Discovery BoxPsalms 114:1-8 
Context114:1 When Israel left Egypt,
when the family of Jacob left a foreign nation behind, 2
114:2 Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his kingdom.
114:3 The sea looked and fled; 3
the Jordan River 4 turned back. 5
114:4 The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs. 6
114:5 Why do you flee, O sea?
Why do you turn back, O Jordan River?
114:6 Why do you skip like rams, O mountains,
like lambs, O hills?
114:7 Tremble, O earth, before the Lord –
before the God of Jacob,
114:8 who turned a rock into a pool of water,
a hard rock into springs of water! 7
1 sn Psalm 114. The psalmist recalls the events of the exodus and conquest and celebrates God’s kingship over his covenant people.
2 tn Heb “the house of Jacob from a nation speaking a foreign language.” The Hebrew verb לָעַז (la’at, “to speak a foreign language”) occurs only here in the OT.
3 sn The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Red Sea (Exod 14:21).
4 tn Heb “the Jordan” (also in v. 5). The word “River” is not in the Hebrew text, but has been supplied in the translation for clarity.
5 sn The psalmist recalls the crossing of the Jordan River (Josh 3:13, 16).
6 sn The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. This may recall the theophany at Sinai when the mountain shook before God’s presence (Exod 19:18).
7 sn In v. 8 the psalmist recalls the event(s) recorded in Exod 17:6 and/or Num 20:11 (see also Deut 8:15 and Ps 78:15-16, 20).
