Crossing Red Sea. The Crossing of the Red Sea is part of the biblical narrative of the Exodus, the escape of the Israelites, led by Moses, from the pursuing Egyptians in the Book of Exodus. Moses holds out his staff and the Red Sea is parted by God. The Israelites walk on the dry ground and cross the sea, followed by the Egyptian army. Once the Israelites have safely crossed Moses lifts his arms again, the sea closes, and the Egyptians are drowned. God chooses Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and into the land of Canaan, which God has promised to them. The Egyptian pharaoh, who previously said the opposite, agrees to let them go, and they travel from Ramesses to Succoth and then to Etham on the edge of the desert, led by a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. There God tells Moses to turn back and camp by the sea at Pi-hahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, directly opposite Baal-zephon. God causes the pharaoh to pursue the Israelites with chariots, and the pharaoh 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. The narrative contains at least three and possibly four layers. In the first layer, 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; and in the fourth, the Song of the Sea, God casts the Egyptians into tehomot, the oceanic depths or mythical abyss. 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 Succoth, 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. 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 sometimes means reeds. It is unknown for certain why the Septuagint scholars translated Yam Suph as Red Sea, or Eruthra Thalassa. One theory is that these scholars, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt during the 3rd century B.C., specifically identified the Red Sea as we know it today because they believed this is where the crossing took place. During this time, these scholars would have understood the Red Sea not merely as the body of water we know today, but also extending down to the Indian Ocean. A common understanding for the term Yam Suph is Sea of Reeds or Reed Sea. However, the ancient Hebrew term could actually mean something else. According to Strong's Concordance, 1990 edition, there are more than one hundred uses of the term suph in the Bible. The concordance identifies four uses of the term that could mean flags, weeds, rushes, papyrus. The term ends with a question mark, indicating the translators were not totally sure if this was a truly accurate translation. Suph and its variants also have other meanings in Hebrew according to Strong's. For example, entry 5486 notes a total of eight uses of the term where the most accurate translation is to cease, come to an end. Another variant of suph, according to entry 5487, could mean to be fulfilled, consumed, come to an end. These other translations for the term may or may not affect the true location for the crossing event.