Psalm 114
New English Translation
Psalm 114[a]
114 When Israel left Egypt,
when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind,[b]
2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his kingdom.
3 The sea looked and fled;[c]
the Jordan River[d] turned back.[e]
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.[f]
5 Why do you flee, O sea?
Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?
6 Why do you skip like rams, O mountains,
like lambs, O hills?
7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord—
before the God of Jacob,
8 who turned a rock into a pool of water,
a hard rock into springs of water.[g]
Footnotes
- Psalm 114:1 sn Psalm 114. The psalmist recalls the events of the exodus and conquest and celebrates God’s kingship over his covenant people.
- Psalm 114:1 tn Heb “the house of Jacob from a nation speaking a foreign language.”
- Psalm 114:3 sn The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).
- Psalm 114:3 tn Heb “the Jordan” (also in v. 5). The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
- Psalm 114:3 sn The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Jordan River (Josh 3:13, 16).
- Psalm 114:4 sn The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. This may recall the theophany at Sinai when the mountain shook before God’s presence (Exod 19:18).
- Psalm 114:8 sn In v. 8 the psalmist recalls the event(s) recorded in Exod 17:6 and/or Num 20:11 (see also Deut 8:15 and Ps 78:15-16, 20).
Psalm 114
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
Psalm 114
God’s Wonders at the Exodus
1 [a]When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,(A)
2 Judah became God’s[b] sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.(B)
3 The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.(C)
4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.(D)
5 Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
6 O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,(E)
8 who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.(F)
Footnotes
- 114.1 Psalms 114–115 are a single psalm in the earliest witnesses
- 114.2 Heb his
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