Psalm 116

 ¹I love the Lord, because He has heard

My voice and my supplications.

²Because He has inclined His ear to me,

Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

³The pains of death surrounded me,

And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;

I found trouble and sorrow.

⁴Then I called upon the name of the Lord:

“O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

⁵Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

Yes, our God is merciful.

⁶The Lord preserves the simple;

I was brought low, and He saved me.

⁷Return to your rest, O my soul,

For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

⁸For You have delivered my soul from death,

My eyes from tears,

And my feet from falling.

⁹I will walk before the Lord

In the land of the living.

¹⁰I believed, therefore I spoke,

“I am greatly afflicted.”

¹¹I said in my haste,

“All men are liars.”

¹²What shall I render to the Lord

For all His benefits toward me?

¹³I will take up the cup of salvation,

And call upon the name of the Lord.

¹⁴I will pay my vows to 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 Your servant;

I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;

You have loosed my bonds.

¹⁷I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,

And will call upon the name of the Lord.

¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord

Now in the presence of all His people,

¹⁹In the courts of the Lord’s house,

In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Preamble: This Psalm has been used as a Psalm describing the Lord Jesus Christ’s Victory on the Cross (Believers Bible Commentary). It is also said to be the Psalm sung by the disciples at the Last Supper (KJ Bible Commentary). It is then a Psalm of deep and profound thanksgiving, a Psalm which resonates with everyone who has experienced the Lord’s deliverance and salvation in their own lives as well.

Commentary

Vs. 1-2 ¹I love the Lord, because He has heard

My voice and my supplications.

²Because He has inclined His ear to me,

Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.

Why do we love the Lord? this Psalm answers it universally for us all who believe in Him, for he has answered our supplications, our prayer for His salvation that delivered us from death and brought us to life by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, it was then that God’s love was born in us, a love that comes from Him and extends to Him and to all. The Psalm thus opens with a declaration of our love for the Lord because of His hearing us, hearing our voice and answering our prayer in our greatest time of need, for it was during our souls darkest night He turned it into light! This Psalm then was penned on the backside of that, on victorious the side, where we now stand. For praise to the Lord is always born out of our first receiving God’s grace and life, His salvation, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Vs. 3-4 ³The pains of death surrounded me,

And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;

I found trouble and sorrow.

⁴Then I called upon the name of the Lord:

“O Lord, I implore You, deliver my soul!”

Verses three and four now recall that dark night, that time of life when all of our fears and troubles seemed to be closing in on us, here though in verse three it seems quite literal, death and Sheol (i.e., hell), had seized them, fear of what was to come was overwhelming them. These verses then aptly described ones distressed state that led them to (to our) calling on the Name of Lord (Rom. 10:13). These verses then also reverberate with Psalm 18:4-6, but here we see the conclusion. For God has no pleasure in seeing anyone in that state, but rather that they call upon Him, so that He can save them.

Vs. 5-6 ⁵Gracious is the Lord, and righteous;

Yes, our God is merciful.

⁶The Lord preserves the simple;

I was brought low, and He saved me.

Having been delivered from death and hell. The Psalmist now gives testimony to the Lord’s gracious, righteous, and most merciful dealings with them. And in this there is no sense of self deservedness. For they go on to declare how the Lord preserves the simple; for He preserves all who simply believe Him and take Him at His Word, whose trust in Him is childlike, these then are most precious to Him, which can be you, if you also repent and believe. For the Psalmist also describes how they were first brought low, brought to the end of themselves, and how the Lord saved them!

Vs. 7-9 ⁷Return to your rest, O my soul,

For the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.

⁸For You have delivered my soul from death,

My eyes from tears,

And my feet from falling.

⁹I will walk before the Lord

In the land of the living.

Reflecting on the Lord’s bountifully dealings with them, there is a quiet reassurance, of finding one’s souls rest again. For the Lord has delivered their (my) soul from death, He has removed tears from their (my) eyes, and in walking with us in the land of the living He has kept our feet from falling, for it is the Lord Jesus Christ by His generous Spirit who has upheld us all who believe in Him! Therefore, their statement: “I will walk before the Lord In the land of the living.” Is their/our commitment of keeping our faith in Him.

