From long captivity redeem’d, with loss
And total overthrow of Egypt’s host,
What time the chosen servant of the Lord
From Goshen to the land of promise led
Through the divided sea the ransom’d tribes,
Sing, heavenly Muse, and prop those mortal powers,
Which but for thy sustaining aid must sink
Under the weight of argument so vast,
Scenes so majestic, subject so sublime.”
It ends with a parting speech from Moses at the point of death: