I love Jehovah, for he hath heard my voice [and] my supplications;
The psalm opens with a man who has been to the edge of the grave and come back, and his first word is love. What follows explains why. It was not a duty he owed, but something God had done for him.
Love here is not the psalmist's achievement. It is his answer to being heard. Older versions open the verse "I have loved," with no object named, and give "pleas for mercy" as "supplications" — that is the wording the writers below follow. One writer notes the psalm had no need to name the one loved:
Confidence in Him, from knowing that He hears, draws out the heart's affection. The saint does not say who he loves. There was no need to say it. Everyone would understand who it must be from the words that follow — "Jehovah hears my voice, my supplication." You may repeat the commandment to love the Lord as often as you like, and it will not awaken any love to Him in the soul. But the grace God has shown will awaken desires and stir up affections never seen before. So the saint says, "I have loved" — not because he was commanded, though the commandment was certainly before his eyes, but because Jehovah has done something for him.
The same distinction is drawn out elsewhere. Being heard while under judgment and evil is what created the affection:
He does not love the Lord as under the law, but as first loved — for deliverance, because heard when judgment and evil were upon His soul... It is the thanksgiving song for deliverance producing love.
This is not yet the language of singing; that comes later in the psalm. It is the cry of a man in trouble. His own past tells him God listened.
This is not the voice of praise and thanksgiving; that comes in at verse 17. It is the voice of supplication, the voice of someone in trouble, and Jehovah hears it. How can he be sure of that before the full answer comes? "Because He has inclined His ear to me." Past answers, and God keeping him safe until now, tell him that He has inclined His ear. He is a God who hears the cry of distress, so he will call on Him as long as he lives.
This love did not grow in comfort. Later verses speak of death drawing near, and of trouble and sorrow. Writers see God's purpose in that pressure.
The Lord often lets us pass through very hard circumstances. He does it to bring us into His own presence, and to let us prove that His grace is enough. After deep trial of soul, the psalmist can say, "I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy." When everything here seems against us, who can we turn to but the Lord? And once we have turned to Him in prayer and supplication, the heart's affections come alive, producing praise and the soul's confidence in Him.
He called when he was past all human help. The answer showed him what God is like.
He was brought near to death and found trouble and sorrow. When at death's door, beyond all human help, the godly man had called upon the name of the Lord. In response to his cry, he found the Lord to be "gracious," "righteous," and "merciful" — One who is the preserver of the simple, and the helper of the helpless. The simple man is not necessarily a wicked person, but one who may be easily deceived by the wicked.
Writers also read this psalm as more than one man's story:
A living God, who deserves all praise and glory, and a living people to praise Him, would be fitting titles for these two psalms. Psalm 115 speaks of the living God, and Psalm 116 of the living people. We are not told who wrote them. But the writer clearly spoke under the direct guidance of the prophetic Spirit, for these psalms point to days still to come, and speak of a time of tribulation that has not yet dawned on the earth.
This verse is not an end but a beginning. One answered prayer becomes the reason to keep coming back.
The Lord deals with His people with this end in view: to surround Himself with those who respond to His love and trust Him. He reaches that end in the godly soul that can say, "I love the Lord," and "I will call on him as long as I live."
- Cry — The voice God heard was not praise. It was the pleading of someone in trouble. Hard circumstances drove him there.
- Heard — His confidence rests on God's inclined ear. Past answers prove God listens, even before the full rescue comes.
- Produced — Love here is an effect, not a duty. A repeated command awakens nothing. Grace shown awakens affections never seen before.
- Discovered — At death's door, past all human help, he found God gracious, righteous and merciful. He preserves the simple and helps the helpless.
- Lifelong — God's dealings aim at a people who answer His love. The soul that says "I love the Lord" goes on to call on Him for life.
For he hath inclined his ear unto me, and I will call upon him during [all] my days.
