Old Testament
Psalms 114
Overview
Psalm 114 is a vivid hymn celebrating the exodus, picturing creation itself reacting to the LORD's saving presence. The sea fled, the Jordan turned back, the mountains skipped like rams and the hills like lambs when Israel came out of Egypt. The psalm asks creation why it trembled, then answers: tremble before the Lord, who turns rock into pools of water.
1When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language,
2Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back.
4The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
5What was it, you sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you turned back?
6You mountains, that you skipped like rams? You little hills, like lambs?
7Tremble, you earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flint into a spring of waters.