And they removed from Etham, and turned again to Pihahiroth,.... Which was sixteen miles from Etham. This turning, Aben Ezra says, respects the cloud, or Israel; and indeed it may respect both, for, as the cloud turned, Israel turned, being directed by it; and this does not mean that they had been at Pihahiroth before, and now returned to it again; but that they by direction turned out of the straight way in which they were to go to Pihahiroth; for the word "again" may as well, or better, be left out; see Gill on Exo 14:2,

which is before Baalzephon; the name of an idol, as the Targums of Jonathan and Jerusalem, supposed to be placed here, to watch and guard the passage, as Zephon signifies:

and they pitched before Migdol: which was either the name of a city, the same with Migdol, Jer 44:1 or it was a tower, as the word signifies, placed here on the borders of the land, for the defence of it.

Pi-hahiroth, Baal-zephon . . . Migdol--(See on Exo 14:2).