Vs. 10 I believed, therefore I spoke,

“I am greatly afflicted.”

“I believed therefore I spoke” is their ongoing faith commitment in the Lord even while being afflicted. This faith statement is cited by the Apostle Paul in 2 Cor. 4:13 to likewise describe his own ongoing faith in and preaching of the Lord Jesus Christ even while under great afflictions and persecutions. Let it be ours as well. 

Vs. 11 I said in my haste,

“All men are liars.”

Verse eleven is a continuation of the previous thoughts, here though there is no attempt by the Psalmist to gloss over their own struggles in trying to understand the Lord’s dealings with them, especially when faced with lying and scheming people. Nevertheless, the Psalmist realizes their error and thus makes a self correction.

Vs. 12-14 ¹²What shall I render to the Lord

For all His benefits toward me?

¹³I will take up the cup of salvation,

And call upon the name of the Lord.

¹⁴I will pay my vows to the Lord

Now in the presence of all His people.

Circumstances are temporary, but Lord's salvation is eternal. And that is what the psalmist returns to here. For truly the heart of thanksgiving is born out of receiving, of first receiving the Lord Jesus Christ’s salvation by God’s grace. That then is our taking up the cup of salvation which the Lord extends freely to us all. For in calling upon the Name of the Lord we are saved (Rom. 10:9-10, 13). There is then nothing with which we can repay Him for all the benefits of our now knowing Him and belonging to Him. Thus, the whole thought here is not of “repayment”, but of loyalty and thanksgiving, of praising and worshiping and delighting ourselves in the Lord in the presence of all of His people, because of all that He has done and continues to do for us.

Vs. 15 “Precious in the sight of the Lord

Is the death of His saints.”

This verse should be written in all our hearts, for though many a saint (i.e., many a child of God) has suffered cruel deaths at the hands of wicked and evil people, (see Hebrews 11) we are never forgotten by Him, our lives always matter most deeply to Him (Matt. 10:28-32). The Lord Jesus Christ’s own death on the Cross for us all then is God's pinnacle of this, because by His selfless and courageous Sacrifice He made a way for us all to be saved.

Vs. 16 “O Lord, truly I am Your servant;

I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;

You have loosed my bonds.”

Inspired with renewed confidence in our Lord and Savior, the Psalmist once again dedicates themselves to Him. This then will be how they will close out this Psalm in the full confidence of being the Lord’s servant, of committing themselves to Him, just as their mother was also His servant, for the Lord has loosed his bonds. However, this verse is not saying, nor promising that because one’s parent/s are believers that one will be also. For each person individually must make their own decision to believe in (and thus receive) the Lord Jesus Christ for themselves (Rev. 3:20).

 Vs. 17-19 ¹⁷I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,

And will call upon the name of the Lord.

¹⁸I will pay my vows to the Lord

Now in the presence of all His people,

¹⁹In the courts of the Lord’s house,

In the midst of you, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Therefore they will begin by offering to our Lord the only acceptable “sacrifice” to Him, and that is the grateful praise of our hearts, for they (and we) will call upon the Name of the Lord and no other, for no other name shall we praise, and no other god shall be heard from our lips, for our loyalty now rests with Him alone. Now the paying of vows was an essential part of O.T. worship and service of the Lord, in the N.T. era however we do not take vows, but we must all strive to keep our word to our Lord and Savior, for God has no delight in hypocrites, deceivers, and liars (see Acts 5:1-11). The Psalm closes then with their wanting to express their faith publicly, for in the courts of the Lord’s house is where both believers and seekers sought Him, however their expressions and declarations of faith will not be just confined to the house of worship, but in the midst of Jerusalem they will make the Lord’s Name known. Praise the Lord! Let us all then take up Lord’s Name on our lips and make Him known everywhere as well!

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.