(א) בְּצֵ֣את יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָ֑יִם בֵּ֥ית יַ֝עֲקֹ֗ב מֵעַ֥ם לֹעֵֽז׃ (ב) הָיְתָ֣ה יְהוּדָ֣ה לְקׇדְשׁ֑וֹ יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗ל מַמְשְׁלוֹתָֽיו׃ (ג) הַיָּ֣ם רָ֭אָה וַיָּנֹ֑ס הַ֝יַּרְדֵּ֗ן יִסֹּ֥ב לְאָחֽוֹר׃ (ד) הֶ֭הָרִים רָקְד֣וּ כְאֵילִ֑ים גְּ֝בָע֗וֹת כִּבְנֵי־צֹֽאן׃ (ה) מַה־לְּךָ֣ הַ֭יָּם כִּ֣י תָנ֑וּס הַ֝יַּרְדֵּ֗ן תִּסֹּ֥ב לְאָחֽוֹר׃ (ו) הֶ֭הָרִים תִּרְקְד֣וּ כְאֵילִ֑ים גְּ֝בָע֗וֹת כִּבְנֵי־צֹֽאן׃ (ז) מִלִּפְנֵ֣י אָ֭דוֹן ח֣וּלִי אָ֑רֶץ מִ֝לִּפְנֵ֗י אֱל֣וֹהַּ יַעֲקֹֽב׃ (ח) הַהֹפְכִ֣י הַצּ֣וּר אֲגַם־מָ֑יִם חַ֝לָּמִ֗ישׁ לְמַעְיְנוֹ־מָֽיִם׃
(1) When Israel went forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange speech, (2) Judah became His -holy one, Israel, His dominion. (3) The sea saw them and fled, Jordan ran backward, (4) mountains skipped like rams, hills like sheep. (5) What alarmed you, O sea, that you fled, Jordan, that you ran backward, (6) mountains, that you skipped like rams, hills, like sheep? (7) Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, (8) who turned the rock into a pool of water, the flinty rock into a fountain.
This is the Psalm that many congregations love to sing with many different melodies including the one that has the call and response starting with the “mah l’kha” line (verse five).
No more shall you see the barbarian folk,
The people of speech too obscure to comprehend,
So stammering of tongue that they are not understood.
Other translations of עם נועז (am no'az):
insolent people defiant people arrogant people
בית יעקב, ההמונים יצאו מעם לועז כי היו מעורבים עמהם, וישראל הגדולים כמו שבט לוי והזקנים לא היו מעורבים עמהם ויצאו רק מארץ מצרים:
The house of Jacob, the majority of them went out from a people of a strange tongue for they were mixed in with them... [but] the great ones among Israel like the tribe of Levi and the elders were not mixed in with them, and they went out only from the LAND of Egypt [not the people].
Verses 3 through 6 all concern the reaction of nature to the Exodus… What did seas and rivers do? The mountains and hills?
Lev Shalem: This brief but powerful psalm is a poetic descrip- tion of the significance and effect of the Exodus on the world. Rather than speak about the nations and their reaction to this event, the psalmist describes how nature reacted: prancing and danc- ing before the might of the God of Jacob.
The rhythmic stresses and emphases of the Hebrew convey the feeling of movement or dance.
Rabbi Benjamin Segal (“A New Psalm”):
“…the first and last pairs of verses enclose these [middle verses] within a frame of God, the people, and the physical land. Nature is thus hemmed in within the specific national reference - creation is trumped by, is “packaged” within, historical intervention. Indeed, all creation is moved to take part in the history of the Exodus…”
- Reminds our of water coming from the rock after Moses hits it!
Verses 3 and 5 (The Jordan River running backward) reminds us of the Jordan turning back in Joshua’s time.