The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back.
Parallel translations
- WEB The sea saw it, and fled. The Jordan was driven back.
- BSB The sea observed and fled; the Jordan turned back;
- NKJV The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back.
- NASB ¶The sea looked and fled; The Jordan turned back.
- NLT The Red Sea saw them coming and hurried out of their way! The water of the Jordan River turned away.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The sea fled and the Jordan turned back before God's people. Creation itself yielded to make a way for His redemption.
Overview
This verse poetically joins two miracles: the parting of the Red Sea at the exodus (Exodus 14) and the Jordan's stopping at the entry to Canaan (Joshua 3). Together they frame Israel's journey from bondage to inheritance. The waters' retreat displays God's sovereign power over creation in the service of saving His people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Exod 14:21And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.
- Ps 77:16The waters saw thee, O God, the waters saw thee; they were afraid: the depths also were troubled.
- Hab 3:8–9Was the LORD displeased against the rivers? was thine anger against the rivers? was thy wrath against the sea, that thou didst ride upon thine horses and thy chariots of salvation?
- Josh 3:13–16And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests that bear the ark of the LORD, the LORD of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of Jordan, that the waters of Jordan shall be cut off from the waters that come down from above; and they shall stand upon an heap.
- Hab 3:15Thou didst walk through the sea with thine horses, through the heap of great waters.
- Isa 63:12That led them by the right hand of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them, to make himself an everlasting name?
- Exod 15:8And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of the sea.
- Ps 106:9He rebuked the Red sea also, and it was dried up: so he led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.
- Ps 104:7At thy rebuke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they hasted away.
- Ps 74:15Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood: thou driedst up mighty rivers.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 114:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.