Psalms · psalm 114 of 150
Updated on
Psalm 114 recalls with poetic images Israel's departure from Egypt: Judah became his sanctuary and Israel his dominion, the sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back, the mountains skipped like rams and the hills like lambs. It asks why the sea flees and concludes that the earth must tremble before the Lord, who turns the rock into a pool of water.
Psalm 114 is the second of the Egyptian Hallel (Psalms 113-118), which was sung at Passover. It has no title and is very brief, with eight verses and almost no commentary: it is a picture of the exodus told as if nature had reacted to God. It is in Book V of the Psalms and leads us to look at Israel's great act of salvation with wonder.
The psalm begins with the departure: when Israel went out from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language. Then Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. God did not only bring his people out but dwelt among them and reigned over them.
Verses 3 and 4 present nature reacting. The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. This recalls the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14) and the crossing of the Jordan on entering Canaan (Joshua 3), which form the two ends of the exodus and the entry into the land.
In verses 5 and 6 the poet addresses the waters and the mountains with questions: what ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back? O mountains, why do you skip like rams? The answer comes in verses 7 and 8: 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.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
When Israel went out from Egypt, Judah became God's sanctuary and all Israel his dominion. The exodus did not only free the people: it made them the Lord's dwelling place and kingdom.
The sea looked and fled, and the Jordan turned back. The poem speaks of the waters as persons who take fright: not even the forces of nature withstand God's presence.
At the presence of the Lord the earth trembles, at the presence of the God of Jacob. It is the answer to the poet's questions: what makes creation flee and skip is the presence of its Maker.
God turns the rock into a pool of water and the flint into a spring. It recalls how he gave water in the wilderness, and shows that the awesome God is also the one who provides what his people need.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: From Egypt, from a people of strange language. — Psalm 114:1
Answer: God's sanctuary, while Israel became his dominion. — Psalm 114:2
Answer: It fled. — Psalm 114:3
Answer: It turned back. — Psalm 114:3
Answer: To rams and lambs. — Psalm 114:4
Answer: The rock into a pool of water and the flint into a spring. — Psalm 114:8
Psalm 114 teaches us to remember salvation with wonder. In a Sunday school class it can be read with Exodus 14 and Joshua 3, and we can talk about how God has opened impossible paths in the life of the church. Remembering God's acts is not nostalgia: it strengthens faith for what is coming.
There is also an invitation to tremble. Creation shudders before its Maker, and the believer's attitude is a reverence that springs from knowing who God is and that he is the same one who provides water in the desert. For Christians, Passover finds its fulfillment in Christ, our Lamb, and this psalm remains an invitation to remember and worship.
Psalm 114 ends with the God who turns rock into water. Psalm 115 continues the Hallel with a contrast: not to us, O Lord, but to your name give glory, over against the mute idols of the nations.
The Red Sea opened when Israel left Egypt (Exodus 14) and the Jordan stopped when Israel entered the promised land (Joshua 3). Together they frame the exodus and the conquest, and the poet presents them as two moments of the same power of God.
It is poetic language for the trembling at Sinai, where the mountain shook when the Lord descended (Exodus 19:18), and perhaps for the movement of all creation before God. It is not meant as a literal description but to show that nothing remains indifferent before his presence.