Psalms 114

1 When the people of Israel left Egypt, 1 when Jacob's descendants left that foreign land,
2 Judah became the Lord's holy people, Israel became his own possession.
3 The Red Sea looked and ran away; 2 the Jordan River stopped flowing.
4 The mountains skipped like goats; the hills jumped around like lambs.
5 What happened, Sea, to make you run away? And you, O Jordan, why did you stop flowing?
6 You mountains, why did you skip like goats? You hills, why did you jump around like lambs?
7 Tremble, earth, at the Lord's coming, at the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 who changes rocks into pools of water 3 and solid cliffs into flowing springs.

Psalms 114 Commentary

Chapter 114

An exhortation to fear God.

- Let us acknowledge God's power and goodness in what he did for Israel, applying it to that much greater work of wonder, our redemption by Christ; and encourage ourselves and others to trust in God in the greatest straits. When Christ comes for the salvation of his people , he redeems them from the power of sin and Satan, separates them from an ungodly world, forms them to be his people, and becomes their King. There is no sea, no Jordan, so deep, so broad, but, when God's time is come, it shall be divided and driven back. Apply this to the planting the Christian church in the world. What ailed Satan and his idolatries, that they trembled as they did? But especially apply it to the work of grace in the heart. What turns the stream in a regenerate soul? What affects the lusts and corruptions, that they fly back; that prejudices are removed, and the whole man becomes new? It is at the presence of God's Spirit. At the presence of the Lord, not only mountains, but the earth itself may well tremble, since it has lain under a curse for man's sin. As the Israelites were protected, so they were provided for by miracles; such was that fountain of waters into which the flinty rock was turned, and that rock was Christ. The Son of God, the Rock of ages, gave himself to death, to open a fountain to wash away sins, and to supply believers with waters of life and consolation; and they need not fear that any blessing is too great to expect from his love. But let sinners fear before their just and holy Judge. Let us now prepare to meet our God, that we may have boldness before him at his coming.

Cross References 3

  • 1. 114.1Exodus 12.51.
  • 2. 114.3 aExodus 14.21; bJoshua 3.16.
  • 3. 114.8Exodus 17.1-7;Numbers 20.2-13.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 114

The title of this psalm in the Arabic version is "hallelujah", as in some preceding ones; it is part of the great "Hallel" sung at the passover, and with great propriety; since the subject matter of it is the departure of the children of Israel out of Egypt, typical of our spiritual redemption by Christ; and of the effectual calling of God's elect out of a state of nature into a state of grace; and particularly of the conversion of the Gentiles, and the bringing of them from Paganism to Christianity: the inscription of the Syriac version is,

``a psalm without a name, out of the ancient writing; concerning Moses, who sung praise at the sea; but unto us the calling of the Gospel, by which we become a new people; spiritual to God, who is incarnate; to Jesus Christ, who redeemed us by his blood from the curse of the Scripture (the law), and hath cleansed us from sin by his Spirit.''

Psalms 114 Commentaries

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.