Verse 2 gives a reason and a resolve. God bent down to listen to a man in trouble, and that man decides to keep calling on Him for life. Why does a listening God produce a praying life? And how could the psalmist be sure God heard him before the answer came?
The psalmist is still in danger when he speaks. His certainty rests on what God has already done. One commentator traces how he reasons from past to future, and what sets his God apart:
How can he feel sure of that before the full answer comes? "Because He has inclined His ear to me." Past answers and being kept safe up to now tell him that He has inclined His ear. He is a God who hears the cry of distress, so he will call on Him as long as he lives. "And while I live [literally, "in my days"], I will call." ... The heathen had gods in plenty, but not one could hear or answer. Which of them had bent an ear to those who prayed to them? But the Lord, though unseen, had really listened to His servant.
The psalm opens with love. No command produced that love. It is the answer of a heart God has rescued:
We must note that Psalm 116 is a Psalm of thanksgiving. He does not love the Lord as one under the law. He loves as one first loved, loving because of deliverance, because God heard Him when judgment and evil were on His soul... It is the thanksgiving song. Deliverance produces love, and love brings the voice of praise and thanksgiving as they remember their condition.
The same writer notes what the psalm is not about. God has already answered the cry, so discipline is not its subject:
In Psalm 116 God has heard the one who prays. So God's government has little place in the psalm. The soul has been brought down under the pressure of death, but delivered... The thought of the psalm is grace and faithfulness in Jehovah in delivering. The character of the saint is simplicity; a spirit hard for some, but precious.
What the psalmist found is not unique to him. Writing about Jonah, the prophet swallowed by a great fish, one commentator points straight to this psalm:
God is always ready to hear, and always ready to forgive. The cloud and the darkness are all on our side: our God has not changed... How much better for us to fall at His feet! There we can pour out the whole story of our sin and failure and cry to Him for mercy and forgiveness. We will find the same. Like the writer of Psalm 116, who had found trouble and sorrow, we too may exclaim with wonder and worship, "I love the Lord, because He has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. Because He inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him as long as I live."
Some writers read the psalm forward, to Israel. Then verse 2 becomes a promise a whole nation has yet to speak:
Israel does not love the Lord now. But she will be changed indeed when God at last brings her to the point of crying to Him in earnest supplication. Certainly He will hear, for this is what He has wanted to hear all through her history. Since He has inclined His ear to her, she is now determined to call on Him as long as she lives.
Commentators differ on how directly this psalm speaks of Christ. Some hear Him leading the song Himself:
This is the resurrection song of Messiah. It follows the psalm before it beautifully. Messiah seems to join this joy and praise — or rather, He lets His voice rise and swell above Israel's, so that He might be the leader of the congregation. We know from 2 Corinthians 4:13 that Jesus is the one heard in this Psalm. But we also learn there that anyone with the "same spirit of faith" may use it in their measure.
Others place the psalm first with the faithful in Israel. On that reading Christ entered their experience, and the psalm does not predict Him. Darby calls it "the history of the remnant at the end, into which the blessed Lord so wonderfully entered, but which is not a prophecy of Him." Both readings leave the words open for any believer to make them their own.
- Heard. Confidence here rests on prayer God has already answered. Past rescues prove that He listens.
- Bent. God inclining His ear means He stoops to the cry of distress. The psalmist knows His character before he sees the outcome.
- Loved. The love in verse 1 is not obedience to a command to love. It is the response of someone who was rescued first.
- Called. Because He hears, the answer is a lifetime habit — "in my days I will call" — not a single prayer in a single crisis.
- Shared. The song belongs to Christ leading His people and to a nation yet to sing it. Anyone with the same spirit of faith may use it too.
The bands of death encompassed me, and the anguish of Sheol took hold of me; I found trouble and sorrow
Psalm 116 looks back on a rescue, and verse 3 tells how close the danger came. Who is speaking? A believer at the end of his strength, Israel in a coming hour of distress, or Christ Himself.
Older translations read "sorrows of death" and "the pains of hell." The word behind "hell" is Sheol. One writer shows why Sheol is not the same as the grave.
