Psalms / Chapter 114

Psalms 114

8 verses • Westminster Leningrad Codex

Translator's Introduction

What This Chapter Is About

Psalm 114 is a compact, vivid poem celebrating the Exodus from Egypt. In eight verses, the psalmist recounts how the sea fled, the Jordan turned back, the mountains skipped like rams, and the hills leaped like lambs — all because the earth trembled at the presence of the LORD, the God of Jacob, who turned rock into a pool of water and flint into a spring.

What Makes This Chapter Remarkable

This is one of the most cinematically powerful poems in the Psalter. The personification is extraordinary: the sea 'sees' and 'flees,' the Jordan 'turns back,' the mountains 'skip' like rams. The poet addresses creation directly — 'What is wrong with you, Sea, that you flee?' — as if cross-examining witnesses at a trial. The entire Exodus event is compressed into a cosmic drama where nature itself responds to God's presence with something between terror and ecstasy. No human actors are named — not Moses, not Aaron, not Pharaoh. The only actors are God, Israel, and creation. The psalm strips the Exodus to its theological core: God showed up, and the physical world rearranged itself.

Translation Friction

The psalm's brevity is itself a kind of friction — the Exodus was a complex series of events involving plagues, negotiations, military pursuit, and wilderness wandering, yet this poem reduces it all to a single moment of divine appearance. The merging of the Red Sea crossing and the Jordan crossing (events separated by forty years) into a single poetic moment raises the question of whether the psalm is describing history or theology. The answer is both: the psalm treats the entire Exodus-to-Conquest sequence as a single act of divine self-revelation.

Connections

Psalm 114 is the second psalm of the Egyptian Hallel (113-118), sung during the Passover meal. Its imagery of the fleeing sea connects to Exodus 14-15 (the Song of the Sea). The Jordan turning back echoes Joshua 3-4. Mountains skipping recalls the Sinai theophany (Exodus 19, Judges 5:5). Water from rock points to Exodus 17:6 and Numbers 20:11. Jesus and His disciples sang this psalm at the Last Supper.

Psalms 114:1

בְּצֵ֣את יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם בֵּ֥ית יַ֝עֲקֹ֗ב מֵעַ֥ם לֹעֵֽז׃

When Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign speech —

KJV When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The opening betzet ('when [they] went out') places the entire psalm in the moment of departure. The parallel between Yisra'el ('Israel') and beit Ya'aqov ('house of Jacob') uses both names for the nation — the covenantal name and the family-origin name. The Egyptians are described as am lo'ez ('a people of foreign/barbarous speech') — the word lo'ez suggests unintelligible, alien language, emphasizing the cultural foreignness of Egypt.
Psalms 114:2

הָיְתָ֣ה יְהוּדָ֣ה לְקָדְשׁ֑וֹ יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗ל מַמְשְׁלוֹתָֽיו׃

Judah became His sanctuary, Israel His dominion.

KJV Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The use of 'Judah' rather than 'Israel' for the sanctuary may reflect the southern location of the Temple in Jerusalem. The plural mamshelotav ('His dominions') is unusual — it may be a plural of majesty or may refer to the multiple tribal territories that together constitute God's realm.
Psalms 114:3

הַיָּ֣ם רָ֭אָה וַיָּנֹ֑ס הַ֝יַּרְדֵּ֗ן יִסֹּ֥ב לְאָחֽוֹר׃

The sea looked and fled; the Jordan turned back.

KJV The sea saw it, and fled; Jordan was driven back.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The verb ra'ah ('it saw') raises the question: what did the sea see? The psalm does not say explicitly — the object is left unstated, creating suspense that verse 7 will resolve (the presence of the Lord). The personification of water as a creature that sees and flees is among the most striking images in Hebrew poetry.
Psalms 114:4

הֶ֭הָרִים רָקְד֣וּ כְאֵילִ֑ים גְּ֝בָע֗וֹת כִּבְנֵי־צֹֽאן׃

The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like young sheep.

KJV The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The Sinai theophany is in view — Exodus 19:18 says the whole mountain trembled violently. But the psalmist reimagines the trembling as dancing. The comparison to rams and lambs domesticates the cosmic event, making the mountains into God's flock. The word order places the verb first for dramatic emphasis: 'Skipped — the mountains — like rams.'
Psalms 114:5

מַה־לְּךָ֣ הַ֭יָּם כִּ֣י תָנ֑וּס הַ֝יַּרְדֵּ֗ן תִּסֹּ֥ב לְאָחֽוֹר׃

What is wrong with you, Sea, that you flee? Jordan, that you turn back?

KJV What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The shift from third person narrative (vv. 3-4) to second person direct address (vv. 5-6) is a dramatic move. The psalmist speaks to creation as a witness, demanding an account. The imperfect verbs tanus ('you flee') and tissov ('you turn back') switch from the past-tense narration to present-tense confrontation — the events are re-experienced in the moment of singing.
Psalms 114:6

הֶ֭הָרִים תִּרְקְד֣וּ כְאֵילִ֑ים גְּ֝בָע֗וֹת כִּבְנֵי־צֹֽאן׃

Mountains, why do you skip like rams? Hills, like young sheep?

KJV Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The interrogation continues: the mountains and hills are now addressed directly and asked why they danced. The repetition of the exact imagery from verse 4 but in question form transforms the description into a demand for explanation. The entire created order is called to testify about what it experienced.
Psalms 114:7

מִלִּפְנֵ֣י אָ֭דוֹן ח֣וּלִי אָ֑רֶץ מִ֝לִּפְנֵ֗י אֱל֣וֹהַּ יַעֲקֹֽב׃

Tremble, O earth, before the Lord, before the God of Jacob —

KJV Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;

Notes & Key Terms 1 term

Key Terms

אָדוֹן Adon
"Lord" — lord, master, sovereign, owner

Adon is a title of authority and ownership. When applied to God, it declares His absolute sovereignty over creation — the sea, the river, the mountains, and the earth itself are under His authority and respond to His presence.

Translator Notes

  1. The word Adon ('Lord, Master') here is not the divine name YHWH but the title of sovereignty. The verb chuli is an imperative: the psalmist commands the earth to tremble. The previous questions were rhetorical — the earth was already trembling — but now the command makes the response mandatory and ongoing: every encounter with this God should produce the same reaction.
Psalms 114:8

הַהֹפְכִ֣י הַ֭צּוּר אֲגַם־מָ֑יִם חַ֝לָּמִ֗ישׁ לְמַעְיְנוֹ־מָֽיִם׃

who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a flowing spring.

KJV Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

Notes & Key Terms

Translator Notes

  1. The participle hofkhi ('who turns') is present-tense in form, suggesting this is not merely a past event but an ongoing characteristic of God: He is the one who turns rock into water. The challamish ('flint') is the hardest type of stone — the contrast between flint and flowing spring is maximized for poetic effect.
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