Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Psalms 114:5
What [ailed] thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, [that] thou wast driven back?
5, 6. The past becomes present to the poet’s mind, and he challenges Nature to explain its behaviour.
The A.V. misses the vividness of the Hebrew tenses. Render:
What aileth thee, thou sea, that thou fleest?
Thou Jordan, that thou turnest back?
Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams?
Ye hills, like young sheep?
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest?… – literally, What to thee, O sea, etc. That is, What influenced thee – what alarmed thee – what put thee into such fear, and caused such consternation? Instead of stating the cause or reason why they were thus thrown into dismay, the psalmist uses the language of surprise, as if these inanimate objects had been smitten with sudden terror, and as if it were proper to ask an explanation from themselves in regard to conduct that seemed so strange.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 5. What ailed thee, O thou sea] The original is very abrupt; and the prosopopoeia, or personification very fine and expressive: –
What to thee, O sea, that thou fleddest away!
O Jordan, that thou didst roll back!
Ye mountains, that ye leaped like rams!
And ye hills, like the young of the fold!
After these very sublime interrogations, God appears; and the psalmist proceeds as if answering his own questions: –
At the appearance of the Lord, O earth, thou
didst tremble;
At the appearance of the strong God of Jacob.
Converting the rock into a pool of waters;
The granite into water springs.
I know the present Hebrew text reads chuli, “tremble thou,” in the imperative; but almost all the Versions understood the word in past tense, and read as if the psalmist was answering his own questions, as stated in the translation above. “Tremble thou, O earth.” As if he had said, Thou mayest well tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
What was the cause of this unusual motion? Such speeches directed to senseless creatures are very frequent, both in Scripture and in other authors, and especially in poetical writings, such as this is.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5-8. The questions place theimplied answers in a more striking form.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest?…. What was the matter with thee? what appeared to thee? what didst thou see? what didst thou feel, which caused thee to flee in such haste?
Thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back? what is the meaning that thou didst not continue to flow as usual? what was it that stopped thy flowing tide? that cut off thy waters? that drove them back as fast or faster than they came?
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The poet, when he asks, “What aileth thee, O sea, that thou fleest…?” lives and moves in this olden time as a contemporary, or the present and the olden time as it were flow together to his mind; hence the answer he himself gives to the question propounded takes the form of a triumphant mandate. The Lord, the God of Jacob, thus mighty in wondrous works, it is before whom the earth must tremble. does not take the article because it finds its completion in the following ( ); it is the same epizeuxis as in Psa 113:8; Psa 94:3; Psa 96:7, Psa 96:13. has the constructive out of the genitival relation; and in in this relation we have the constructive o , which as a rule occurs only in the genitival combination, with the exception of this passage and , Num 24:3, Num 24:15 (not, however, in Pro 13:4, “his, the sluggard’s, soul”), found only in the name for wild animals , which occurs frequently, and first of all in Gen 1:24. The expression calls to mind Psa 107:35. is taken from Exo 17:6; and (lxx , that which is rugged, abrupt)
(Note: One usually compares Arab. chlnbus , chalnabus the Karaite lexicographer Abraham ben David writes ]; but this obsolete word, as a compound from Arab. chls , to be black-grey, and Arab. chnbs , to be hard, may originally signify a hard black-grey stone, whereas looks like a mingling of the verbal stems Arab. hms , to be hard, and Arab. hls , to be black-brown (as Arab. jlmud , a detached block of rock, is of the verbal stems Arab. jld , to be hard, and Arab. jmd , to be massive). In Hauran the doors of the houses and the window-shutters are called Arab. halasat when they consist of a massive slab of dolerite, probably from their blackish hue. Perhaps is the ancient name for basalt; and in connection with the hardness of this form of rock, which resembles a mass of cast metal, the breaking through of springs is a great miracle. – Wetzstein. For other views vid., on Isa 49:21; Isa 50:7.)
stands, according to Deu 8:15, poetically for , Num 20:11, for it is these two histories of the giving of water to which the poet points back. But why to these in particular? The causing of water to gush forth out of the flinty rock is a practical proof of unlimited omnipotence and of the grace which converts death into life. Let the earth then tremble before the Lord, the God of Jacob. It has already trembled before Him, and before Him let it tremble. For that which He has been He still ever is; and as He came once, He will come again.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
5 What ailed thee, O sea! The prophet interrogates the sea, Jordan, and the mountains, in a familiar and poetical strain, as lately he ascribed to them a sense and reverence for God’s power. And, by these similitudes, he very sharply reproves the insensibility of those persons, who do not employ the intelligence which God has given them in the contemplation of his works. The appearance which he tells us the sea assumed, is more than sufficient to condemn their blindness. It could not be dried up, the river Jordan could not roll back its waters, had not God, by his invisible agency, constrained them to render obedience to his command. The words are indeed directed to the sea, the Jordan, and the mountains, but they are more immediately addressed to us, that every one of us, on self-reflection, may carefully and attentively weigh this matter. And, therefore, as often as we meet with these words, let each of us reiterate the sentiment, — “Such a change cannot be attributed to nature, and to subordinate causes, but the hand of God is manifest here.” The figure drawn from the lambs and rams would appear to be inferior to the magnitude of the subject. But it was the prophet’s intention to express in the homeliest way the incredible manner in which God, on these occasions, displayed his power. The stability of the earth being, as it were, founded on the mountains, what connection can they have with rams and lambs, that they should be agitated, skipping hither and thither? In speaking in this homely style, he does not mean to detract from the greatness of the miracle, but more forcibly to engrave these extraordinary tokens of God’s power on the illiterate.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
5. O thou sea The apostrophe is bold and beautiful. For other specimens of this figure see Deu 32:1; 2Sa 1:21
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Psa 114:5 What [ailed] thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, [that] thou wast driven back?
Ver. 5. What ailed thee, O thou sea? ] Or, what came to thee? can there any natural reason be given, or was it God’s powerful presence only that caused you to run retrograde? Atheists and unbelievers will search the devil’s skull to find out something whereby they may elevate God’s great works, and elude his arguments; as Pharaoh sat not down under the miracle, but sent for the magicians, and hardened his own heart.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
What. ? Figure of speech Erotesis. App-6.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Jer 47:6, Jer 47:7, Hab 3:8
Reciprocal: Jos 24:11 – And ye Jdg 18:23 – What aileth 2Ki 2:8 – were 2Ki 6:28 – What aileth thee Pro 21:1 – as Isa 2:19 – when he Isa 22:1 – What Isa 63:12 – dividing Nah 1:4 – rebuketh Zec 10:11 – smite