Psalms 116:3-4

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!”

Psalms 116:16

116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;

I am your lowest slave. ⁴ 

You saved me from death. ⁵ 

[116:3]  ¹ tn Heb “surrounded me.”

[116:3]  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.

[116:3]  ³ tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.

[116:16]  ⁴ tn Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). The use of the expression here certainly does not imply that the Lord has such a secondary wife or concubine! It is used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant.

[116:16]  ⁵ tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).