Commentaries:
Adam Clarke
The flint - I have translated 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.
Psalms 114:1 In gangyng of Isrel oute of Egipt,
Of the house of Jacob fra hethen folke.
Psalms 114:2 Made is Jude his halawyng
Isrel might of hym.
Psalms 114:3 The se sawe and fled,
Jurdan turned is agayne;
Psalms 114:4 Hawes gladed als wethers,
And hilles als lambes of schepe.
Psalms 114:5 What is to the se, that thou fled?
And thou Jordane that thou ert turned agayne?
Psalms 114:6 Hawes gladded als wethers?
And hils als lambs of schepe.
Psalms 114:7 Fra the face of Lorde styrde is the erth,
Fra the face of God of Jabob;
Psalms 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.
Psalms 114:1 On outgang Israel of Egypt,
House Jacob of folk foreigners;
Psalms 114:2 Made is Jacob holyness his;
Israel andweald (government) his.
Psalms 114:3 Sea saw, and flew!
Jordan turned underback!
Psalms 114:4 Mounts they fain (rejoiced) so (as) rams,
And burghs (hillocks) so (as) lamb - sheep.
Psalms 114:5 What is the sea, that thou flew?
And thou river for that thou turned is underback?
Psalms 114:6 Mounts ye fained (rejoiced) so so rams;
And hills so so lambs - sheep.
Psalms 114:7 From sight Lord' s stirred is earth;
From sight God of Jacob.
Psalms 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: -
Psalms 114:2 Andweald, government. Hence weal and wealth, commonweal or wealth; the general government, that which produces the welfare of the country.
Psalms 114:4 Faegnodon, fained - desired fervently, felt delight in expectation.
Psalms 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.
Psalms 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.
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