So when the two groups saw each other, the companions of Musa said, out of weakness and inability, as they were in a state of humiliation. They were much fewer than them, to the extent that it is said that the vanguard of the people of Fir'aun was equal in number to the Children of Israel. This is true to diminish the number of Fir'aun's people. It is as if he expressed them by saying 'companions' instead of 'Children of Israel' because many from among others had believed. They said, 'Indeed, we are surely overtaken,' meaning that they had reached us and there is no way for us, and we have become between two barriers of iron and water, with the enemy behind us and the water in front of us.