Midrasch zu Schemot 12:31

(Exod. 12:31:) AND HE CALLED MOSES AND AARON <IN THE NIGHT>. He (Pharaoh) went <about> calling them during the night in every single street and was saying: Where is Moses, and where does he live?⁷⁷Mekhilta de Rabbi Ishmael, Pisha 13. But the children of Israel were mocking him and saying to him: Where are you going, Pharaoh? When he said to them: I am looking for Moses, they said to him: Here is where he lives. So they mocked him until he stood before him (i.e., Moses). [Pharaoh said to him] (ibid., cont.): ARISE AND GO AWAY FROM AMONG MY PEOPLE. Moses said to him: Are we thieves? The Holy One has said (in Exod. 12:22): NONE OF YOU SHALL GO OUTSIDE THE DOOR OF HIS HOUSE UNTIL MORNING. Pharaoh said to him: Will you please arise <and> leave! Moses said to him: Why are you going to so much trouble? He said to him: Because I am a first-born, and I am afraid I may die. Moses said to him: Do not be afraid of <this> thing. You are destined for something greater than this. Now you are not to say that Pharaoh alone was urging < Israel to leave >; rather all the Egyptians were urging <them to leave>. It is so stated (in Exod. 12:33): AND THE EGYPTIANS PRESSED <THE PEOPLE ON, TO SEND THEM OUT OF THE LAND IN HASTE>…. The Holy One said to them: By your life, none of you shall die here but in the sea. Why did all of them not die from the plague of the first-born, but in the sea? R. Samuel bar Nahman said: <It> was through guile <that> the Egyptians came upon Israel. They said: If we enslave them by fire, their God will be able to bring fire upon us from above just as he brought it upon the Sodomites. He has, however, sworn never again to bring a flood into the world. {By your life,} come and let us enslave them through water. The Holy One said: I have sworn never again to bring a flood into the world. By your life, those people have gone into the flood. It is so stated (in Ps. 63:11 [10]): THEY SHALL BE DRAGGED⁷⁸Interpreting yaggiruhu as coming from the root GRR instead of from NGR. TO THE POWER OF THE DRYNESS⁷⁹Interpreting HRB as horev instead of herev. A more usual translation would read: THEY SHALL BE DELIVERED TO THE POWER OF THE SWORD. For interpretation of the verse given here, see Exod. R. 22:1; Cant. R. 2:15:1. (of the sea bed). These people (i.e. these Egyptians) were dragged and went into the sea on their own. (Ibid., cont.:) THEY SHALL BE A PORTION FOR THE FOXES. Solomon said (Cant. 2:15): TAKE US <TO> THE FOXES (ShW'LYM)…. R. Samuel has said: {They saw THE DEPTH OF THE SEA (Sh'L HYM).} [DEPTH OF SEA (Sh'L YM) is written <here>.]