In Exodus 15 Moses and the newly redeemed people of Israel respond to their miraculous escape through the Sea of Reeds and the destruction of the Egyptians with antiphonal praise. ‘I will sing to the LORD’, sing Moses and the Israelites (verse 1). ‘Sing to the LORD’, replies Miriam (verse 21, literally ‘she answered them’), to the accompaniment of tambourines and dancing.