Psalms 114 – The Earth Trembles at the Exodus

A vivid, compact retelling of the Red Sea and Jordan parting before Israel.

Psalms 114 – Israel's Exodus from Egypt

Following the temple praise of Psalms 113, this short psalm turns to history, picturing the sea fleeing and the Jordan driven back when Israel came out of Egypt.


When Israel came forth out of Egypt, The house of Jacob from among a people of strange tongue,

Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his realm:

The sea, beheld, and fled, The Jordan, turned back;

The mountains, started like rams, The hills like the young of the flock?

What aileth thee, O sea, that thou fleest? O Jordan, that thou turnest back?

Ye mountains, that ye start like rams? Ye hills, like the young of the flock?

Before the Lord, be in anguish, O earth, Before the GOD of Jacob:

Who turneth The Rock into a pool of water, The Flint into springs of water.

The rock turned into standing water recalls the desert provision described in <a href="/bible/rotherham/psalms/chapter-107/35">Psalms 107:35</a>, and the psalm's awe at God's presence continues into <a href="/bible/rotherham/psalms/chapter-115">Psalms 115</a>.