Psalms 116:4-19

Context

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 protects¹ the untrained;²

I was in serious trouble³ and he delivered me.

116:7 Rest once more, my soul,⁴

for the Lord has vindicated you.⁵

116:8 Yes,⁶ Lord,⁷ you rescued my life from death,

and kept my feet from stumbling.

116:9 I will serve⁸ the Lord

in the land⁹ of the living.

116:10 I had faith when I said,

“I am severely oppressed.”

116:11 I rashly declared,¹⁰

“All men are liars.”

116:12 How can I repay the Lord

for all his acts of kindness to me?

116:13 I will celebrate my deliverance,¹¹

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people.

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers.¹²

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

I am your lowest slave.¹³

You saved me from death.¹⁴

116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people,

116:19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

[116:6] ¹tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.

[116:6] ²tn 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.

[116:6] ³tn Heb “I was low.”

[116:7] ⁴tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”

[116:7] ⁵tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ’al) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).

[116:8] ⁶tn Or “for.”

[116:8] ⁷tn “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.

[116:9] ⁸tn 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.

[116:9] ⁹tn Heb “lands, regions.”

[116:11] ¹⁰tn Heb “I said in my haste.”

[116:13] ¹¹tn Heb “a cup of deliverance I will lift up.” Perhaps this alludes to a drink offering the psalmist will present as he thanks the Lord for his deliverance. See v. 17.

[116:15] ¹²tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.

[116:16] ¹³tn 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] ¹⁴tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).