Psalms 114

1 Alleluia. At the departure of Israel from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people:

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

2 Judea was made his sanctuary; Israel was made his power.

[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 looked, and it fled. The Jordan was turned back again.

[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 exulted like rams, and the hills like lambs among the sheep.

[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 What happened to you, O sea, so that you fled, and to you, O Jordan, so that you were turned back again?

[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 What happened to you, O mountains, so that you exulted like rams, and to you, O hills, so that you exulted like lambs among the sheep?

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

7 Before the face of the Lord, the earth was moved, before the face 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 He converted the rock into pools of water, and the cliff into fountains of waters.

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!