Psalm 113 verses 7&8

The first section of Psalm 113 concludes by telling us just why the earth was so affected:

7  A fácie Dómini mota est terra, * a fácie Dei Jacob.
8  Qui convértit petram in stagna aquárum, * et rupem in fontes aquárum.

Or 

7 At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob: 

8 Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters.

Lectio

A (by) fácie (the presence/face) Dómini (of the Lord) mota est (it was moved) terra (the earth)

facies, ei, f. face, countenance, appearance;  presence.

moveo, mdvi, motum, ere 2,  to move, affect, influence, tremble, shake; to reel, stagger

a (by) fácie (the presence) Dei (of the God) Jacob ([of] Jacob) 

Qui (who) convértit (he changes) petram (the rock) in (into) stagna (a pool) aquárum (of water) 

converto, verti, versum, ere 3, to turn, change, alter, bring back; quicken, refresh; bring back; convert, turn from sin;

petra, ae, f a rock, a symbol of something firm, solid; a place of safety

stagnum, i, n. a pool.

et (and) rupem (a stony hill) in (into) fontes (fountains) aquárum (of water)

rupes, is, f a stony hill.

fons, fontis, m. a fountain, spring; source, fountain, origin; water courses, channels of water. 

Meditatio

Old Testament tests which this verse allude to include Exodus 17,1-17 and Numbers 20,1-13.  It's true meaning though can best be seen from the New.  1 Corinthians 10:4 says  For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

St Augustine draws out this transformation of hard things into living water through grace:

"For He melted Himself, and what may be called His hardness to water those who believe in Him, that He might in them become a fountain of water gushing forth unto everlasting life; John 4:14 because formerly, when He was not known, He seemed hard. Hence they who said, This is an hard saying, who can bear it? John 6:60 were confounded, and waited not until He should flow and stream upon them when the Scriptures were revealed. The rock, that hardness, was turned into pools of water, that stone into fountains of waters, when on His resurrection, He expounded unto them, commencing with Moses and all the prophets, how Christ ought to suffer thus; Luke 24:26-27 and sent the Holy Ghost, of whom He said, If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. John 7:37"

Oratio

Turn us O Lord from rock and flinty hills into flowing water; let us drink of the font of grace in your son that we might have everlasting life.

Contemplatio

Cassiodorus bids us contemplate on how all the verses so far fit together:

"We must, I think, interpret rock as the Jews' obstinacy, which He turned into the pools of sacred baptism when He caused them to pass to untroubled religion. The Lord cites this parallel in the gospel: The Lord is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. He also made cliffs, in other words, the barren and hard hearts of the Gentiles, into watered fountains of divine eloquence, for whereas previously they were arid in barren superstitions, they were later heard pouring forth abundant proclamations of the heavenly word."

The psalm so far:

1  In éxitu Israël de Ægýpto, * domus Jacob de pópulo bárbaro:	When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people:
2  Facta est Judæa sanctificátio ejus, * Israël potéstas ejus.	2 Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3  Mare vidit, et fugit: * Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum.	3 The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.
4  Montes exsultavérunt ut aríetes, * et colles sicut agni óvium.	4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.
5  Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugísti: * et tu, Jordánis, quia convérsus es retrórsum?	5 What ailed you, O you sea, that you fled: and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back?
6  Montes, exsultástis sicut aríetes, * et colles, sicut agni óvium.	6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of the flock?
7  A fácie Dómini mota est terra, * a fácie Dei Jacob.	7 At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob:
8  Qui convértit petram in stagna aquárum, * et rupem in fontes aquárum.	8 Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters.

This post completes the notes on the first section of Psalm 113.  The next part in the series provides an overview of the second section of the psalm, and notes on the next two verses.

Psalm 113: Verses 4&6

Verses 4 and 6 of Psalm 113 mirror verses 3&5 in structure, but instead of the Red Sea and the Jordan, the imagery is now of the mountains and hills 'skipping'.

4  Montes exsultavérunt ut aríetes, * et colles sicut agni óvium.
6  Montes, exsultástis sicut aríetes, * et colles, sicut agni óvium.

or in English:

4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock. [What ailed you...]

6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of the flock?

