that Israel will henceforth exalt Him both in His aspect of justice and of mercy. I have followed Abusaula’s interpretation of Ramban’s text. similar in meaning to the verse, Now will I be exalted; now will I lift Myself up. It is possible that the word ‘zeh’ (this) alludes to the seven emanations in wisdom, this being associated with the verse, ‘zeh’ (this) is My Name for ever, ‘v’zeh’ (and this) is My memorial. And in the Mechilta we read: “My G-d. He dealt with me according to the attribute of mercy, while with my fathers he dealt according to the attribute of justice. And whence do we know that my G-d signifies the attribute of mercy? Because it is said, My G-d, my G-d, why hast Thou forsaken me? Heal her now, O G-d, I beseech thee? The Eternal is ‘E-il’ (G-d), and He hath given us light.” If so, Scripture here says ‘zeh E-ili’ (this is my G-d), meaning that “with me He is E-il [G-d in His aspect of mercy] in this matter, since He was exalted with mercy to be compassionate in His justice.”

Ramban (Nachmanides) on the Tanakh — English translation: “Commentary on the Torah by Ramban (Nachmanides). Translated and annotated by Charles B. Chavel. New York, Shilo Pub. House, 1971-1976” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.