Psalms 114:1-6

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?

Psalms 114:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

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.''

Cross References

• 1. 114.1Exodus 12.51.
• 2. 114.3 aExodus 14.21; bJoshua 3.16.