Psalms 114:8

Verse Psalms 114:8. The flint] I have translated חלמיש challamish, GRANITE; for such is the rock of Horeb, a piece of which now lies before me.

This short and apparently imperfect Psalm, for elegance and sublimity, yields to few in the whole book.

It is so well translated in the old Psalter, that I think I shall gratify the reader by laying it before him.

Psalms 114:1. In gangyng of Isrel oute of Egipt,

Of the house of Jacob fra hethen folke.

Psalms 114:2. Made is Jude his halawyng

Isrel might of hym.

Psalms 114:3. The se sawe and fled,

Jurdan turned is agayne;

Psalms 114:4. Hawes gladed als wethers,

And hilles als lambes of schepe.

Psalms 114:5. What is to the se, that thou fled?

And thou Jordane that thou ert turned agayne?

Psalms 114:6. Hawes gladded als wethers?

And hils als lambs of schepe.

Psalms 114:7. Fra the face of Lorde styrde is the erth,

Fra the face of God of Jabob;

Psalms 114:8. That turnes the stane in stank of waters,

And roche in wels of waters.

And, as a still more ancient specimen of our language, I shall insert the Anglo-Saxon, with a literal reading, line for line, as near to the Saxon as possible, merely to show the affinity of the languages.

Psalms 114:1, Psalms 114:1. [Anglo-Saxon]

Psalms 114:2, Psalms 114:2. [Anglo-Saxon]

Psalms 114:3, Psalms 114:3. [Anglo-Saxon]

Psalms 114:4, Psalms 114:4. [Anglo-Saxon]

Psalms 114:5, Psalms 114:5. [Anglo-Saxon]

Psalms 114:6, Psalms 114:6. [Anglo-Saxon]

Psalms 114:7, Psalms 114:7. [Anglo-Saxon]

Psalms 114:8, Psalms 114:8. [Anglo-Saxon]

Psalms 114:1, Psalms 114:1. On outgang Israel of Egypt,

House Jacob of folk foreigners;

Psalms 114:2, Psalms 114:2. Made is Jacob holyness his;

Israel andweald (government) his.

Psalms 114:3, Psalms 114:3. Sea saw, and flew!

Jordan turned underback!

Psalms 114:4, Psalms 114:4. Mounts they fain (rejoiced) so (as) rams,

And burghs (hillocks) so (as) lamb-sheep.

Psalms 114:5, Psalms 114:5. What is the sea, that thou flew?

And thou river for that thou turned is underback?

Psalms 114:6, Psalms 114:6. Mounts ye fained (rejoiced) so so rams;

And hills so so lambs-sheep.

Psalms 114:7, Psalms 114:7. From sight Lord's stirred is earth;

From sight God of Jacob.

Psalms 114:8, Psalms 114:8. Who turned stone in mere waters;

And cliffs in wells waters.

I have retained some words above in nearly their Saxon form, because they still exist in our old writers; or, with little variation, in those of the present day: -

Psalms 114:2, Psalms 114:2. Andweald, government. Hence weal and wealth, commonweal or wealth; the general government, that which produces the welfare of the country.

Psalms 114:4, Psalms 114:4. Faegnodon, fained - desired fervently, felt delight in expectation.

Psalms 114:4, Psalms 114:4. Burgh, a hill - a mound or heap of earth, such as was raised up over the dead. Hence a barrow; and hence the word bury, to inhume the dead.

Psalms 114:8, Psalms 114:8. Mere, or meer, a large pool of water, a lake, a lough, still in use in the north of England. Gentlemen's ponds, or large sheets of water so called; and hence Winander-mere. a large lake in Westmoreland. Mere also signifies limit or boundary; hence the Mersey, the river which divides Lancashire from Cheshire, and serves as a boundary to both counties. The mere that spreads itself out to the sea.

Instead of cludas, which signifies rocks, one MS. has [Anglo-Saxon] clyf, which signifies a craggy mountain or broken rock.

The reader will see from this specimen how much of our ancient language still remains in the present; and perhaps also how much, in his opinion, we have amplified and improved our mother tongue.

ANALYSIS OF THE HUNDRED AND FOURTEENTH PSALM

David in this Psalm chants forth the wonderful works and miracles that God wrought, when he brought forth Israel out of Egypt.

This Psalm has two parts: -

I. A narration of Israel's deliverance, amplified by the state they were in, Psalms 114:1; the state to which they were brought, Psalms 114:2; the miracles then done, Psalms 114:3; and the law given, Psalms 114:4.

II. A prosopopoeia set down by way of dialogue: 1. The prophet asks the sea and Jordan why they fled, Psalms 114:5. 2. To which the answer is, that "the earth trembled," c., Psalms 114:7.

I. In the narration, Israel's condition is set down by way of comparison, in order that their deliverance might make the deeper impression. We must recollect that Jacob and Judah in this place signify the whole nation of the Israelites that descended out of Jacob's loins but of the house of Jacob there is made particular mention, because with him they came into Egypt; and of Judah, because from him they were called Jews. This being premised. 1. We are presented with the condition of the Jews before their deliverance; before they were formed into a state or Church; they were among "a people of a strange language."

2. The condition of the Jews after their deliverance: "When Israel went out of Egypt," c., then "Judah was his sanctuary," c. 1. "His sanctuary: " A people sanctified and adopted by him, consecrated to his worship as holy temples and sanctuaries, and having a holy priest to govern them in points of piety. 2. "His dominion:" In which he reigned as King by his laws and Spirit, and appointed godly magistrates to rule them in matters of policy for the government was a theocracy, till they cast it off by choosing a king.

The prophet explains the manner of their deliverance, which was by miracles and signs and gives us these instances: -

1. "The sea saw it, and fled," as the people advanced to it. "At the presence of the Lord it turned back all night," Exodus 14:21. In a poetical strain he attributes this to the sense of the sea. "The sea saw," c.

2. "Jordan was driven back," c. Forty years after, when they were entering the promised land, then Jordan suffered a long reflux, Joshua 3:15-6.

3. At Sinai, when the law was given, then the mountains and hills quaked: "The mountains skipped like rams," c.

II. This Psalm abounds with poetical imagery and having related the wonderful deliverances wrought for God's people, the psalmist expostulates with the sea and mountains, and interrogates them as to what so strangely altered their course. "What ailed thee, O thou sea, c. ?. - Ye mountains that ye skipped like rams," c.

To which, in the person of the earth speaking to herself, the prophet answers thus making both a prosopopoeia and an apostrophe.

1. "Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord," c. As if it had been said, Would you know the reason why we fly? The cause is, the Lord has appeared and showed his force and power, and laid his commands upon us and therefore, not abiding his presence, the mountains are moved, c.

2. Of his power this miracle is sufficient for an instance: "Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters." Causing not only waters to flow from thence, but turning the very substance of a flint, which is apter to yield fire than water, into that fluid element, Numbers 20:11. Psalms 114:8.