For the wicked, Sheol is linked with pain and sorrow… The word for the grave, qeber, is never linked in this way with judgment and sorrow. The body in the grave is unconscious. It cannot feel pain or sorrow. The soul is conscious, and in the condition of Sheol it can feel such things.
The speaker has reached the point where every human help has run out.
This was a dreadful position. He was at the end of human strength, past all help from any creature, and the gates of death and hell stood wide open before him, ready to receive him. What could he do but throw himself on the mercy of God?
The next verse turns to prayer. One writer says that is what such trouble is for.
If we keep walking in the paths of rebellion and self-will, we can be sure that we too will find "trouble and sorrow" — trouble and sorrow so deep that it will force us to our knees. Dear Christian, have you turned away from the presence of the Lord? Have you grown cold and hard? Have you stopped praying? Have you lost the joy you once had in Christ? Take warning, and take heart, from Jonah.
Read as prophecy, the verse points to a future hour of affliction.
Psalm 116 speaks the language of faith at the very moment God brings fresh deliverance. Still reading the Psalms as prophecy, we may see in verse 3 a hint of the sorrows of the great tribulation, when the godly had been brought right down to the gates of death and "hell," or "Sheol."
Another writer adds what that rescue produced.
The 116th psalm comes in here to show how close Israel had come to those terrible jaws of death. Without the mercy of God they would have been swallowed up in utter ruin. It is the sense of this deliverance that brings their hearts to God, and makes them His servants forever.
Commentators differ on the speaker. Some hear the godly of a future day; others hear Christ, and place the words at the cross.
Heaven could be offered to men only when the claims of God's holy government were met, and our Lord met them in full by His atoning death on the cross. He could take up the psalmist's words as His own experience there: "The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me" (Ps. 116:3).
The psalmist did not only suffer; he also spoke. One writer traces that speech to faith.
The same spirit of faith held up the psalmist when the sorrows of death closed round him, when he found trouble and sorrow, and when he was greatly afflicted. Even then he could speak of life, for he said, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Then he tells us how he could speak of life with death all around him: "I believed, therefore I have spoken."
The conditions of verse 3 still meet us; what has changed is where death leads.
Every tie we form in this world will one day be broken. Death comes before us. Its dark waters roll in on the soul when a loved one is taken from us, or when serious illness lays us aside. Yet for the Christian the position is so different, for we know that death only leads into the presence of Christ, which is far better. The Lord Jesus has gone through the dark, raging flood of death Himself, so that we may pass through the waters on dry ground.
- Surrounded — Death and Sheol close in on the psalmist. Unlike the grave, Sheol is linked with conscious pain and sorrow.
- Emptied — Every human help is gone and the gates of death stand open. Nothing is left but to throw himself on God's mercy.
- Driven — Trouble and sorrow do their work when they force a person to his knees. Jonah is both the warning and the encouragement.
- Heard — As prophecy, the psalm remembers Israel almost swallowed by death. That rescue is what makes them God's servants forever.
- Speaking — Faith believed, so it spoke of walking in the land of the living while death still pressed. For the Christian, death now leads straight into the presence of Christ.
Then called I upon the name of Jehovah I beseech thee, Jehovah, deliver my soul.
Psalm 116 opens with a man who loves the Lord, because the Lord heard him. Verse 4 is the prayer itself — a few words shouted from the edge of the grave. Two questions sit behind it: what drove him to call, and what he wanted rescue from.
The cry comes after the psalmist describes being trapped by death's cords. One writer traces the sequence: the trouble uncovered the Lord's love, and drew out his own love in return.
In the verses that follow the psalmist describes the circumstances which revealed the love of the Lord, and called forth his own love. He was brought near to death and found trouble and sorrow. When at death's door, beyond all human help, the godly man had called upon the name of the Lord. In answer to his cry, he found the Lord to be "gracious," "righteous," and "merciful" — One who preserves the simple and helps the helpless.
