This is the second of six Hallel psalms (Psalms 113-118) that are recited in synagogues at various Jewish holiday (such as Passover.) These psalms are sometimes called the Egyptian Hallel psalms (says Kidner) but only this one recalls Egypt and the Exodus.
Psalm 114:1-2, Out of Egypt
When Israel came out of Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,
Judah became God's sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.
We look back to the time of the Exodus, to see God taking control of Israel. An impoverished people in a land where their oppressors spoke a different tongue now rises to the honor of God's santuary and abode.,
Psalm 114:3-4, Sea, river, mountains, hills
The sea looked and fled,
the Jordan turned back;
the mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.
The time of the exodus and the entrance into Canaan are described as geographic miracles, with the sea parting for Moses and the Jordan river pausing for Joshua and the Israelites. The mountains and hills also rejoice. (It there a hint of an earthquake at the time of Jericho's fall?)
Psalm 114:5-6, Question ...
Why was it, O sea, that you fled,
O Jordan, that you turned back,
you mountains, that you skipped like rams,
you hills, like lambs?
The miracles at Jericho (Joshua 3) are now phrased as questions for the sea, river, mountains and hills. The implied answer is that all of these were responding to the instructions of the Creator who made them.
Psalm 114:7-8, ... and answer
Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
who turned the rock into a pool,
the hard rock into springs of water.
First published October 22, 2025; updated October 22, 2025
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