1 WHEN Israel out of Egypt came,
And left the proud oppressor's land,
Supported by the great I AM,
Safe in the hollow of his hand,
The Lord in Israel reigned alone,
And Judah was his favourite throne.
2 The sea beheld his power, and fled,
Disparted by the wondrous rod;
Jordan ran backward to its head,
And Sinai felt the incumbent God;
The mountains skipped like frighted rams,
The hills leaped after them as lambs!
3 What ailed thee, O thou trembling sea?
What horror turned the river back?
Was nature's God displeased with thee?
And why should hills or mountains shake?
Ye mountains huge, that skipped like rams
Ye hills, that leaped as frighted lambs!
4 Earth! tremble on, with all thy sons,
In presence of thy awful Lord,
Whose power inverted nature owns,
Her only law his sovereign word:
He shakes the centre with his nod,
And heaven bows down to Jacob's God.
5 Creation, varied by his hand,
The omnipotent Jehovah knows;
The sea is turned to solid land,
The rock into a fountain flows;
And all things, as they change, proclaim
The Lord eternally the same.