The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
English Standard Version (ESV)
The psalm dramatically personifies nature, with the sea and Jordan River acting as if they saw and responded to God's power in bringing His people out of Egypt. This isn't just a parting of waters; it's as if these bodies of water themselves were awestruck and recoiled from the divine presence accompanying Israel.
The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?
English Standard Version (ESV)
This psalm is recounting the incredible moment Israel left Egypt, a monumental act of God liberating His people. The verses immediately preceding this describe God choosing Israel and making them His special people, while the verses following personify natural elements like the sea and the Jordan River as reacting in awe to God’s presence and power. These powerful images are meant to highlight the sheer magnitude of God's intervention, both in the Exodus from Egypt and the later crossing into the Promised Land.
How can the sea 'flee' and a river 'turn back'? This verse uses vivid imagery that personifies nature.
The Psalmist describes the parting of the Red Sea and the Jordan River not just as events, but as reactions. Nature itself saw God's power at work through Israel and responded.
Nature's Astonished Reaction
The key here is that the object of their seeing is often left unexpressed, allowing us to infer it's the overwhelming presence and power of God demonstrated through His people. Awestruck Nature recognized and obeyed its Master's will.
Who or what caused these incredible events? This psalm intentionally leaves out the direct human actor.
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The power of this psalm lies in its focus on the cause behind the miracles, rather than just the human participants.
God's Unseen Hand
This deliberate choice highlights that these were not just human achievements but divine interventions. The world, including its most powerful elements, bows to the Creator's command.
These ancient events were more than just historical moments; they pointed to something greater.
The miraculous crossing of the Red Sea and the Jordan River served as powerful types, or foreshadowings, of future spiritual realities.
Echoes of Redemption
These events remind us that God's redemptive plan unfolds across history, with each act of deliverance pointing towards the ultimate redemption found in Jesus Christ.
This psalm poeticizes the awe-inspiring miracles of the Exodus, highlighting how even the natural world reacted to God's power at the parting of the Red Sea and the crossing of the Jordan River.
c. 1446 BC— this verse
Exodus from Egypt
The Israelites, led by Moses, leave Egypt after centuries of enslavement, marking a pivotal moment of liberation and divine intervention.
c. 1446 BC
Parting of the Red Sea
God miraculously parts the Red Sea, allowing the Israelites to escape Pharaoh's pursuing army, which is then engulfed by the returning waters.
c. 1406 BC
Crossing the Jordan River
As the Israelites prepare to enter the Promised Land, the Jordan River's waters divide by God's power, enabling them to cross on dry ground.
This passage directly describes the parting of the Red Sea, the event that Psalm 114:3 alludes to, showing God's immediate power over nature to save His people.
Joshua 3:15-17This describes the Jordan River stopping its flow when the priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant stepped into its waters, directly illustrating the 'Jordan turned back' imagery in the psalm.
Habakkuk 3:10This prophetic passage echoes the imagery of Psalm 114, describing the seas and rivers witnessing God's power and reacting with awe, reinforcing the theme of nature's response to divine action.
Jeremiah 51:36This verse uses the imagery of the sea being dried up as a metaphor for judgment, paralleling how natural elements are depicted as responding to God's might in Psalm 114.
Matthew 8:27Jesus calms a storm, and the disciples marvel, asking, 'What sort of man is this, that even the winds and sea obey him?' This New Testament account shows Jesus' authority over the elements, echoing the awe-inspiring power displayed in the Exodus and mentioned in the psalm.
poolePsalms 114:3: "The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back."
Saw it, to wit, this glorious work of God in bringing his people out of Egypt.
ellicottPsalms 114:3: "The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back."
(3) Fled. —The Authorised Version weakens the effect by rendering “it was driven back.” (See Joshua 3:16 .) The scene presented is of the “descending stream” (the words employed seem to have a special reference to that peculiar and most significant name of the “Jordan”) not parted asunder, as we generally fancy, but, as the psalm expresses it, “turned backwards” (Stanley, Jewish Church, i. 229).
The psalm dramatically personifies nature, with the sea and Jordan River acting as if they saw and responded to God's power in bringing His people out of Egypt. This isn't just a parting of waters; it's as if these bodies of water themselves were awestruck and recoiled from the divine presence accompanying Israel.
This psalm is recounting the incredible moment Israel left Egypt, a monumental act of God liberating His people. The verses immediately preceding this describe God choosing Israel and making them His special people, while the verses following personify natural elements like the sea and the Jordan River as reacting in awe to God’s presence and power. These powerful images are meant to highlight the sheer magnitude of God's intervention, both in the Exodus from Egypt and the later crossing into the Promised Land.
This psalm is recounting the incredible moment Israel left Egypt, a monumental act of God liberating His people. The verses immediately preceding this describe God choosing Israel and making them His special people, while the verses following personify natural elements like the sea and the Jordan River as reacting in awe to God’s presence and power. These powerful images are meant to highlight the sheer magnitude of God's intervention, both in the Exodus from Egypt and the later crossing into the Promised Land.
"The sea looked and fled; Jordan turned back. The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. What ails you, O sea, that you flee? O Jordan, that you turn back?" — The psalm dramatically personifies nature, with the sea and Jordan River acting as if they saw and responded to God's power in bringing His people out of Egypt. This isn't just a parting of waters;…
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Last reviewed October 2026