Psalm 114

Psalm 114:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

#416 Weekday Year I Context (Thursday of the 19th Week in Ordinary Time)

R. Alleluia!

When Israel came forth from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of alien tongue,
Judah became his sanctuary,
Israel his domain
R. Alleluia!

The sea beheld and fled;
Jordan turned back.
The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like the lambs of the flock.
R. Alleluia!

Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
You mountains, that you skip like rams?
You hills, like the lambs of the flock?
R. Alleluia!
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Commentary on Ps 114:1-2, 3-4, 5-6

The final strophe of this psalm of thanksgiving recalls the miracle of the crossing of the Jordan (Joshua 3:13ff). This event, like other salvific involvement by God, is celebrated in song by King David’s line.

“Ps 114 looks back to the basics of Israel’s faith and self-understanding. It begins by recalling the theologically significant time when the burden of foreign oppression rolled away. It is expressed in a standard formula that occurs for instance in Exodus 13:3; 19:1; Deuteronomy 16:3.” [1]

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[1] Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101–150 (Revised), vol. 21, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002), 140–141.

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