The Meaning of Psalms 114:2 Explained

Psalms 114:2

KJV: Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.

YLT: Judah became His sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

Darby: Judah was his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

ASV: Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

Judah  was his sanctuary,  [and] Israel  his dominion. 

What does Psalms 114:2 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 114:2 mean?

became Judah His sanctuary [And] Israel His dominion
הָיְתָ֣ה יְהוּדָ֣ה לְקָדְשׁ֑וֹ יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗ל מַמְשְׁלוֹתָֽיו

הָיְתָ֣ה  became 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person feminine singular
Root: אֶהְיֶה 
Sense: to be, become, come to pass, exist, happen, fall out.
יְהוּדָ֣ה  Judah 
Parse: Proper Noun, masculine singular
Root: יְהוּדָה  
Sense: the son of Jacob by Leah.
לְקָדְשׁ֑וֹ  His  sanctuary 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular construct, third person masculine singular
Root: קֹדֶשׁ  
Sense: apartness, holiness, sacredness, separateness.
יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗ל  [And]  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.
מַמְשְׁלוֹתָֽיו  His  dominion 
Parse: Noun, feminine plural construct, third person masculine singular
Root: מֶמְשָׁלָה  
Sense: rule, dominion, realm.