the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.
Parallel translations
- WEB The mountains skipped like rams, the little hills like lambs.
- KJV The mountains skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs.
- NKJV The mountains skipped like rams, The little hills like lambs.
- NASB The mountains skipped like rams, The hills, like lambs.
- NLT The mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs!
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 mountains and hills leaped like rams and lambs at God's presence. Even the earth trembled with joy and awe before Him.
Overview
The skipping mountains likely recall the quaking of Sinai when God descended in fire (Exodus 19:18). The exuberant image personifies creation responding to its Maker's nearness. It conveys that all the earth is moved before the living God, whose presence shakes both nature and nations.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Judg 5:4–5O LORD, when You went out from Seir, when You marched from the land of Edom, the earth trembled, the heavens poured out rain, and the clouds poured down water.
- Exod 19:18Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
- Exod 20:18When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.
- Hab 3:6He stood and measured the earth; He looked and startled the nations; the ancient mountains crumbled; the perpetual hills collapsed. His ways are everlasting.
- Jer 4:23–24I looked at the earth, and it was formless and void; I looked to the heavens, and they had no light.
- Rev 20:11Then I saw a great white throne and the One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them.
- 2 Pet 3:7–11And by that same word, the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
- Hab 3:8Were You angry at the rivers, O LORD? Was Your wrath against the streams? Did You rage against the sea when You rode on Your horses, on Your chariots of salvation?
- Mic 1:3–4For behold, the LORD comes forth from His dwelling place; He will come down and tread on the high places of the earth.
- Ps 29:6He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox.
- Ps 18:7Then the earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains trembled; they were shaken because He burned with anger.
- Nah 1:5The mountains quake before Him, and the hills melt away; the earth trembles at His presence—the world and all its dwellers.
- Ps 68:16Why do you gaze in envy, O mountains of many peaks? This is the mountain God chose for His dwelling, where the LORD will surely dwell forever.
- Ps 39:6Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.
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 114:4 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.