Psalm 114 is the short Exodus hymn that remembers Israel’s departure from Egypt, the sea fleeing, the Jordan turning back, the mountains skipping, and the rock pouring out water. It is brief, but it is not small. St Augustine explicitly warns against treating it as bare reminiscence: “Think not that past deeds are related unto us, but rather that the future is predicted.” The Psalm is therefore not merely about what God once did for Israel, but about how the Lord still brings His people out of bondage and remakes creation around His saving presence.
Its spiritual center is the nearness of God. Creation trembles because the Lord has drawn near. The sea, the river, the hills, and the flint do not behave like inert matter. They answer their Maker. In the Church this becomes the grammar of the new Exodus in Christ: baptism, sanctified waters, hearts turned back to God, and the hard rock of death made into a fountain of life.
Psalm 114 (LXX 113:1-8) - At the Going Forth of Israel from Egypt
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 114 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | First half of LXX Psalm 113, verses 1-8. NKJV Psalms 114 and 115 are combined as LXX Psalm 113. |
| Accepted author | Alleluia. |
| Period in author’s life | No personal life-setting is attached; this is liturgical memory of the Exodus shaped as prophetic praise. |
| Christ prophecy status | Typological and ecclesial. The Psalm points toward Christ as the greater Moses, the sanctifier of the waters, and the giver of living water. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | Scripture from this study has an established place in the Coptic Orthodox lectionary through documented Church readings. |
| Numbering issue | This note embeds Brenton LXX Psalm 113:1-8 because NKJV Psalms 114 and 115 are combined as LXX Psalm 113. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
Psalm 114 belongs to the Hallel sequence and compresses the Exodus story into a series of trembling images. Israel comes out from Egypt. Judah becomes the Lord’s sanctuary. The sea flees. Jordan turns back. Mountains leap. Flint becomes a fountain. Augustine notes that the Psalm does not reproduce the historical narrative mechanically. It reshapes it prophetically so that the Church will recognize herself in it.
That prophetic reshaping matters. The Apostle says the wilderness events “happened unto them for ensamples,” and the Fathers read the Psalm in exactly that way. Egypt becomes the world of bondage. The sea becomes the overthrow of pursuing sins in baptism. Jordan turning back becomes conversion. The rock pouring water becomes Christ made known, opened, and life-giving to those who thirst.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
Egypt, the sea, Jordan, the mountains, and the wilderness rock are not decorative scenery. They are concrete places where the Lord showed that empire, waters, heights, and barren stone all answer to Him. Geography becomes theology because the world itself confesses its Creator.
The Characters 👥
The Lord, the God of Jacob. The living God whose presence causes creation to tremble and yields life to His people.
Israel / the house of Jacob. The redeemed people brought out of bondage and set apart as sanctuary and dominion.
The sea, Jordan, mountains, and rock. Creation itself responding to the Lord’s presence and participating in the language of salvation.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 113:1-2, Israel came out and became sanctuary
113:1 Alleluia. At the going forth of Israel from Egypt, of the house of Jacob from a barbarous people, 113:2 Judea became his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
The Exodus is not only escape. It is consecration. Israel does not merely leave Pharaoh; Israel becomes the Lord’s sanctuary and dominion. Salvation and holiness belong together.
Augustine insists that Christians must not read themselves out of this Psalm: “Let therefore no Christian consider himself alien to the name of Israel.” The Church is gathered into this story through the true Passover, Christ Himself. Deliverance is ordered toward belonging. God does not rescue His people so they may drift into spiritual autonomy. He rescues them to become His dwelling.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “At the going forth of Israel from Egypt”; “Judea became his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.”
- Emphasize: deliverance is liberation into holiness and worship.
- Avoid: treating the Exodus as only political history or only national memory.
Psalm 113:3-6, the sea fled and Jordan turned back
113:3 The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back. 113:4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like lambs. 113:5 What ailed thee, O sea, that thou fleddest? and thou Jordan, that thou wast turned back? 113:6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams, and ye hills, like lambs?
