Psalms 114

1 When Israel departed from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue,

When the Israeli [people] left Egypt, when they who were descendants of Jacob left people who spoke a foreign/different language,

2 Judah became God’s sanctuary, and Israel His dominion.

[the land of] Judah became the place where people worshiped God; and Israel became the land (OR, the [Israeli people] became the people) that he ruled over.

3 The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back;

[When they came to] the [Red] Sea, [it was as though the water] saw [them] and ran away! When they came to the Jordan [River], that [water in the] river stopped flowing [so that the Israelis could cross it].

4 the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.

[When they came to Sinai Mountain and there was a big earthquake], [it was as though] the mountains skipped/jumped like goats do and the hills jumped around like lambs do.

5 Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back,

[If someone asks], “What happened at the [Red] Sea that caused the water to run away? What happened that caused [the water in] the Jordan [River] to stop flowing?

6 O mountains, that you skipped like rams, O hills, like lambs?

What happened that caused the mountains to skip like goats and caused the hills to jump around like lambs?”

7 Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob,

[I would reply that] it was the presence of the Lord that caused those things to happen! [Everyone/Everything on] the earth should tremble in the presence of God, whom (Jacob [worshiped]/the Israeli people [worship])!

8 who turned the rock into a pool, the flint into a fountain of water!

He is the one who caused pools of water [for the Israeli people to drink to flow] from a rock; he caused a spring [to flow] from a solid rock cliff!