Mi Kamocha – Who Is Like You?

Over the past several years I have come to love and appreciate the Mi Kamocha. No, this is not something served up from the coffee bar in the church lobby on Sunday mornings. For those new to Hebraic worship, Mi Kamocha is a part of the liturgy taken from a passage in this week’s Torah portion, b’shallach. The Hebrew phrase is the beginning of Exodus 15:11, translated as “Who is like you?”

מי־כמכה באלם יהוה
מי־כמכה נאדר בקדשׁ
נורא תהלת עשׂה פלא

Mi kamocha ba-elim Adonai
Mi Kamocha nedar ba-kodesh
Nora tehillot oseh fele

Who is like You among the gods, Adonai?
Who is like you, glorious in holiness,
Awesome in praises, doing wonders?

The Sabbath Service

The recitation of the Mi Kamocha can be found in the Artscroll Siddur (Ashkenazi) on pages 334 & 335, following the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4) and V’ahavta (Deuteronomy 6:5-9). It is fine if you do not have or do not use a Siddur; I am only pointing this out so you can see that it is a regular part of the service. Of course, you will find it in most others as well, including the Messianic Shabbat Siddur and the Prayer Book and Life Cycle Guide for Messianic Believers in Yeshua. Often in our local gathering, I like to sing the Mi Kamocha after we have finished other songs and before we spend time in prayer and study.

For more about the Sabbath liturgy, check out MessianicTorahPortion.com.

The Mi Kamocha is from one of two passages often called “The Song of Moses” (the other is in Deuteronomy 32). It was a song sung not only by Moses but, according to Scripture, by all of the children of Israel. They had just lived through “the salvation of the LORD” (Exodus 14:13) as they crossed the Red Sea on dry ground before watching the waters close in and drown the Egyptian army. This is a song of praise, and Exodus 15:1 tells us that they sang this song “to Yahweh (the LORD).” How appropriate it is to include this when we are worshipping Him.

Mi Kamocha Throughout The Scriptures

The Psalmists also ask the same question. David, praying for deliverance from his enemies, sang, “LORD, who is like You [mi kamocha], who delivers the afflicted from him who is too strong for him?” (Psalm 35:10). Psalm 71, from an unknown author, declares, “For Your righteousness, O God, reaches to the heavens, You who have done great things; O God, who is like You [mi kamocha]?” (Psalm 71:19). Another writer, Ethan the Ezrahite, pens, “O LORD God of hosts, who is like You [mi kamocha], O mighty LORD? Your faithfulness also surrounds You” (Psalm 89:8).

The question “who is like you” had already been answered by God Himself. He had told Pharaoh that he and his people would experience something “so that you may know that there is no one like Me in all the earth” (Exodus 9:14). Now Pharaoh and his army were gone. Mi Kamocha has an answer: there is no one.

“There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, nor are there any works like Yours. All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, and they shall glorify Your name. For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God” (Psalm 86:8-10).

“There is none like You, O LORD; You are great, and great is Your name … There is none like You” (Jeremiah 10:6,7).

Even Yahweh Himself declares this to be true:

“Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me” (Isaiah 46:9).

The Song of Moses and the Song of the Lamb

At the end of the ages, those who “keep the commandments of God and their faith in Yeshua (Jesus)” (Revelation 14:12) will sing “the song of Moses, the bondservant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (Revelation 15:3). Certainly that will include the refrain Mi Kamocha, “Who is like You, O LORD?” And then we will continue singing, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!” (Revelation 15:3).

“Who is a God like You [mi el kamocha], who pardons iniquity and passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in unchanging love” (Micah 7:18). This is the promise we have: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Messiah” (Ephesians 2:4-5). As you observe this Sabbath, consider adding the Mi Kamocha to your time of worship.

Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?
Who is like you, Lord, there is none else
You are awesome in praise, doing wonders O Lord
Who is like you, O Lord?

Here is a video of Paul Wilbur singing the Mi Kamocha in a traditional style complete with lyrics to help you learn it. I am also including another contemporary rendition of this beautiful song from one of my favorite artists, Shani Ferguson.  You can find her album Garden of Secrets here.