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Psalm 114:3
The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back.
1When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign language,
2Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back.
4The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
5What was it, you sea, that you fled? You Jordan, that you turned back?
Notice
The sea flees like a startled creature, making Israel’s departure from Egypt a scene in which even the waters yield to God.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What response, if any, does the picture of the fleeing sea draw from you?
Write on thisHow does Israel becoming God’s dominion in verse 2 shape your understanding of the retreating waters?
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Where else Scripture says this
11 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Exodus 14:21Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters …Exodus describes the LORD driving back the sea through Moses’ outstretched hand; the psalm pictures that sea fleeing.
Psalm 77:16The waters saw you, God. The waters saw you, and they writhed. The depths also convulsed.Both poems portray waters as creatures that see and react, with Psalm 77 naming God as the one they see.
Habakkuk 3:8–9Was the LORD displeased with the rivers? Was your anger against the rivers, or your wrath against the sea, that you rode on your horses, on your chariots of …Both passages depict God’s might in relation to seas and rivers, while Habakkuk asks whether the waters themselves were his target.
Joshua 3:13–16It shall be that when the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of GOD, the Lord of all the earth, rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the …Both name the Jordan’s interrupted flow; Joshua describes its waters being cut off as the priests bearing God’s ark enter.
Habakkuk 3:15You trampled the sea with your horses, churning mighty waters.The sea yields before divine might in both poems, fleeing in the psalm and being trampled in Habakkuk.
Isaiah 63:12Who caused his glorious arm to be at Moses’ right hand? Who divided the waters before them, to make himself an everlasting name?Both recall waters giving way during Israel’s departure from Egypt; Isaiah names Moses and God’s glorious arm.
Nahum 1:4He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel languish. The flower of Lebanon languishes.Both portray God’s authority over sea and river, though Nahum describes drying waters rather than their retreat.
Exodus 15:8With the blast of your nostrils, the waters were piled up. The floods stood upright as a heap. The deeps were congealed in the heart of the sea.Both use poetry to recount the sea’s retreat during Israel’s escape, with Exodus describing waters piled into a heap.
Psalm 74:15You opened up spring and stream. You dried up mighty rivers.Both describe waters changing course or condition under God’s power, including rivers that cease flowing as before.
Psalm 104:7At your rebuke they fled. At the voice of your thunder they hurried away.Both describe waters that fled, with Psalm 104 naming God’s rebuke and thunder as the cause.
Psalm 106:9He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up; so he led them through the depths, as through a desert.Both recall the sea giving way at Israel’s departure; Psalm 106 names the Red Sea and God’s rebuke.
Where this verse fits
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One step
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Encouragement
The sea and the Jordan were formidable waters, yet both gave way. Israel’s rescue rests on God’s might, and that might deserves your worship.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).