Another writer treats that order as the rule, not the exception.
God wants His fallen creature, man, saved and blessed. But like the writer of Psalm 116, we have to be brought low before God before we are ready to accept the cup of salvation that He offers… He was as weak as a man can be, past all help any creature could give, and the gates of death and hell stood wide open before him, ready to receive him. What could he do but throw himself upon the mercy of God?
Commentators differ over what "deliver my soul" asks for. One writer reads the whole psalm and ties it to rescue from death itself — from sheol, the place of the dead:
Whatever application these words may have to release from spiritual death, verse 15 makes it clear that the ultimate deliverance in view is from death in sheol. This must be the "death of His saints" that stays precious in the eyes of the Lord. Rescue from it is the reason for the thanksgiving, "You have loosed my bonds" (v. 16).
Another writer reads the psalm as Israel's confession in a day still to come. He hears the prayer reach past the body:
What is the reason for Israel's finally calling on the Lord? "The pains of death" faced her. "The pangs of sheol" threatened her with trouble and sorrow. That drove her out of her old indifference, and she saw that no one but the Lord could help her (v. 3). Then her imploring cries were not only for bodily deliverance, but for that of her soul (v. 4).
He calls on the name of the Lord, and the next verses say who that Lord is. Faith shelters in God's character, and that turns the cry of verse 4 into the rest of verse 7.
What a resource it is to find shelter and confidence in the very character of God Himself! He is faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Faith takes hold of this, and it holds the heart up in troubles that would otherwise sweep over it like a flood. "I have been brought low," he adds, "but He will save me." What God has done in the past gives him confidence. So in verse 4 he cries to the Lord for deliverance, and by verse 7 he can say, "Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you."
One writer aims these words at anyone who has drifted from God, and sets them beside Jonah, the prophet who ran from Him.
Perhaps one of my readers is following Jonah in a life of rebellion and self-will, too proud and too far from God to pray. Take note of how God deals with man. Remember that God can make the proudest spirit bow, and can bring a prayer out of the hardest heart… If we keep walking in the paths of rebellion and self-will, we can be sure that we too will find "trouble and sorrow." It will be such trouble and such sorrow that it forces us to our knees.
Psalms 115 to 118 belonged to the Passover meal. One writer asks what that means for the night Jesus was betrayed.
At their Passover Supper the Jews used to recite Psalms 113 and 114 after the "first cup." Then, after the "third cup" — called the "cup of blessing" — they sang Psalms 115 to 118. If the Lord here used the same psalms, how well they would apply and be fulfilled in Him.
- Brought low — he prays only at death's door, past all human help. God brings a person that low to make him ready for salvation.
- Then he called — trouble that drives a proud or drifting heart to its knees is God at work, as He was with Jonah.
- On the name — he appeals to who God is, not to his own worth. God's character is the whole ground of his confidence.
- Deliver my soul — the plea reaches past the body. Writers tie it both to rescue from death and to the salvation of the soul.
- Return to your rest — God answers the cry of verse 4 so fully that by verse 7 the same man tells his own soul to rest, because the Lord has dealt bountifully with him.
Gracious is Jehovah and righteous; and our God is merciful.
A man at death's door called out to God, and God heard him. This verse is what he said next: three words for God — gracious, righteous, merciful — learned the hard way.
The verse belongs to a man who had run out of options.
In the verses that follow, the psalmist describes what showed him the love of the Lord and drew out his own love. He was brought near to death and found trouble and sorrow. When at death's door, beyond all human help, the godly man had called upon the name of the Lord. In answer to his cry, he found the Lord to be "gracious," "righteous," and "merciful." He is the preserver of the simple and the helper of the helpless. The simple man is not necessarily a wicked person, but one who may be easily deceived by the wicked.
The psalm moves in a set order: the cry, then God's character, then His ways, then rest. And rest comes while the trouble is still there.
