The Meaning of Psalms 114:3 Explained

Psalms 114:3

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

YLT: The sea hath seen, and fleeth, The Jordan turneth backward.

Darby: The sea saw it and fled, the Jordan turned back;

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

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Psalms 114:3 Mean?

Context Summary

Psalms 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: Psalms 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 114:3 mean?

The sea saw [it] and fled Jordan turned back
הַיָּ֣ם רָ֭אָה וַיָּנֹ֑ס הַ֝יַּרְדֵּ֗ן יִסֹּ֥ב לְאָחֽוֹר

הַיָּ֣ם  The  sea 
Parse: Article, Noun, masculine singular
Root: יָם  
Sense: sea.
רָ֭אָה  saw  [it] 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, third person masculine singular
Root: רָאָה 
Sense: to see, look at, inspect, perceive, consider.
וַיָּנֹ֑ס  and  fled 
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Qal, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: נוּס  
Sense: to flee, escape.
הַ֝יַּרְדֵּ֗ן  Jordan 
Parse: Article, Proper Noun, feminine singular
Root: יַרְדֵּן  
Sense: the river of Palestine running from the roots of Anti-Lebanon to the Dead Sea a distance of approx 200 miles (320 km).
יִסֹּ֥ב  turned 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, third person masculine singular
Root: סָבַב  
Sense: to turn, turn about or around or aside or back or towards, go about or arou nd, surround, encircle, change direction.
לְאָחֽוֹר  back 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: אָחֹור  
Sense: the back side, the rear.