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Psalms 114

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God Leads Israel from Egypt 1–2

1
When Israel went forth out of Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language; ​
2
Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. ​

Nature Reacts to God's Presence 3–4

3
The sea saw it, and fled; The Jordan was driven back. ​
4
The mountains skipped like rams, The little hills like lambs. ​

Rhetorical Interrogation of Creation 5–6

5
What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest? Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back? ​
6
Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams; Ye little hills, like lambs?

The Lord's Presence Demands Awe 7–8

7
Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the God of Jacob, ​
8
Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of waters. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for Psalms 114

Verse 1

a people of strange language — Laaz, to speak in a foreign tongue, is found only here in the Old Testament. Ps 81:5 recalls the same going out of Egypt, 'where I heard a language that I understood not'. 'Israel' and 'the house of Jacob' are the one people, named again in v.2 and, as Jacob, in v.7.

Verse 2

Judah was his sanctuary — Qodesh, a holy place; the LORD said at Sinai, 'let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them' (Ex 25:8), and Israel was to be 'a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation' (Ex 19:6). Ps 78:68–69 names Judah and Zion as that sanctuary. 'Dominion' is memshalah, rule, as in Ps 103:22, 'all places of his dominion'.

Verse 3

The sea saw it, and fled — The sea 'saw' and 'fled' (nus) as 'the LORD caused the sea to go back' (Ex 14:21); the Jordan stopped when the priests with the ark stood in it (Josh 3:16–17). Ps 77:16 says the same of the Red Sea: 'The waters saw thee, O God… they were afraid'. 'Back' is achor, backward.

Verse 4

The mountains skipped like rams — Raqad, to leap, is the verb of Ps 29:6, 'He maketh them also to skip like a calf'. At Sinai 'the whole mount quaked greatly' (Ex 19:18), and Ps 68:8 says 'Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God'. The line is repeated in v.6 with the same two comparisons.

Verse 5

What ailed thee, O thou sea — The question is put to the sea and the Jordan, as Hab 3:8 asks, 'Was the LORD displeased against the rivers?… was thy wrath against the sea?' It is answered in v.7: they gave way before the LORD. The same two verbs, 'fleddest' (nus) and 'driven back' (sabab), return from v.3.

Verse 7

Tremble, thou earth — Chul, to writhe or whirl, as in labour; Ps 97:4 uses it, 'the earth saw, and trembled'. Ps 97:5 has the same double 'at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the Lord'. 'God' here is Eloah, found in the Psalms only at Ps 18:31, 50:22, here and Ps 139:19. 'The God of Jacob' answers the opening of v.1.

Verse 8

turned the rock into a standing water — Water came from the rock at Horeb (Ex 17:6) and at Kadesh (Num 20:11). 'Flint' is challamish, the rock of Deut 8:15, 'who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint'. 'Standing water' is agam, a pool, the word of Ps 107:35; 'turned' is haphak, to turn over or change.