☰ Psalms 114
114
1  When Israel left Egypt,
when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind,1
2  Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his kingdom.
3  The sea looked and fled;2
the Jordan River3 turned back.4
4  The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.5
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!6 7
1 114:1 sn: Psalm 114. The psalmist recalls the events of the exodus and conquest and celebrates God’s kingship over his covenant people. 2 114:3 tn: Heb “the house of Jacob from a nation speaking a foreign language.” The Hebrew verb לָעַז (la’at, “to speak a foreign language”) occurs only here in the OT. 3 114:3 sn: The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Red Sea ( Exod 14:21). 4 114:3 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. 5 114:4 sn: The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Jordan River ( Josh 3:13, 16). 6 114:8 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). 7 114:8 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).
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