The Psalm speaks to sea, river, and mountain as though they were alive, because before the Lord they are. The rhetorical questions intensify wonder. What happened to the sea and Jordan? They recognized their Master.
Augustine presses this beyond history. The sea is not only the Red Sea; it becomes the place where pursuing sins are drowned. Jordan is not only the river crossed under Joshua; it becomes the soul turning back from its downward rush into bitterness and returning toward God. This is why the Church naturally hears baptismal and ascetical depth in this passage.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “The sea saw and fled”; “Jordan was turned back.”
- Emphasize: creation recognizes the Lord, and the human heart is called to turn back toward Him.
- Avoid: flattening the Psalm into decorative poetry only.
Psalm 113:7-8, the earth trembled and the rock gave water
113:7 The earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob; 113:8 who turned the rock into pools of water, and the flint into fountains of water.
The final movement gathers holy fear and divine generosity together. The earth trembles, yet the result is not annihilation. The rock becomes water. Flint becomes fountain. The same presence that humbles also nourishes.
Augustine gives one of his most beautiful readings here: “The rock, that hardness, was turned into pools of water.” He sees Christ made known, opened in the Scriptures, and poured out by the Spirit for thirsty souls. What seemed hard becomes healing. What seemed barren becomes life-giving. The Psalm therefore reaches naturally toward the Resurrection, Theophany, the opened Scriptures, and the sacramental life of the Church.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “The earth trembled at the presence of the Lord”; “turned the rock into pools of water.”
- Emphasize: holy fear is not sterile dread; in the Lord’s presence hardness itself becomes a fountain.
- Avoid: separating reverence from consolation.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
Scripture from this study has an established place in the Coptic Orthodox lectionary through documented Church readings.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
Psalm 114 stands close to icons of the Exodus, the Baptism of Christ, and the Resurrection. The parted waters, the sanctified Jordan, and the life-giving rock all converge in Christ, who enters the deep, sanctifies creation, and brings His people through death into life.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
- Leave Egypt decisively. Name the bondage the Lord is calling you out of.
- Let fear become reverence. Creation trembles because its Lord is near.
- Ask for a turned-back heart. The Jordan is a fitting image for repentance and conversion.
- Trust Christ in barren places. The rock can still become a fountain.
- Remember that salvation leads to holiness. God rescues in order to dwell among His people.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 10 minutes for the Exodus and sanctification, 15 minutes for sea and Jordan, 15 minutes for holy fear and the life-giving rock, 10 minutes for application.
- Where to linger: Psalm 113:3-8.
- Key phrase to say slowly: “Think not that past deeds are related unto us, but rather that the future is predicted.”
- Pastoral warning: do not speak of deliverance as though it ends in self-fulfillment. It ends in becoming sanctuary.
Glossary
- Exodus: Israel’s departure from Egypt, the foundational deliverance event of the Old Testament.
- Jordan turned back: A sign of divine intervention and, in patristic reading, a type of repentance and baptismal reversal.
- Rock becoming water: Wilderness provision and, in Christian reading, a type of Christ’s life-giving grace.
- Sanctuary / dominion: The people made into God’s holy dwelling and living possession.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture is Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalm 113:1-8. The study title uses NKJV numbering first, Psalm 114, with the corresponding LXX section in parentheses because NKJV Psalms 114 and 115 are combined as LXX Psalm 113.
Sources
Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalm 113:1-8; Exodus 14-17; Joshua 3; 1 Corinthians 10.
Patristic sources: St Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 114 (page title Psalm CXIV / inline LXX Psalm 113 material), especially his prophetic reading of the Exodus pattern and his interpretation of the rock made water; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms on the Exodus and typology of deliverance.
Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: Scripture from this study has an established place in the Coptic Orthodox lectionary through documented Church readings.