Lectio

Montes (the mountains) exsultavérunt (they leapt up/exalted) ut (like/as) aríetes (rams) et (and) colles (hills) sicut (like) agni (lambs) óvium (of the sheep/flock)

mons, montis, m., a mountain (mons sanctus = Zion)

exsulto, avi, atum, are ., to spring, leap, or jump up; to exult, to rejoice exceedingly

aries, etis, m., a ram

 collis, is, a hill.

agnus, i, m., a lamb.

ovis, is,  a sheep, flock

Montes (mountains), exsultástis (you skipped) sicut (like) aríetes (rams) et (and) colles (hills), sicut (like) agni (lambs) óvium (of the flock)

Meditatio

Is the reference here to the trembling of the mountains when God gave the law to Moses, or is the psalmist still talking about the parting of the Red Sea and the Jordan, such that the waters towered up like mountains?  The Fathers and saints disagree.

St Robert Bellarmine sees both these sets of verses as referring to the next:

"The mounds of Sinai, that is, its highest points, and the hills of the same mountains, its lower protuberances, were seen to leap, shake, and tremble, like so many frightened sheep and lambs; and, though the word skipping would seem to imply that it proceeded from joy, yet, here it must be interpreted as from fear, because it was on the same account that the mountains skipped as the sea fled; and, in a few verses after, we have, "At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved;" which words imply terror, and go to explain this passage."

Either way, these verses clearly lend themselves to spiritual interpretations.  

Cassiodorus, for example, proposes that:

"Clearly mountains can be interpreted as the apostles and evangelists, or all preachers of the word, for they received the heavenly light earlier than the remainder of the lands. They are rightly called mountains because of the towering peak of their holiness and the most solidly based strength of their faith. They skipped like rams as they performed their works, for they were leading the most faithful flock to the Lord's pens with divine help. Hills denotes the modest height of widespread believers, whose hearts effectively received the seeds of faith; the word colles (hills) gets its name from colere, to worship."

Another suggestion from St Alphonsus Liguroi is that:

"The waters that flee represent sinners; the mountains that exult represent the just; the manifestations of the presence of God terrify some and delight others."

Oratio

In your presence Lord the world trembles in fear; turn our fear though, Lord into joy, as we contemplate your saving action.

Contemplatio

Cassiodorus reminds us that:

"It was the one Creator who made sea and river halt in amazement, and mountains and hills rejoice in their implanted joy."

The psalm so far: 

1  In éxitu Israël de Ægýpto, * domus Jacob de pópulo bárbaro:	When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people:
2  Facta est Judæa sanctificátio ejus, * Israël potéstas ejus.	2 Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3  Mare vidit, et fugit: * Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum.	3 The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.
4  Montes exsultavérunt ut aríetes, * et colles sicut agni óvium.	4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.
5  Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugísti: * et tu, Jordánis, quia convérsus es retrórsum?	5 What ailed you, O you sea, that you fled: and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back?
6  Montes, exsultástis sicut aríetes, * et colles, sicut agni óvium.	6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of the flock?
7  A fácie Dómini mota est terra, * a fácie Dei Jacob.	7 At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob:
8  Qui convértit petram in stagna aquárum, * et rupem in fontes aquárum.	8 Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters.

And you can find the next set of notes on Psalm 113 here.

Psalm 113 verses 3&5

Psalm 113 next provides us with two sets of paired verses, interwoven with each other.  Here is the first of them:

3  Mare vidit, et fugit: * Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum.
5  Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugísti: * et tu, Jordánis, quia convérsus es retrórsum?

Lectio

The sea is the Red Sea, cf Exodus 15:17; for the Jordan (an event that took place forty years later, when the Israelites finally entered the promised land) see Jos 3.  The sea 'saw' Israel being led out of Egypt, as the previous verse makes clear.

Mare (the sea) vidit (it saw), et (and) fugit (it fled)  = the sea saw and fled 

mare, is, n., the sea, the ocean.

video, vidi, vlsum, ere 2,  to see, behold; consider; experience, undergo, suffer, realize; keep watch, look for, meditate on

fugio, fugi, fugitum, ere 3  to flee, take to flight, run away; With  a facie,  from, from before, from the presence of.

