i. 1. Answered prayer evokes love and lifelong praise (Psalm 116:1-4).

2. Jehovah has proved Himself true to His revealed character by His gracious dealings with the Psalmist, who can now look forward to a prolonged life of tranquil service (Psalm 116:5-9).

ii. 1. In his sorest trouble he had not lost faith, and now he will give thanks for Jehovah’s mercy (Psalm 116:10-14).

2. Jehovah’s care for His beloved ones, illustrated by his recent experience, shall be gratefully acknowledged by the public performance of his vows and eucharistic sacrifices in the Temple (Psalm 116:15-19).

The Psalm thus falls into two main divisions, each with two subdivisions. The LXX, followed by the Vulg., divides the Psalm into two, and according to their numeration Psalm 116:1-9 form Psalms 114; Psalm 116:10-19 form Psalms 115. The separation of the Ps. into two is doubtless wrong, but it recognises that a fresh division begins at Psalm 116:10. ‘I believed’ corresponds to ‘I love’ in Psalm 116:1.

Psalms 115 is a congregational prayer; Psalms 116 is an individual thanksgiving for deliverance from imminent danger of death. The language is general, and the precise nature of the danger does not appear: most likely it was sickness. In many points the Psalm reminds us of Hezekiah’s thanksgiving (Isaiah 38). But whatever it was, the danger had been extreme, and the thanksgiving is correspondingly earnest. The Psalmist was familiar with older Psalms, and freely adapts language from them (especially Psalms 18, 27, 31, 56) but gives it fresh force from the depths of his own recent experience.

The strong Aramaic colouring of the language[75], together with this free use of earlier Psalms, points to a late, possibly a very late, date. It is however hardly probable that the Hasidaeans of the Maccabaean period (1Ma 7:13 ff.) are meant by the ‘saints’ (chasîdîm) of Psalm 116:15.

[75] For the form of suffix in Psalm 116:7 cp. Psalm 103:3 ff. That in Psalm 116:12 is the regular Aramaic form. See Ges.-Kautzsch, Gramm. § 91, 2. R. 2.

Part of this Psalm is used in the office for the Thanksgiving of Women after Child-birth.

1. Lit. I love, because Jehovah heareth my voice, even my supplications: an unusual, but not impossible, form of expression for I love Jehovah, because he heareth &c. Cp. 1 John 4:19 (R.V.), “We love, because he first loved us.” Again in Psalm 116:2 (I will call), and Psalm 116:10 (I believed) the Psalmist employs verbs in a peculiar manner without an expressed object.

I love is a reminiscence of Psalm 18:1, though the Heb. word there is different. My voice, (even) my supplications is (if the text is sound) a slight variation from the usual phrase the voice of my supplications (Psalm 28:2; Psalm 28:6; Psalm 31:22; Psalm 130:2; Psalm 140:6).

The P.B.V. I am well pleased that the Lord &c. is linguistically questionable and less forcible.

1, 2. Answered prayer demands lifelong love and gratitude.

2. Because … therefore] Better For … and.

inclined his ear] Psalm 17:6 and often.

as long as I live] Lit. in my days (Isaiah 39:8). Cp. Psalm 63:4, in my life.

3. The cords of death encompassed me,

And the straitnesses of Sheol gat hold of [lit. found] me.

The parallelism decides for the meaning cords in Psalm 18:5, though pangs (LXX ὠδῖνες) is also a possible rendering, and may be the meaning here. But here too Death and Sheol are probably represented as hunters lying in wait for their prey with nooses and nets, or driving it into a defile from which it cannot escape. Cp. Lamentations 1:3.

The P.B.V. renders wrongly I shall find … I will call. The crisis is evidently past.

3, 4. The Psalmist’s prayer in peril. Cp. Psalm 18:4-6.

4. the name of Jehovah, more emphatically than Jehovah alone, denotes His revealed character (Exodus 34:5), to which the Psalmist appealed, and not in vain.

5. Cp. Psalm 111:4, and passages referred to there, all based on the fundamental passage, Exodus 34:6.

5, 6. The character of Jehovah, realised in the Psalmist’s experience.

6. the simple] Those whose want of wisdom and experience exposes them to danger. Cp. Psalm 19:7; Psalm 119:130. LXX τὰ νήπια, babes; cp. Matthew 11:25.

I was brought low] Cp. Psalm 79:8; Psalm 142:6.

and he helped me] R.V. saved. Cp. Psalm 116:13.

7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul] Abandon anxiety and resume the perfect tranquility that springs from trust in God. The plural form of the word for rest denotes full and complete rest. For the address to the soul cp. Psalm 42:5, and Psalm 103:1 ff., a Psalm further connected with this Psalm by its use of Aramaic forms of pronominal suffix.

dealt bountifully] Cp. Psalm 13:6.

