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Psalm 114[a]

The Lord’s Wonders at the Exodus

When Israel came forth from Egypt,
    the house of Jacob from an alien people,
Judah became God’s sanctuary,
    Israel, God’s domain.(A)
[b]The sea saw and fled;
    the Jordan turned back.(B)
The mountains skipped like rams;
    the hills, like lambs.(C)
Why was it, sea, that you fled?
    Jordan, that you turned back?
Mountains, that you skipped like rams?
    You hills, like lambs?
Tremble, earth, before the Lord,(D)
    before the God of Jacob,
[c]Who turned the rock into pools of water,
    flint into a flowing spring.(E)

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 114 A hymn celebrating Israel’s escape from Egypt, journey through the wilderness, and entry into the promised land, and the miracles of nature that bore witness to God’s presence in their midst. In the perspective of the Psalm, the people proceed directly from Egypt into the promised land (Ps 114:1–2). Sea and Jordan, which stood like soldiers barring the people from their land, flee before the mighty God as the earth recoils from the battle (Ps 114:3–4). The poet taunts the natural elements as one taunts defeated enemies (Ps 114:5–6).
  2. 114:3–4 Pairs of cosmic elements such as sea and rivers, mountains and hills, are sometimes mentioned in creation accounts. Personified here as warriors, the pairs tremble in fear before the Divine Warrior. The quaking also recalls the divine appearance in the storm at Sinai (Ex 19:16–19) and elsewhere (Jgs 5:4–5; Ps 18:7–15).
  3. 114:8 The miracles of giving drink to the people in the arid desert, cf. Ex 17:1–7; Is 41:17–18.

Psalm 114

God’s Wonders at the Exodus

When Israel went out from Egypt,
    the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
Judah became God’s[a] sanctuary,
    Israel his dominion.

The sea looked and fled;
    Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
    the hills like lambs.

Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
    O Jordan, that you turn back?
O mountains, that you skip like rams?
    O hills, like lambs?

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
    at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turns the rock into a pool of water,
    the flint into a spring of water.

Footnotes

  1. Psalm 114:2 Heb his

A Passover Song

114 (A)When the people of Israel left Egypt,
    when Jacob's descendants left that foreign land,
Judah became the Lord's holy people,
    Israel became his own possession.

(B)The Red Sea looked and ran away;
    the Jordan River stopped flowing.
The mountains skipped like goats;
    the hills jumped around like lambs.

What happened, Sea, to make you run away?
    And you, O Jordan, why did you stop flowing?
You mountains, why did you skip like goats?
    You hills, why did you jump around like lambs?

Tremble, earth, at the Lord's coming,
    at the presence of the God of Jacob,
(C)who changes rocks into pools of water
    and solid cliffs into flowing springs.

God’s Rescue of Israel from Egypt.

114 When Israel went forth (A)from Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of a (B)foreign language,
Judah became (C)His sanctuary;
Israel, (D)His dominion.

The (E)sea looked and fled;
The (F)Jordan turned back.
The mountains (G)skipped like rams,
The hills, like lambs.
What (H)ails you, sea, that you flee?
Jordan, that you turn back?
Mountains, that you skip like rams?
Hills, like lambs?

(I)Tremble, earth, before the Lord,
Before the God of Jacob,
Who (J)turned the rock into a (K)pool of water,
The (L)flint into a fountain of water.

Psalm 114

When Israel came out of Egypt,(A)
    Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
Judah(B) became God’s sanctuary,(C)
    Israel his dominion.

The sea looked and fled,(D)
    the Jordan turned back;(E)
the mountains leaped(F) like rams,
    the hills like lambs.

Why was it, sea, that you fled?(G)
    Why, Jordan, did you turn back?
Why, mountains, did you leap like rams,
    you hills, like lambs?

Tremble, earth,(H) at the presence of the Lord,
    at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turned the rock into a pool,
    the hard rock into springs of water.(I)