1 When Israel went forth out of Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
2 Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3 The sea saw it, and fled; The Jordan was driven back.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, The little hills like lambs.
5 What aileth thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest? Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back?
6 Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams; Ye little hills, like lambs?
7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, At the presence of the God of Jacob,
8 Who turned the rock into a pool of water, The flint into a fountain of waters.
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Commentary on Psalms 114 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
PSALM 114
Ps 114:1-8. The writer briefly and beautifully celebrates God's former care of His people, to whose benefit nature was miraculously made to contribute.
1-4. of strange language—(compare Ps 81:5).
4. skipped … rams—(Ps 29:6), describes the waving of mountain forests, poetically representing the motion of the mountains. The poetical description of the effect of God's presence on the sea and Jordan alludes to the history (Ex 14:21; Jos 3:14-17). Judah is put as a parallel to Israel, because of the destined, as well as real, prominence of that tribe.
5-8. The questions place the implied answers in a more striking form.
7. at the presence of—literally, "from before," as if affrighted by the wonderful display of God's power. Well may such a God be trusted, and great should be His praise.