Psalm 114

Psalms 113-118 are a small collection of songs which were used in Jewish worship and had their place in the liturgy for the feasts of Pilgrimage, Passover, Weeks, and Tabernacles, as well as the New Moon and the Feast of the Dedication of the Temple.

At the family Passover celebration Psalms 113 and 114 were sung before the meal.

The Exodus from Egypt is one of the most important salvation events for Hebrew people. This is the event when their God exercised power to claim God’s children. This event was celebrated each year as a part of Passover. As God’s children, we are also called to sing a song of salvation as we remember God’s power:

Psalm 114
New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) 

¹ When Israel went out from Egypt,
the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
² Judah became God’s^[a] sanctuary,
Israel his dominion.

³ The sea looked and fled;
Jordan turned back.
⁴ The mountains skipped like rams,
the hills like lambs.

⁵ Why is it, O sea, that you flee?
O Jordan, that you turn back?
⁶ O mountains, that you skip like rams?
O hills, like lambs?

⁷ Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord,
at the presence of the God of Jacob,
⁸ who turns the rock into a pool of water,
the flint into a spring of water.

How powerful is our God? God can made the mountains skip, the rivers turn back, and the oceans flee. And God saves us, claims us, and loves us as God’s own children. That’s a great thing to remember.

Prayer

Thank you, Great God of the Universe, for loving me as your child. Help me to live up to my place in the family as I love you and the brothers and sisters I meet today. Amen.