Mi Chamocha: Who Is Like You?

Mi Chamocha ("Who is like You?") is a short song of praise taken word for word from Exodus 15:11, the Song of Moses that Israel sang after crossing the Red Sea. In the synagogue it is sung near the end of the blessings that follow the Shema, right before the Amidah, and the congregation is usually already standing. Below you will find the Hebrew, the transliteration and an English translation, followed by what the words mean and how a believer can pray them today.

Where Mi Chamocha comes from

The words were not written for a prayer book. They were sung by a crowd of freed slaves with wet sandals. Exodus 14 ends with Pharaoh's army under the water, and Exodus 15 opens with Moses and the children of Israel singing to the Lord. Verse 11 is the center of that song, a double question that has no answer except God Himself.

The synagogue took this verse and set it inside the blessing of redemption (called Ge'ulah) that follows the Shema. You can read more about that great confession on our page on the Shema, the heartbeat of Jewish belief. The logic is simple and beautiful. Having just declared that the Lord is one, the worshiper remembers the day the Lord proved it at the sea, and then steps forward to stand before Him in the Amida, the Standing Prayer.

A version of Mi Chamocha also appears in the evening service, in the blessing after the evening Shema. Morning and evening, the same question is asked.

Mi Chamocha in Hebrew

מִי כָּמֹכָה בָּאֵלִם יְהוָה
מִי כָּמֹכָה נֶאְדָּר בַּקֹּדֶשׁ
נוֹרָא תְהִלֹּת, עֹשֵׂה פֶלֶא

Mi Chamocha transliteration

Mi chamocha ba'elim Adonai,
Mi kamocha nedar bakodesh;
Nora tehilot, oseh fele.

You will see this prayer spelled both Mi Chamocha and Mi Kamocha. It is the same Hebrew word. Communities simply differ on how they pronounce the first letter, and both are heard in synagogues today.

Mi Chamocha English translation

Who is like You among the mighty ones, O Lord?
Who is like You, glorious in holiness,
awesome in praises, performing wonders?

What the words are saying

"Who is like You among the mighty ones?"

The Hebrew word ba'elim can mean "among the mighty ones" or "among the gods." In Exodus the second sense is hard to miss. Egypt was full of gods: gods of the Nile, of the sun, of fertility and of Pharaoh himself. God had already said in Exodus 12:12, "against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment." By the time Israel reached the far shore, every one of those gods had been shown to be powerless. Our article on the 10 plagues and the judgments on Egypt's gods walks through that contest plague by plague. Mi Chamocha is the victory song after the contest is over.

This is a question, not a statement, and that matters. A statement can be argued with. A question like this invites you to look around for a rival and come back empty-handed.

"Glorious in holiness"

The second line asks the question again but changes the angle. God is not only stronger than the powers of Egypt. He is set apart from them in His character. Kodesh, holiness, means God is unlike anything He made. Pharaoh had power too, and used it to crush babies in the Nile. God's power is never separated from His holiness.

"Awesome in praises, performing wonders"

The last line is the response of people who have seen something. Nora tehilot can be read as "fearful to praise," meaning even our praise of Him should come with trembling. Oseh fele means "doing wonders," in the present tense. The God of the Red Sea has not retired.

Mi Chamocha and the world of Yeshua

We should be honest about dating. The verse itself is Scripture and far older than the first century. The exact wording of the synagogue blessings around it took shape over the centuries after the Second Temple, and the prayer book as we know it is later still. So we cannot say Yeshua (Jesus) recited Mi Chamocha in this exact liturgical setting.

What we can say is that the Song of the Sea and its central question were woven into the faith of Yeshua and His disciples.

The same question is asked again and again in the Tanakh. "O LORD God of hosts, who is a strong LORD like unto thee?" asks Psalm 89:8, and the next verse adds, "Thou rulest the raging of the sea." Micah 7:18 asks, "Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity?" Even the name Michael means "Who is like God?"

Now read Mark 4:35-41 with that background. Yeshua stands up in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, rebukes the wind and says to the sea, "Peace, be still." The disciples, Jewish fishermen who knew the psalms and the Song of Moses, are terrified and ask, "What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?" They were asking a Mi Chamocha question. In their Scriptures, only the Lord rules the raging sea.

On the night before His death, Yeshua and His disciples sang a hymn after the Passover meal (Matthew 26:30). That hymn is widely understood to be the Hallel, Psalms 113 to 118, and Psalm 118:14 quotes the Song of the Sea directly: "The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation" (compare Exodus 15:2). The apostle Paul also looked back to the sea crossing as a picture for believers in 1 Corinthians 10:1-2.

The clearest echo comes at the end of the Bible. In Revelation 15:3-4, those who have overcome stand beside a sea and "sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb," asking, "Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy." The question first sung at the Red Sea is sung again at the end of the story, and it still has only one answer.

Praying Mi Chamocha at home

You do not need a synagogue or a prayer book to pray these three lines. A few ways to begin:

• Stand when you say it. Standing is the custom in many congregations, and it is a good one. Your body says what your mouth is saying: I am in the presence of the King.
• Read Exodus 14 and 15 first. Then say Mi Chamocha slowly. The words land differently when you have just watched the water close.
• Make it a family call and response. One person reads "Who is like You among the mighty ones, O Lord?" and everyone else answers with the next line. Children learn the Hebrew quickly this way.
• Use it as a testimony. When God has brought you through something, say these words out loud. Israel sang on the shore, not before the crossing.
• Pair it with the Shema. Saying the Shema and then Mi Chamocha in the morning follows the order of the synagogue service, confession first and then remembrance of what God has done.

One question to sit with this week: what is the "Egypt" in your life whose gods seem large right now? Ask the question of Exodus 15:11 over it. Then read Revelation 15:3-4 and remember how the story ends.

Questions people ask

What is the Mi Chamocha transliteration?

The transliteration is: Mi chamocha ba'elim Adonai, / Mi kamocha nedar bakodesh; / Nora tehilot, oseh fele. It is three short lines taken directly from Exodus 15:11, and it is easy to learn by saying it slowly a few times.

What does Mi Chamocha mean in English?

Mi Chamocha means "Who is like You?" The full verse reads: Who is like You among the mighty ones, O Lord? Who is like You, glorious in holiness, awesome in praises, performing wonders? It is a question of praise that expects no rival to God.

Where does the Mi Chamocha prayer come from?

It comes from Exodus 15:11, part of the Song of Moses that Israel sang after God brought them through the Red Sea. The synagogue later placed it in the blessing of redemption after the Shema, where it is sung just before the Amidah.

Is it Mi Chamocha or Mi Kamocha?

Both spellings refer to the same Hebrew words, מִי כָּמֹכָה. Communities differ in how they pronounce the first letter of the second word, so you will hear and see both. Searches for "mi kamocha ba'elim Adonai" are looking for the same prayer.

When is Mi Chamocha sung in the synagogue?

It is sung near the end of the blessings that follow the Shema, in both the morning and evening services. In the morning it leads directly into the Amidah, and the congregation is usually standing by the time it is sung.