7–9. The Psalmist encourages himself with the recollection of God’s mercy.

8, 9. Taken almost verbatim from Psalm 56:13 (hence the transition to the second person), with the change of light to lands, suggested by Psalm 27:13. The free and joyous service of God in the land of life and light is the contrast to that paralysis of existence in Sheol which he had dreaded. Cp. Isaiah 38:3; Isaiah 38:11.

10, 11. In the extremity of his distress the Psalmist was compelled to recognise the delusiveness of human help, but he never lost faith in God. Such is the general sense, but the details of interpretation are doubtful. The A.V. I believed, therefore have I spoken follows the LXX (ἐπίστευσα, διὸ ἐλάλησα), which is quoted by St Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:13; but this rendering must be abandoned as grammatically untenable. On the whole it seems best to render:

I believed [or as R.V. I believe], for I will speak:

I was exceedingly afflicted:

I said In my alarm,

All men are deceitful.

I believed may be understood absolutely, ‘I held fast to my faith in Jehovah’: but the Psalmist evidently (cp. Psalm 116:9) still has in mind Psalm 27:13 “I believe that I shall see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living,” and the use of the word there suggests that the sense here should be completed from Psalm 116:9, “I believed that it would be so,” viz. ‘that I should walk before Jehovah in the lands of the living.’ This faith he retained though he was grievously afflicted. Further, I said in my alarm is borrowed from Psalm 31:22, where the Psalmist confesses that in his peril he fancied himself deserted by Jehovah. ‘I said in my alarm, I am cut off from before thine eyes.’ Is not our Psalmist tacitly contrasting his own faith with that earlier Psalmist’s loss of faith? He had not ceased to trust in God, but he had learned not to depend on men.

Other renderings are, (1) I believed, when I spake [saying] ‘I am exceedingly afflicted’: i.e. I retained my confidence, even when I complained of the severity of my sufferings, and found myself deserted by men. Or (2) I was confident that I should speak (thus); but as for me, I was sore afflicted: i.e. “he was fully confident that he would sooner or later have to record thanksgivings for deliverance, such as in Psalm 116:5-9” (Cheyne).

all men are liars] Cp. Psalm 60:11; Psalm 62:9; Romans 3:4.

10–14. Faith’s triumph must be followed by grateful thanksgiving.

12. ‘Quid retribuam Domino pro omnibus quae retribuit mihi?’ was the question which Richard of Bury, bishop of Durham 1334–1345, the most learned man of his country and age, asked himself repeatedly, and answered by making provision for a band of poor scholars to serve God and His Church. See Lightfoot’s Leaders of the Northern Church, p. 105.

13. the cup of salvation] Lit. salvations; the cup to be drunk as a part of the sacrifice of thanksgiving (Psalm 116:14) for great and manifold deliverance. Cp. ‘the cup of blessing’ in the service of the Passover (Matthew 26:27).

call upon] Rather, proclaim the name of Jehovah, acknowledging that to Him alone is my gratitude due.

14. This verse which is repeated as Psalm 116:18 is omitted in the best MSS of the LXX, and may have been inserted here by mistake. Its omission would make the stanza Psalm 116:10-13 agree in length with the corresponding stanza Psalm 116:1-4; still, the repeated resolution of thanksgiving is not out of place.

15. Precious &c.] Their death is not a matter of indifference to Him. Cp. Psalm 72:14. Babylas bishop of Antioch, who was martyred in the Decian persecution, met his death singing these words.

his saints] His beloved, or his godly ones. See Appendix, Note I.

15–19. Jehovah’s care for His beloved ones has been illustrated in the Psalmist’s experience, and for these mercies he will give public thanks in the Temple.

16. Lit. I beseech thee, Jehovah, for I am thy servant. The precative interjection would naturally be followed by an imperative, as in Psalm 116:4 b, hear me, or the like; but the Psalmist breaks off into thanksgiving.

thy servant, [omit and] the son of thy handmaid] So Psalm 86:16. ‘The son of thy handmaid’ is a synonym for ‘thy servant,’ but denoting a closer relationship, for servants ‘born in the house’ (Genesis 14:14) were the most trusted dependents. Cp. ‘of the household of God,’ Ephesians 2:19. It is hardly, as Delitzsch thinks, an allusion to the piety of the Psalmist’s mother.

loosed my bonds] He had been like a prisoner condemned to death, Psalm 116:3. Cp. Psalm 107:10; Psalm 107:14.

17. Unto thee will I offer … and proclaim the name of Jehovah, as Psalm 116:13.

sacrifice of thanksgiving] See Leviticus 7:11 ff.

18. As in Psalm 22:25 stress is laid upon the public confession of gratitude. Cp. Psalm 66:13.

19. Praise ye the Lord] Hallelujah, probably, with LXX, to be transferred to the beginning of Psalms 117.