Psalm 116

This psalm belongs to Book Five of the Psalms (Psalms 107–150). It is one of the "Hallel" psalms, a collection running from Psalm 113 through Psalm 118. The preceding Psalm 115 urges trust in the LORD in contrast to idols and ends with Hallelujah. Psalm 116 follows with an individual's thanksgiving for a deliverance he has personally experienced. Because the psalm has no superscription (a title placed before the psalm), its author and date of composition are unknown.

Outline

• Verses 1–2 The psalmist declares that he loves the LORD because He has heard his supplications, and he vows to call upon Him as long as he lives.
• Verses 3–4 He recalls how, when the sorrows of death and the pains of hell encompassed him, he called upon the name of the LORD and prayed for the deliverance of his soul.
• Verses 5–7 Because the gracious, righteous, and merciful LORD saved him when he was brought low, he tells his soul to return to its rest.
• Verses 8–11 Having been delivered from death, tears, and falling, he resolves to walk before the LORD in the land of the living. He also recalls how, in his great affliction, he said, "All men are liars."
• Verses 12–14 He asks what he can render to the LORD for all His benefits, then resolves to take the cup of salvation and pay his vows in the presence of all the people.
• Verses 15–16 He declares that the death of the LORD's saints is precious in His sight, and confesses that he is the LORD's servant, whose bonds the LORD has loosed.
• Verses 17–19 He resolves to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and to pay his vows in the courts of the LORD's house in Jerusalem, and closes with Hallelujah.

Key Verses

• Psalm 116:1 "I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications." — Answered prayer is presented as the reason for loving God.
• Psalm 116:12 "What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?" — The point from which thanksgiving issues in concrete responses (the cup, vows, and sacrifice).
• Psalm 116:15 "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints." — A confession that God does not regard lightly the life and death of the godly.

People and Places

• The psalmist — An unnamed speaker. He calls himself "the son of thine handmaid," that is, a servant belonging to the Lord from birth.
• The Temple in Jerusalem — "The courts of the LORD's house" in verse 19, where the psalmist intends to pay his vows before the people.

Points for Reflection

• In Jewish tradition, Psalms 113–118 are known as songs sung at Passover. For this reason, some interpreters connect this collection with the account that after the Last Supper, Jesus and His disciples "had sung an hymn" and went out to the Mount of Olives (Matthew 26:30).
• Many interpreters understand the "cup of salvation" in verse 13 as a drink offering presented along with the thank offering. Christian tradition sometimes reads it in connection with the Lord's Supper, but this is a later application rather than something the text itself states.
• The Septuagint, and the Vulgate following it, divide this psalm into two, verses 1–9 and verses 10–19, numbering them as Psalms 114 and 115.
• The meaning of verse 10 in the Hebrew text is unclear, so translations render it differently. Paul, following the wording of the Septuagint, quotes the line "I believed, and therefore have I spoken" (2 Corinthians 4:13).
• The word "precious" in verse 15 is read in two ways. One reading holds that God values the death of His saints; the other holds that He regards their death as so weighty that He does not readily permit it.

In the Korean Church

Verse 12 is frequently used as a sermon text on the theme of gratitude at Thanksgiving and Wheat Harvest Thanksgiving. Verse 15 is said to be frequently cited at funeral services and memorial services.