Jordánis (the Jordan) convérsus est (it was turned) retrórsum (backwards) = the Jordan was turned back

converto, verti, versum, ere 3, to turn, change, alter, bring back; quicken, refresh; bring back; convert, turn from sin;

retrorsum, adv. back, backwards. behind

 Quid (what) est (is it) tibi (to you), mare (sea), quod (that) fugísti (you have fled)  

Most translations make this, what ails you, or 'is wrong with you'?

et (and) tu (you), Jordánis (the Jordan), quia (that) convérsus es (you have been turned) retrórsum (backwards)? 

The verse can either be read as poetic hyperbole, personifying the elements, or symbolically, as 

Cassiodorus suggests:

"We have often said that the sea must be interpreted as the sinners of this world, who like waves swell with bombastic thoughts. Jordan we must regard as each and every river which sweeps men away on various desires, and sacrilegiously bears them headlong into the mighty sea. These two, sea and river, which had borne the human race away on diverse pleasures, then witnessed the Lord's coming, and abandoning their practices they made their way back with frantic haste. Though this is recounted in the Old Testament, it is alluded to here in different words and similes, so we can clearly realise that those events of old announced with spiritual understanding the signs of our salvation."

Meditatio

It is sometimes suggested that these events were less than miraculous, mere happy coincidences of nature that aided the fleeing Jews.  Poetry or not, this psalm, I think, asserts something quite different, namely that the Exodus was one of those mighty events of God's providential guidance of the world that affected all creation.

As St John Chrysostom explains:

"...he wanted by flight to emphasize the speed of the yielding, the degree of astonishment, the ease of God's beneficent action. In case you think this happened at a certain period of time and by chance, it has not happened since then, but once only, when God so directed, and in different fashion with different people. That is to say, the flood of water was out of the ordinary, like some rational and living person, at God's command saving some people and destroying others in this way, proving a tomb for some and a chariot for others... Do you see the wonders happening at different moments and in different places? I mean, for us to learn that God's power reaches everywhere and is not confined by place, it was occurring in its wonderworking role in the wilderness, in the country of the savages and everywhere, at one time in the sea, at another time in rivers, previously in the case of Moses, later in the case of Jesus. Everywhere they were accompanied by signs so that their unappreciative attitude and unyielding mind, softened by the wonders, might be rendered more pliant and susceptible to welcoming the knowledge of God."

Oratio

Open our minds O Lord to the appreciation of your guidance of man and all creation.  You made all out of nothing; you direct all through your love for us.  In that great flight O Lord, your baptised your people; wash away our iniquities too that we may live with you forever.

Help us, O Lord always to do your will and so help affect your great plan for all mankind.  Help us O Lord to make the salvation you have offered to us through our baptism our own.

Contemplatio

St Augustine sees the verses as a call to repentance:

"...our sins, which are overwhelmed and extinguished in Baptism, just as the Egyptians were drowned in the sea, saying, since He retains not His anger for ever, because He is of good will and merciful, He will turn again, He will have compassion upon us, He will drown our iniquities: and You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea….But I would not that you should seek without yourselves, how the Jordan was turned back, I would not ye should augur anything evil. For the Lord chides those who have turned their back unto Him, and not their face. Jeremiah 2:27 And whoever forsakes the source of his being, and turns away from his Creator; as a river into the sea, he glides into the bitter wickedness of this world. It is therefore good for him that he turn back, and that God whom he had set behind his back, may be before his face as he returns; and that the sea of this world, which he had set before his face, when he was gliding on towards it, may become behind him; and that he may so forget what is behind him, that he may reach forward to what is before him; Philippians 3:13 which is profitable for him when once converted...."

The psalm so far...

1  In éxitu Israël de Ægýpto, * domus Jacob de pópulo bárbaro:	When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people:
2  Facta est Judæa sanctificátio ejus, * Israël potéstas ejus.	2 Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3  Mare vidit, et fugit: * Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum.	3 The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.
4  Montes exsultavérunt ut aríetes, * et colles sicut agni óvium.	4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.
5  Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugísti: * et tu, Jordánis, quia convérsus es retrórsum?	5 What ailed you, O you sea, that you fled: and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back?
6  Montes, exsultástis sicut aríetes, * et colles, sicut agni óvium.	6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of the flock?
7  A fácie Dómini mota est terra, * a fácie Dei Jacob.	7 At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob:
8  Qui convértit petram in stagna aquárum, * et rupem in fontes aquárum.	8 Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters.

