Click
here to show/hide instructions.
Instructions on how to use the page:
The commentary for the selected verse is is displayed below.
All commentary was produced against the King James, so the same verse from that translation may appear as well. Hovering your mouse over a commentary's scripture reference attempts to show those verses.
Use the browser's back button to return to the previous page.
Or you can also select a feature from the Just Verses menu appearing at the top of the page.
Selected Verse: Psalms 114:8 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Ps 114:8 |
King James |
Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
Which turned the rock into a standing water - That is, Before him who could do this, the earth should tremble; the inhabited world should stand in awe of such amazing power. The words rendered "a standing water," mean properly a pool of water. They indicate nothing in regard to the permanency of that pool; they do not imply that it remained as a standing pool during the sojourn of the Israelites in the wilderness - whatever may have been the fact in regard to that. The simple idea is, that, at the time referred to, the rock was converted into a pool; that is, the waters flowed from the rock, constituting such a pool.
The flint - Another name for the rock - used here to describe the greatness of the miracle.
Into a fountain of waters - That is, The waters flowed from the rock as from a fountain. The Bible is a book of miracles, and there is nothing more improbable in this miracle than in any other.
In the Septuagint, the Latin Vulgate, the Syriac, the Arabic, and in many manuscripts, there is no division of the psalm here, but the following psalm is united with this, as if they were a single poem. Why, in those versions, the division of the Heb. was not followed, cannot now be ascertained. The division in the Hebrew is a natural division, and was evidently made in the original composition. |
Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826 |
The flint - I have translated חלמיש challamish, Granite; for such is the rock of Horeb, a piece of which now lies before me.
This short and apparently imperfect Psalm, for elegance and sublimity, yields to few in the whole book.
It is so well translated in the old Psalter, that I think I shall gratify the reader by laying it before him.
Psa 114:1 In gangyng of Isrel oute of Egipt,Of the house of Jacob fra hethen folke.
Psa 114:2 Made is Jude his halawyngIsrel might of hym.
Psa 114:3 The se sawe and fled,Jurdan turned is agayne;
Psa 114:4 Hawes gladed als wethers,And hilles als lambes of schepe.
Psa 114:5 What is to the se, that thou fled?And thou Jordane that thou ert turned agayne?
Psa 114:6 Hawes gladded als wethers?And hils als lambs of schepe.
Psa 114:7 Fra the face of Lorde styrde is the erth,Fra the face of God of Jabob;
Psa 114:8 That turnes the stane in stank of waters,And roche in wels of waters.
And, as a still more ancient specimen of our language, I shall insert the Anglo-Saxon, with a literal reading, line for line, as near to the Saxon as possible, merely to show the affinity of the languages.
Psa 114:1 On outgang Israel of Egypt,House Jacob of folk foreigners;
Psa 114:2 Made is Jacob holyness his;Israel andweald (government) his.
Psa 114:3 Sea saw, and flew!Jordan turned underback!
Psa 114:4 Mounts they fain (rejoiced) so (as) rams,And burghs (hillocks) so (as) lamb - sheep.
Psa 114:5 What is the sea, that thou flew?And thou river for that thou turned is underback?
Psa 114:6 Mounts ye fained (rejoiced) so so rams;And hills so so lambs - sheep.
Psa 114:7 From sight Lord's stirred is earth;From sight God of Jacob.
Psa 114:8 Who turned stone in mere waters;And cliffs in wells waters.
I have retained some words above in nearly their Saxon form, because they still exist in our old writers; or, with little variation, in those of the present day: -
Psa 114:2 Andweald, government. Hence weal and wealth, commonweal or wealth; the general government, that which produces the welfare of the country.
Psa 114:4 Faegnodon, fained - desired fervently, felt delight in expectation.
Psa 114:4 Burgh, a hill - a mound or heap of earth, such as was raised up over the dead. Hence a barrow; and hence the word bury, to inhume the dead.
Psa 114:8 Mere, or meer, a large pool of water, a lake, a lough, still in use in the north of England. Gentlemen's ponds, or large sheets of water so called; and hence Winander-mere, a large lake in Westmoreland. Mere also signifies limit or boundary; hence the Mersey, the river which divides Lancashire from Cheshire, and serves as a boundary to both counties. The mere that spreads itself out to the sea.
Instead of cludas, which signifies rocks, one MS. has clyf, which signifies a craggy mountain or broken rock.
The reader will see from this specimen how much of our ancient language still remains in the present; and perhaps also how much, in his opinion, we have amplified and improved our mother tongue. |
8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;
8 Which turned the rock into a standing water, the flint into a fountain of waters.
7 Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob;
6 Ye mountains, that ye skipped like rams; and ye little hills, like lambs?
5 What ailed thee, O thou sea, that thou fleddest? thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?
4 The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
3 The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
2 Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion.
1 When Israel went out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange language;