Psalms 116King James Version
I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice. The sorrows of death compassed me. I said in my haste, All men are liars. What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
A personal thanksgiving in first person. 'I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.' Sorrows of death encompassed him; pains of hell took hold. He called: O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. God is gracious, righteous, merciful. He delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, my feet from falling. What shall I render to the LORD? I will take the cup of salvation. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Personal deliverance generates a permanent disposition: 'I will call upon him as long as I live,' because the one who inclined his ear once has defined himself as the one who hears.
verse: "I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications." The opening is the most direct statement of personal love for God in the Psalter.
No superscription. Egyptian Hallel (fifth of six). The vow-paying in the courts of the LORD (vv14, 18-19) suggests temple use after a personal healing or deliverance. The setting 'in the presence of all his people' (v14) makes this a public testimony of private experience, the standard form of Israelite thanksgiving.
The anonymous psalmist as the one delivered; God as the one who heard, inclined, delivered; the vow-payers in the congregation; the servants and sons of handmaids who are loosed.
Psalm 116 is part of the Egyptian Hallel and was sung by Jesus and his disciples at the Last Supper. The 'cup of salvation' (v13) connects to the cup Jesus took at the Supper. 'Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints' (v15) became a foundational text for Christian martyrdom theology and funerary liturgy.
For when you have come through something that nearly killed you, whether physically or spiritually. The psalm is the first thing to say after you are out.
1I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
2Because he hath inclined his ear unto me, therefore will I call upon him as long as I live.
3The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
4Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
5Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.
6The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.
7Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
8For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
9I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.
10I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:
11I said in my haste, All men are liars.
12What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?
13I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.
14I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.
15Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
16O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
17I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.
18I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,
19In the courts of the LORD'S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.