And you can find the next part in this series on Psalm 113 here.

Psalm 113 Verse 2

Verse 2 of Psalm 113:

Facta est Judæa sanctificátio ejus, * Israël potéstas ejus.

Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. 

Lectio

Facta est (it has been made) Judæa (Judah) sanctificátio (sanctuary/shrine) ejus (his)

sanctificatio, onis, f. Holiness; a holy place, shrine, sanctuary (ie the Temple)

St John Chrysostom asks what the meaning of this phrase and provides this explanation:

"A people serving him, a people dedicated to him, a people belonging to him. "Sanctuary" is properly used of the Temple, the innermost cham­ber, the Holy of Holies, as Zechariah also introduces some peti­tioners asking, "Has the sanctuary entered here, or are we to fast?" meaning the Ark and all the other things. Judah became his sanctu­ary: before this it was a place impure and accursed, but when the people returned, the city became his sanctuary - that is, it was made into a sanctuary through observation, through sacrifices, through worship, through the other rituals."

Israël (Israel) potéstas (dominion/territory) ejus (his) = Israel his strength/dominion

potestas, atis, f power, strength, might, dominion, the Powers

Again, Chrysostom explains:

"What is the meaning of Israel his dominion? Under his control, he is saying. All the world, admittedly, was un­der his control, but it was also by another relationship that this people were, since they were the beneficiaries of inspired compo­sition, he spoke to them and managed their affairs to a greater ex­tent."

Meditatio

St Chrysostom goes on to explain God's care for his people, working wonders for them, and directing history.  And in Christ too, we can see this Providential care for the Church and us within it:

"Hence Christ also said of "the good shepherd," not that he is honored and served, but that he "lays down his life for his sheep." This is the meaning of leadership, this the art of being a shepherd, ignoring one's own concerns and being preoccupied with those of one's people. What a physician is, after all, so is a leader - or, rather, more than a physician. While the physician, you see, procures people's welfare through skill, the leader does it through risk to himself. Christ also did this, being scourged, crucified, suffering countless torments. Hence Paul, too, said, "Christ, after all, did not please himself; rather, as it is written, The insults of those who insult you have fallen on me."

In this verse, therefore, he cites two, or rather three things, plus innumerable kindnesses: his free­ing them from savages, rescuing them from a foreign land, liberat­ing them from slavery, eliminating their hardships and difficul­ties, working countless wonders; then deeming them worthy to become his sanctuary and subjects. This, you see, is no insignifi­cant form of kindness, enrolling them amongst his subjects."

Oratio

Thank you Lord for the great gift of your saving grace.

Through your good grace and mercy, you have made me a member of your Church; you feed and nourish me; guide me and heal me.

Let me always be sanctified through you, and consecrate myself afresh in our cleansing waters of confession.

Let me offer myself anew, as I join myself to your sacrifice in the Mass.

Let me never turn aside from where you would lead.

Let me ever praise you O Lord for all you have done for me.

Contemplatio

St Augustine invites us to reflect on the prophecy in the psalm, and ensure that we are Christians in truth:

"..You who know yourselves to be Israelites according to Abraham's seed, you who are of the house of Jacob, heirs according to promise, know that even you have gone forth from Egypt, since you have renounced this world; that you have gone forth from a foreign people, since by the confession of piety, you have separated yourselves from the blasphemies of the Gentiles. For it is not your tongue, but a foreign one, which knows not how to praise God, to whom you sing Allelujah. For Judah has become His sanctuary in you; for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and by circumcision of the heart. Romans 2:28-29 Examine then your hearts, if faith has circumcised them, if confession has cleansed them; in you Judah has become His sanctuary, in you Israel has become His dominion. For He gave unto you the power to become the sons of God. John 1:12 ..."

The psalm so far...

1  In éxitu Israël de Ægýpto, * domus Jacob de pópulo bárbaro:	When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people:
2  Facta est Judæa sanctificátio ejus, * Israël potéstas ejus.	2 Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3  Mare vidit, et fugit: * Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum.	3 The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.
4  Montes exsultavérunt ut aríetes, * et colles sicut agni óvium.	4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.
5  Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugísti: * et tu, Jordánis, quia convérsus es retrórsum?	5 What ailed you, O you sea, that you fled: and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back?
6  Montes, exsultástis sicut aríetes, * et colles, sicut agni óvium.	6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of the flock?
7  A fácie Dómini mota est terra, * a fácie Dei Jacob.	7 At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob:
8  Qui convértit petram in stagna aquárum, * et rupem in fontes aquárum.	8 Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters.

