Psalms 114:3

Translations

King James Version (KJV)

The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

American King James Version (AKJV)

The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

American Standard Version (ASV)

The sea saw it, and fled; The Jordan was driven back.

Basic English Translation (BBE)

The sea saw it, and went in flight; Jordan was turned back.

Webster's Revision

The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.

World English Bible

The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back.

English Revised Version (ERV)

The sea saw it, and fled; Jordan was driven back.

Definitions for Psalms 114:3

Sea - Large basin.

Clarke's Psalms 114:3 Bible Commentary

The sea saw it, and fled - Mr. Addison has properly observed (see Spect. No. 461) that the author of this Psalm designedly works for effect, in pointing out the miraculous driving back the Red Sea and the river Jordan, and the commotion of the hills and mountains, without mentioning any agent. At last, when the reader sees the sea rapidly retiring from the shore, Jordan retreating to its source, and the mountains and hills running away like a flock of affrighted sheep, that the passage of the Israelites might be every where uninterrupted; then the cause of all is suddenly introduced, and the presence of God in his grandeur solves every difficulty.

Barnes's Psalms 114:3 Bible Commentary

The sea saw it - The word it is supplied, not very properly, by our translators. It would be more expressive to say, "The sea saw:" that is, The sea - (the Red Sea) - saw the mighty movement - the marshalled hosts - the moving masses - the cattle - the pursuing enemies - the commotion - the agitation - on its usually quiet shores. We are to conceive of the usual calmness of the desert - the waste and lonely solitudes on the banks of the Red Sea - and then all this suddenly broken in upon by vast hosts of men, women, children, and cattle, fleeing in consternation, followed by the embattled strength of Egypt - all rolling on tumultuously to the shore. No wonder that the sea is represented as astonished at this unusual spectacle, and as fleeing in dismay.

And fled - As if affrighted at the approach of such an host, coming so suddenly upon its shores.

Jordan was driven back - Referring to the dividing of the waters of the Jordan when the children of Israel passed over to the promised land. Joshua 3:13-17. They also seemed astonished at the approach of the Hebrews, and retired to make a way for them to pass over.