116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me, 1
the snares 2 of Sheol confronted me.
I was confronted 3 with trouble and sorrow.
116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,
“Please Lord, rescue my life!”
116:5 The Lord is merciful and fair;
our God is compassionate.
116:6 The Lord protects 4 the untrained; 5
I was in serious trouble 6 and he delivered me.
116:7 Rest once more, my soul, 7
for the Lord has vindicated you. 8
116:8 Yes, 9 Lord, 10 you rescued my life from death,
and kept my feet from stumbling.
116:9 I will serve 11 the Lord
in the land 12 of the living.
1 tn Heb “surrounded me.”
2 tn The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (mÿtsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.
3 tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.
4 tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the
5 tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.
6 tn Heb “I was low.”
7 tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”
8 tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).
9 tn Or “for.”
10 tn “
11 tn Heb “walk before” (see Ps 56:13). On the meaning of the Hebrew idiom, see the notes at 2 Kgs 20:3/Isa 38:3.
12 tn Heb “lands, regions.”