And the next set of notes on the verses can be found here.

Psalm 113: Verse 1

David Roberts c1830
The Israelites leaving Egpyt

The first verse of Psalm 113 positions the psalm in salvation history:

In éxitu Israël de Ægýpto, * domus Jacob de pópulo bárbaro:

When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people

Lectio

In (in, at the time of=when) éxitu (coming out of, departure from) Israël (Israel) de (from) Ægýpto (Egypt)

exeo, ivi or li, ltum, ire, to go out or forth, to depart; to come out

domus (the house) Jacob (Jacob) de (from) pópulo (the people) bárbaro (foreign/strange)

barbarus, a, um  foreign, strange.

The Hebrew for 'barbaro' implies speaking indistinctly, or stammering.  Accordingly, some translators make the emphasis of the second phrase on those who speak a strange language.  Mgr Knox for example makes the verse 'When Israel came out of Egypt, and the sons of Jacob heard no more a strange language'.  

The Greek (and the Hebrew) do however use a word for people here (laos in the Greek), so the RSV's attempt 'When Israel went forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language', is perhaps closer to the sense of the Hebrew at least.  The Fathers, moreover, tend to interpret the word in a way entirely consonant with the English meaning of the word barbarous.

It is worth noting too, that 'the house of Jacob' is just a synonym for Israel, as St Robert Bellarmine points out:

"Before they went to Egypt, they were a family, not a people, but during their sojourn in Egypt they multiplied greatly, but were still mixed up with the Egyptians, to whose king they were subject; but, on their departure from Egypt, they began to assume the form of a state of their own, Moses, as being God's vice-regent and rep­resentative, having supreme authority; and that is what he alludes to when he says, "When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob, from a barbarous people." Israel means here the people of Israel, who were descended of him, the house of Jacob being only a repetition of the same."

Meditatio

This first verse of the psalm takes us to a concrete reference point in the history of Israel: when God liberated the people of Israel from slavery and suffering in Egypt.  

For Christians this is an event that foreshadows our liberation from the slavery of the law and the end to the suffering of a people who had been excluded from entry to heaven, through the action of Christ.

And in this verse of the psalm, we should relive again that call to repentance and conversion issued by St John the Baptist as he prepared the way for Our Lord.

Cassiodorus explains:

"We must here interpret departure as the time when we emerge from the chains of sins. We are freed from the mob of the Egyptians—in other words, of the demons—when we no longer en­dure the sovereignty of their barbaric harshness, when the ostentation of this world has begun to be banished from our minds."

Oratio

How great a gift you give us O Lord in your son, who comes to free us from the slavery of sin.

How great a gift you have given us O Lord, in washing us free of sin in baptism, breaking the fetters of sin that bound us.

How great a gift you have given us O Lord, in making us your people, Israel, one Church to serve so great a God.

How great a gift you give us O Lord, in freeing us from the slavery of the devil, and healing us again and again when we fall.

Lead me always O Lord, out from the dominion of sin to your promised land.

Contemplatio

St Augustine reminds us that this verse teaches that we must always be of the world, not in it:

"But Egypt, since it is said to mean affliction, or one who afflicts, or one who oppresses, is often used for an emblem of this world; from which we must spiritually withdraw, that we may not be bearing the yoke with unbelievers.  For thus each one becomes a fit citizen of the heavenly Jerusalem, when he has first renounced this world; just as that people could not be led into the land of promise, save first they had departed from Egypt." 

The Psalm (Pt 1)

1  In éxitu Israël de Ægýpto, * domus Jacob de pópulo bárbaro:	When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people:
2  Facta est Judæa sanctificátio ejus, * Israël potéstas ejus.	2 Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3  Mare vidit, et fugit: * Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum.	3 The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.
4  Montes exsultavérunt ut aríetes, * et colles sicut agni óvium.	4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.
5  Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugísti: * et tu, Jordánis, quia convérsus es retrórsum?	5 What ailed you, O you sea, that you fled: and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back?
6  Montes, exsultástis sicut aríetes, * et colles, sicut agni óvium.	6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of the flock?
7  A fácie Dómini mota est terra, * a fácie Dei Jacob.	7 At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob:
8  Qui convértit petram in stagna aquárum, * et rupem in fontes aquárum.	8 Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters.

