The Meaning of Psalms 114:1 Explained

Psalms 114:1

KJV: When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

YLT: In the going out of Israel from Egypt, The house of Jacob from a strange people,

Darby: When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language,

ASV: When Israel went forth out of Egypt, The house of Jacob from a people of strange language;

KJV Reverse Interlinear

When Israel  went out  of Egypt,  the house  of Jacob  from a people  of strange language; 

What does Psalms 114:1 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalm 114:1-8 - The Mighty God Uplifteth The Lowly
We detect the song of Samuel's mother in the first of these psalms. She sang the Old Testament "Magnificat" and it was embalmed by the psalmist here. Thus it passed into the psalter of the Church. Note the universality of this ascription of praise. For all time, Psalms 113:2; through all the earth, Psalms 113:3; and above all heavens, Psalms 113:4. What a wonderful God is ours! Heaven cannot contain Him, but He lifts the poor and needy out of the dust. Largeness is not greatness, and the babe in the cot is more important than the palace.
In Psalms 114:1-8 Egypt represents the tyranny of sin; but we have been redeemed. Like Israel we have gone forth. We belong no more to the present world with its strange tongue. Ours is the language of Canaan, our home. This exodus of ours has made us the temple and sanctuary of God. If once the Church realized that she is God-possessed, she would become irresistible. Seas would divide, rivers would start back, mountains would cleave, and the hills would remove. "Impossible" would be blotted from our vocabulary. The power that made Sinai tremble gave earth water-springs. When the soul finds its all in God, the world ceases to affright or attract it, and the rocks yield refreshing streams. [source]

Chapter Summary: Psalm 114

1  The miracles wrought by God, when he brought his people out of Egypt,
7  are a just ground of fearing him

What do the individual words in Psalms 114:1 mean?

When went out Israel of Egypt the house of Jacob from a people of strange language
בְּצֵ֣את יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם בֵּ֥ית יַ֝עֲקֹ֗ב מֵעַ֥ם לֹעֵֽז

בְּצֵ֣את  When  went  out 
Parse: Preposition-b, Verb, Qal, Infinitive construct
Root: יׄוצֵאת 
Sense: to go out, come out, exit, go forth.
יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל  Israel 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יִשְׂרָאֵל  
Sense: the second name for Jacob given to him by God after his wrestling with the angel at Peniel.
מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם  of  Egypt 
Parse: Preposition-m, Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: מִצְרַיִם  
Sense: a country at the northeastern section of Africa, adjacent to Palestine, and through which the Nile flows adj Egyptians = “double straits”.
בֵּ֥ית  the  house 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular construct
Root: בַּיִת 
Sense: house.
יַ֝עֲקֹ֗ב  of  Jacob 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יַעֲקֹב  
Sense: son of Isaac, grandson of Abraham, and father of the 2 patriarchs of the tribes of Israel.
מֵעַ֥ם  from  a  people 
Parse: Preposition-m, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עַם 
Sense: nation, people.
לֹעֵֽז  of  strange  language 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Participle, masculine singular
Root: לָעַז  
Sense: (Qal) to speak indistinctly, speak unintelligibly.