Verses 1 and 2, in the usual way, state the full result of all he went through. Then verse 3 shows how deep the pressure was: he found trouble and sorrow. But the effect is that he calls on the Lord (v. 4). All His character comes before the soul (v. 5), and then His ways (v. 6). The result is, "Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you." Yet nothing suggests the circumstances changed. Only the eye has lifted from man's hand… to the Lord's, to see His dealing in all that He had allowed to come upon him.
Grace stands beside righteousness here. The rescue itself comes from both at once.
First comes the statement of how the deliverance came… It comes only through the grace and righteousness of Jehovah — the mercy of God, which he celebrates (vv. 3-6).
That character is also why the cry was answered at all.
Of course the Lord answered, for His very nature is gracious, righteous and merciful (v. 5). He preserves the simple — not the double-minded, but those who will face facts as they are. When they are brought low, they admit it, and they can put their full trust in the One who hears and answers prayer.
The verse ends with "our God" — a word of belonging. Some read the whole psalm as thanksgiving that Christ Himself leads, standing among His people.
Psalm 116 is a psalm of thanksgiving… He does not love the Lord as a man under the law does, but as one who was first loved. He loves Him for deliverance, because he was heard when judgment and evil were upon his soul. Christ leads this thanksgiving or return of heart to Jehovah, saying, our God is merciful (v. 5). It is the thanksgiving cry for deliverance, and it produces love… His own Spirit rejoices in the deliverance as one of the people, and so says "our God."
On that reading, Christ leads His people's worship and shares with them what He has received.
So He comes before us in this verse as the leader of His people's worship: "Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; our God is merciful" (v. 5). Jesus has entered on the rich reward of His accepted work. And He joins to Himself, in the ever-blessed sharing of His joys, all who receive by faith that abundance of grace and that gift of righteousness.
The verse also has a use for anyone whose own stubbornness has landed them in trouble. Jonah took that road to prayer.
If we keep walking in the paths of rebellion and self-will, we may be quite sure that we too will find trouble and sorrow. It will be trouble deep enough to force us to our knees. Dear Christian, have you turned away from the presence of the Lord? Have you grown cold and hard, stopped praying, lost the joy you once had in Christ? Take warning, and take heart, from Jonah. Listen to the fifth verse of that lovely Psalm 116… Does it not remind you of the very character that Jonah gave of God? That is what you and I will find our God to be; if we will only return, He will "abundantly pardon."
- Cry — The verse is what a man says after calling on God from death's door, beyond all human help.
- Character — He answered because of what He is: gracious, righteous, merciful, the helper of the helpless.
- Righteousness — The rescue comes through God's grace and His righteousness, not grace alone.
- Rest — Seeing His character brings the soul back to rest, even when nothing outside has changed.
- Company — "Our God" is a shared word; Christ leads the thanksgiving as one of the people, drawing them into His own joy.
Jehovah keepeth the simple I was brought low, and he saved me.
The psalm looks back on a moment when death seemed certain. This verse says why the Lord answered that cry, and it raises two questions: who are "the simple," and why does being brought low lead to rescue?
The line does not report a single incident. It states what the Lord is always like. That is what faith leans on when circumstances offer nothing else.
Moreover, it was Jehovah's character to preserve the simple. As He has acted, He can act. What a resource it is to find shelter and confidence in the very character of God Himself! He is faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Faith takes hold of this. It lifts the heart up when troubles press in that would otherwise sweep over it like a flood.
Here the cry of the earlier verses gets its answer, and it comes when human help has run out.
When at death's door, beyond all human help, the godly man had called upon the name of the Lord. In answer to his cry, he found the Lord to be "gracious," "righteous," and "merciful." He is the preserver of the simple and the helper of the helpless.
The word points to weakness, not wickedness.
The simple man is not necessarily a wicked person. He is someone the wicked can easily deceive.
