Psalm 114

Psalm 114 is the 114th psalm of the Book of Psalms, beginning in English in the King James Version: "When Israel went out of Egypt". In the slightly different numbering system in the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate version of the Bible, this psalm forms the first part of Psalm 113, verses 1–8.[1] In Latin, it is known as "In exitu Israel de Aegypto".[2]

This article is about Psalm 114 in Hebrew (Masoretic) numbering. For Psalms 114–115 in Greek Septuagint or Latin Vulgate numbering, see Psalm 116.
Psalm 114
"When Israel went out of Egypt"
Psalm 114 in a Hebrew Psalter from Northern Italy, ca. 1470
Other name
  • Psalm 113
  • "In exitu Israel de Aegypto "
LanguageHebrew (original)
Psalm 114
BookBook of Psalms
Hebrew Bible partKetuvim
Order in the Hebrew part1
CategorySifrei Emet
Christian Bible partOld Testament
Order in the Christian part19

Psalm 114 is used as a regular part of Jewish, Eastern Orthodox, Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican and various Protestant liturgies. It has often been set to music, such as a setting in German by Heinrich Schütz for three four-part choirs of voices and instruments, and Bach's early wedding cantata Der Herr denket an uns, BWV 196. During the Romantic period, Felix Mendelssohn set the psalm in German, Gustav Holst in English, and Albert Kellermann in Hebrew.

Text

King James Version
  1. When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
  2. Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
  3. The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
  4. The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
  5. What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
  6. Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
  7. Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the LORD, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
  8. Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.

Structure and theme

At eight verses, this psalm is comparatively concise. It is composed of four stanzas of two lines, which the word Jacob envelops. The two central stanzas evoke with images full of life the miracle of the Red Sea and the passage of the Jordan. God is evoked only at the end of the Psalm, doubtless to arouse the expectation.

Psalm 114 begins with the Hebrew 'בְּצֵאת יִשְׂרָאֵל, מִמִּצְרָיִם; בֵּית יַעֲקֹב, מֵעַם לֹעֵז'. It is one of the so-called Egyptian Hallel prayers, although it is sometimes ascribed to King David.

Verses 1–2
The Hebrew people leaving Egypt, led by Moses, on a mural in the synagogue of Doura Europos, in Syria.
1When Israel went out of Egypt,
The house of Jacob from a people of strange language,
2Judah became His sanctuary,
And Israel His dominion.[3]

This first stanza recalls that the Hebrew people are born in the Exodus from Egypt. The words "sanctuary" and "dominion" ("domain" in the New Catholic Bible) designate the entire Holy Land, the inheritance of God, not only in the geographical sense but also in a spiritual sense. The miracles that allow Israel to cross the Red Sea and cross the Jordan River are poetically enhanced by the process of hyperbole and by images evoking a life of natural elements, water and mountains. It is a means of manifesting all creation with Israel and actively participating in its march towards the Promised Land.

Uses

Judaism
The Tosher Rebbe of Montreal, Quebec, Canada shaking the Four species during Sukkot while praying Hallel.
  • Is one of six psalms (113–118) of which Hallel is composed. On all days when Hallel is recited, this psalm is recited in its entirety.[4]
  • Is recited on the first and/or eighth days of Passover in some traditions.[5]

Christianity

Since the sixth century, the psalm has been used as a reading at Christian burial services, and also in ministry to those who are dying.[6] It has also been read at Easter Day services, as Israel's deliverance from slavery is seen as a metaphor for deliverance from sin.[7]

Protestant Christianity

In the Revised Common Lectionary, the Psalm appears in Year A on the seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost.[8]

Orthodox Christianity

In Slavic and Greek Orthodox churches, it is sung as an antiphon for the feast of Theophany,[9] for the following Sunday[10] and for Palm Sunday.[11]

Catholic

St. Benedict of Nursia chose this psalm as one of the psalms sung for the offices of Vespers. Since the early Middle Ages, Psalm 114 has been performed at the office of Vespers on Monday, according to the Rule of St. Benedict (AD 530).[12][13]

In the Liturgy of the Hours today, the first part of Psalm 114 is sung or recited on Vespers Sunday. It is the only psalm traditionally chanted using Tonus peregrinus.

Book of Common Prayer

In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer, this psalm is appointed to be read on the evening of the twenty-third day of the month,[14] as well as at Evensong on Easter Day.[15]

Literature

Musical settings

Heinrich Schütz composed a metred paraphrase of Psalm 115 in German, "Nicht uns, nicht uns, Herr, lieber Gott", SWV 213, for the Becker Psalter, published first in 1628.

Jean-Joseph Cassanéa de Mondonville wrote a grand motet, In exitu Israel, in 1755.

Antonio Vivaldi set the psalm as a motet, In exitu Israel, RV 604.

Jan Dismas Zelenka composed two settings, ZWV 83 and ZWV 84, both scored for SATB soloists and chorus, two oboes, strings and continuo (1725 and 1728).

References
Citations
  1. The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Books of the Bible. Oxford University Press. 2011. p. 194. ISBN 978-0-19-537737-8.
  2. Parallel Latin/English Psalter / Psalmus 113 (114) Archived 2017-05-07 at the Wayback Machine medievalist.net
  3. Psalm 114:1–2: New King James Version
  4. The Complete Artscroll Siddur, page 633
  5. The Artscroll Tehillim, page 329
  6. Phillips 2001, p. 224-225.
  7. Phillips 2001, p. 225.
  8. Harn & Strawn 2009, p. 297.
  9. Psalm Verses of the Orthodox Liturgy 2000, p. 62.
  10. Psalm Verses of the Orthodox Liturgy 2000, p. 66.
  11. Psalm Verses of the Orthodox Liturgy 2000, p. 103.
  12. Règle de saint Benoît, (traduction par Prosper Guéranger, Abbaye Saint-Pierre de Solesmes, réimpression 2007) p47.
  13. Psautier latin-français du bréviaire monastique, 1938/2003 p493.
  14. Church of England, Book of Common Prayer: The Psalter as printed by John Baskerville in 1762, pp. 284-285
  15. "The Book of Common Prayer: Proper Psalms On Certain Days" (PDF). The Church of England. p. 6. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  16. Milton, John (2003). Orgel, Stephen; Goldberg, Jonathan (eds.). The Major Works. Oxford world's classics (illustrated, reprint ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN 978-0192804099.
  17. Hamlin 2004, p. 108-109.
Bibliography
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