And you can find notes on the next verse here.

Introduction to Psalm 113

Today I want to start my consideration of the first psalm of Monday Vespers, Psalm 113.

Because it is very long, I plan to split my consideration of it into three parts, namely 1-8, 9-16 and 17-27, with an introduction to each followed by analysis of the individual verses.

Psalm 113 in Scripture

Psalm 113 is the major contributor to the length of Monday Vespers.  Included in the Hallel, those psalms said on major festivals such as the Passover, in the Hebrew Masoretic Text (and modern neo-Vulgate) it is actually split into two separate psalms.

There is, however, a fair amount of evidence to favour the joining of the two psalms over the split as the more ancient tradition.

Regardless, in the Septuagint, however, and hence Vulgate, it is counted as one psalm, and thus provides one of the points of difference in psalm numbering schemes between the traditional Catholic psalter and the Protestant one.  The split comes at Verse 9, Non Nobis Domine, a verse that has become very well-known indeed in the setting used for a film version of Shakespeare's Henry V.

Overview of the psalm

Indeed, more than a few commentators see the psalm as falling into three sections rather than two, and I subscribe to that view.

The first section, verses 1-8, focuses on the impact of a theophany, the manifestation of God in the world: God parts the Red Sea and the Jordan; in his presence the earth both exalts and trembles.

The second section, verses 9-16, contrasts the reality of our God with the powerless idols we make ourselves.

The final section, verses 17-27,...

Verses 1-8

The next set of posts will look in more detail at verses 1-8, but first an overview.

Psalm 113 opens with a reference to the Exodus from Egypt, and the parting of the Jordan:

"When Israel came out of Egypt, and the sons of Jacob heard no more a strange language, the Lord took Juda for his sanctuary, Israel for his own dominion. The seas fled at the sight they witnessed, backward flowed the stream of Jordan..." (Knox translation).

Like many psalms, this one can be read at a number of different levels.

At the literal level, the first half of the psalm reminds us of key moments in salvation history, starting from the exodus, and seeks to teach us the proper response of the awe and thanksgiving we should feel at God's wondrous workings.

It also though, points to key events that foreshadow Our Lord's life and the salvation history of the New Testament, for Moses is a type of Christ, and the crossing of the Jordan, referred to in verses is a type of baptism, as the famous hymn Through the Red Sea Brought at Last by Ronald Knox proclaims.

As such, the first half of the psalm speaks of the Church, the new people of Israel, rescued from slavery by Christ who first calls us to repentance and rebirth in baptism.  The theophany at his baptism is echoed in the awestruck reaction of nature described in the psalm, that signals our redemption, though we may yet have forty years or more of wandering in the desert before we enter into it!

Pope John Paul II on the first section of the Psalm

In the (Novus Ordo) Liturgy of the Hours, the first section of Psalm 113 (aka Psalm 114) retains a place in Sunday Vespers.  Here are some extracts from Pope John Paul II's catechesis on it in that context, from 2003:

"The joyful and triumphant song we have just proclaimed recalls Israel's Exodus from the oppression of the Egyptians. 

Psalm 114[113A] belongs to the collection that Jewish tradition has called the "Egyptian Hallel". These are Psalms 112-117[113-118], a selection of songs used especially in the Jewish Passover liturgy. 

Christianity has taken Psalm 114-[113A] with the same paschal connotation, but opened it to the new interpretation derived from Christ's Resurrection. The Exodus celebrated by the Psalm becomes, therefore, the symbol of another, more radical and universal liberation. 

Dante, in his Divine Comedy, places this hymn, in its Latin Vulgate version, on the lips of the souls in Purgatory:  "In exitu Israël de Aegypto / they all sang together with one voice..." (Purgatory II, 46-47). In other words, he saw in the Psalm the song of expectation and hope of those who are on the way, after purification from every sin, towards the final goal of communion with God in Paradise. 

Let us now follow the thematic and spiritual line of this short, prayerful composition. It opens (cf. vv. 1-2) by recalling the Exodus of Israel from Egyptian oppression until its entry into that Promised Land which is God's "sanctuary"; that is, the place of his presence in the midst of his people. In fact, land and people are fused together:  Judah and Israel, terms with which the Holy Land or the Chosen People were designated, come to be considered as the seat of the presence of the Lord, his special property and inheritance (cf. Ex 19: 5-6). 

After this theological description of one of the fundamental elements of faith of the Old Testament, that is, the proclamation of the marvels God worked for his people, the Psalmist reflects more profoundly, spiritually and symbolically on the constitutive events. 

The Red Sea of the Exodus from Egypt and the Jordan of the entry into the Holy Land are personified and transformed into witnesses and instruments that have a part in the liberation wrought by God (cf. Ps 114[113A]: 3, 5). At the beginning in the Exodus, the sea rolls back to allow Israel to pass, and at the end of the journey through the desert, it is the Jordan which turns back in its course, leaving its bed dry so that the procession of the children of Israel can cross over (cf. Jos 3-4). 

At the centre there is a reference to Sinai:  it is now the mountains that participate in the great divine revelation which takes place on their summits. Likened to living creatures such as rams and lambs, they skip and exult. 

With a very vivid personification, the Psalmist now asks the mountains about the reason for their confusion:  "[Why is it]... you mountains, that you skip like rams? You hills, like the lambs of the flock?" (Ps 114[113A]: 6). Their response is not mentioned:  it is given indirectly through an injunction, subsequently addressed to the earth, so that it too should tremble "before the Lord" (cf. v. 7). 

The confusion of the mountains and the hills, therefore, was a startled adoration in the presence of the Lord, God of Israel, an act of glorious exaltation of the transcendent and saving God. 

This is the theme of the last part of Psalm 114[113A] (cf. vv. 7-8), which introduces another important event of Israel's march through the desert, that of the water that gushed from the rock of Meribah (cf. Ex 17: 1-7; Nm 20: 1-13). God transformed the rock into a spring of water which becomes a lake:  at the root of this miracle is his fatherly concern for the people. 

This gesture acquires, then, a symbolic meaning:  it is a sign of the saving love of the Lord who sustains and regenerates humanity as it advances though the desert of history. St Paul was known to use this image and, on the basis of a Jewish tradition which claims that the rock accompanied Israel on its journey through the desert, he re-read the event in a Christological key:  "All drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ" (I Cor 10: 4). 

In this wake, commenting on the Exodus of the people of Israel from Egypt, a great Christian teacher such as Origen conceived of the New Exodus undertaken by Christians. Indeed, this is what he says: "Do not think that it was only then that Moses led the people out of Egypt:  now too we have Moses with us..., that is, the law of God wants to bring you out of Egypt; if you listen to it, it wishes to distance you from Pharaoh.... It does not want you to remain in the dark actions of the flesh, but to go out into the desert, that you reach a place apart from the upheavals and instability of the world, that you reach stillness and silence.... So when you have arrived in this place of calm, there you can sacrifice to the Lord, recognize the law of God and the power of the divine voice" (Omelie sull'Esodo, Rome, 1981, pp. 71-72). 

Taking up the Pauline image that calls to mind the crossing of the sea, Origen continues: "The Apostle calls this a baptism, realized in Moses in the cloud and sea, so that you too, who have been baptized in Christ, in water and in the Holy Spirit, may know that the Egyptians are pursuing you and want to reclaim you to serve them:  namely, the rulers of this world and the evil spirits to whom you were first enslaved. They will certainly seek to follow you, but you will go into the water and escape unharmed, and having washed away the stains of sin, you will come out as a new man ready to sing the new canticle" (ibid., p. 107). 

The text

Vulgate	Douay-Rheims
Alleluja.	Alleluia
1  In éxitu Israël de Ægýpto, * domus Jacob de pópulo bárbaro:	When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbarous people:
2  Facta est Judæa sanctificátio ejus, * Israël potéstas ejus.	2 Judea was made his sanctuary, Israel his dominion.
3  Mare vidit, et fugit: * Jordánis convérsus est retrórsum.	3 The sea saw and fled: Jordan was turned back.
4  Montes exsultavérunt ut aríetes, * et colles sicut agni óvium.	4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the hills like the lambs of the flock.
5  Quid est tibi, mare, quod fugísti: * et tu, Jordánis, quia convérsus es retrórsum?	5 What ailed you, O you sea, that you fled: and you, O Jordan, that you were turned back?
6  Montes, exsultástis sicut aríetes, * et colles, sicut agni óvium.	6 You mountains, that you skipped like rams, and you hills, like lambs of the flock?
7  A fácie Dómini mota est terra, * a fácie Dei Jacob.	7 At the presence of the Lord the earth was moved, at the presence of the God of Jacob:
8  Qui convértit petram in stagna aquárum, * et rupem in fontes aquárum.	8 Who turned the rock into pools of water, and the stony hill into fountains of waters.

9  Non nobis, Dómine, non nobis: * sed nómini tuo da glóriam.	9 Not to us, O Lord, not to us; but to your name give glory.
10  Super misericórdia tua, et veritáte tua: * nequándo dicant gentes: Ubi est Deus eórum?	10 For your mercy, and for your truth's sake: lest the Gentiles should say: Where is their God?
11  Deus autem noster in cælo: * ómnia quæcúmque vóluit, fecit.	11 But our God is in heaven: he has done all things whatsoever he would.
12  Simulácra géntium argéntum, et aurum, * ópera mánuum hóminum.	12 The idols of the Gentiles are silver and gold, the works of the hands of men.
13  Os habent, et non loquéntur: * óculos habent, et non vidébunt.	14 They have ears and hear not: they have noses and smell not.
14  Aures habent, et non áudient: * nares habent, et non odorábunt.	14 They have ears and hear not: they have noses and smell not.
15  Manus habent, et non palpábunt: pedes habent, et non ambulábunt: * non clamábunt in gútture suo.	15 They have hands and feel not: they have feet and walk not: neither shall they cry out through their throat.
16  Símiles illis fiant qui fáciunt ea: * et omnes qui confídunt in eis.	16 Let them that make them become like unto them: and all such as trust in them.
17  Domus Israël sperávit in Dómino: * adjútor eórum et protéctor eórum est,	17 The house of Israel has hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector.
18  Domus Aaron sperávit in Dómino: * adjútor eórum et protéctor eórum est,	18 The house of Aaron has hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector.
19  Qui timent Dóminum, speravérunt in Dómino: * adjútor eórum et protéctor eórum est.	19 They that fear the Lord have hoped in the Lord: he is their helper and their protector.
20  Dóminus memor fuit nostri: * et benedíxit nobis:	20 The Lord has been mindful of us, and has blessed us.
21  Benedíxit dómui Israël: * benedíxit dómui Aaron.	He has blessed the house of Israel: he has blessed the house of Aaron.
22  Benedíxit ómnibus, qui timent Dóminum, * pusíllis cum majóribus.	21 He has blessed all that fear the Lord, both little and great.
23  Adjíciat Dóminus super vos: * super vos, et super fílios vestros.	22 May the Lord add blessings upon you: upon you, and upon your children.
24  Benedícti vos a Dómino, * qui fecit cælum, et terram.	23 Blessed be you of the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
25  Cælum cæli Dómino: * terram autem dedit fíliis hóminum.	24 The heaven of heaven is the Lord's: but the earth he has given to the children of men
26  Non mórtui laudábunt te, Dómine: * neque omnes, qui descéndunt in inférnum.	25 The dead shall not praise you, O Lord: nor any of them that go down to hell.
27  Sed nos qui vívimus, benedícimus Dómino, * ex hoc nunc et usque in sæculum.	26 But we that live bless the Lord: from this time now and for ever.

Liturgical and Scriptural uses of the psalm

NT references	Heb 12:26 (v7); 1 Cor 10:4 (8); Acts 12:21-23 (9); Acts 19:26 (14)
RB cursus	Monday Vespers+AN (3960, v11)
Monastic feasts etc	AN 2427 (v1), 2837, 3413 (v2), 4139 (v11)
Roman pre 1911	Sunday Vespers
Responsories	-
Roman post 1911	1911-62: Sunday Vespers . 1970:
Mass propers (EF)	PP21, AL (1) PP22, AL (19)

And for the first set of notes on the individual verses, go here.