Another writer sets the word against a divided heart:
Of course, the Lord answered, for His very nature is gracious, righteous and merciful (v. 5). He preserves the simple — not the double-minded, but those who will face facts as they are. Being brought low, they acknowledge it, and may fully depend on the One who hears and answers prayer.
Commentators differ in emphasis. One hears weakness in the word; the other hears an undivided heart. Both describe someone with no resource but God.
The verse divides people by what they lean on when sorrow reaches its limit.
Those who rely on their own wisdom are powerless before the sorrows of death. But those who call on the Lord with a simple heart find that He "preserves the simple." The Psalmist was brought low, face to face with great trouble and sorrow. There he realises that his help has come from God, and so his soul can rest in the sense of the Lord's goodness. This is what the godly go through, and these are the blessed results of passing through trials with God.
Being brought low comes first, and salvation follows. One commentator sets this beside Jonah, who sank as low as he could go:
It is well for us when we are down. Look again at that beautiful Psalm 116, verse 6: "when I was brought low, He saved me." It is when we are brought down, when our pride is brought low, that He is able to save us. As soon as Jonah reached the very bottom, he said, "I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the bars of the earth closed upon me forever." Then at once we read, "But You have brought up my life from the pit, O Jehovah my God."
Deliverance is not the end of the story. It creates affection and settles the soul.
Psalm 116 celebrates this deliverance when they were at the very point of death... In this view it is a continual recital of the gracious mercy of Jehovah: they were brought low and He helped them. It drew out their love to Him. Such was Jehovah's character. He preserves the simple. The soul that had been tried so severely could return to its rest.
That rest then shapes how he lives:
The Lord has given him rest of soul, and deliverance from death. So he can look to the future with confidence and say, "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Rest of soul leads to a godly walk that has the Lord for its object.
- Low — Being brought down is not what blocks salvation. It is the moment of it. He saves when pride has nothing left to defend.
- Simple — The one He preserves is easy to deceive and undefended. Others read the word as undivided. Either way, he has no resource but God.
- Character — He preserves the simple because that is what He is like. He is faithful and cannot deny Himself, so what He has done He can do again.
- Rest — Realising the help came from God, the soul stops striving and settles in His goodness.
- Walk — Rest of soul does not end in relief; it produces love for Him and a life lived before Him.
Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for Jehovah hath dealt bountifully with thee.
A man who has just come back from the edge of death turns and speaks — not to God, but to himself. The command sounds strange at first. Why would a soul need telling to go back to rest? And what does God's generosity have to do with obeying it?
The word "return" carries a history. It assumes the soul once had a settled place and left it, and that the deliverance now opens the road back.
The deliverance brings them back to the place of rest they once left. They left it to chase empty things, and that only brought distance and unrest. They may well welcome such a return, for in delivering them the Lord has dealt bountifully with them (v. 7).
Nothing here says the trouble has lifted. What moves is not the situation but the psalmist's gaze. It lifts off man's hand and onto the Lord's dealing behind it all.
Yet there is no hint that the circumstances have changed. The eye has only lifted from man's hand to the Lord's, to see His dealing in all that God allowed to come upon him. So by faith the soul already anticipates the full result in resurrection.
Nothing here tells the soul to calm itself by force of will. The command points instead to evidence: what God is, and what He has already done.
Past answers, and God's preservation of him up to now, tell him that He has inclined His ear... What a resource it is to find shelter and confidence in the very character of God Himself! He is faithful; He cannot deny Himself. Faith lays hold of this, and lifts the heart up in the middle of troubles that would otherwise flood over it and completely overwhelm it... God's past actions give him confidence. So in verse 4 he cries to Jehovah for deliverance, and in verse 7 he can say, "Return, O my soul, to your rest; for the LORD has dealt bountifully with you."
This rest is not the end of activity. It grows out of confidence in God, and it sends the man out walking.
The psalmist goes on to describe how the Lord's gracious dealings in the time of trial affected his soul. First, the Lord's bountiful dealings bring him into rest — the rest that comes from confidence in God. Then he gladly credits every blessing he has received to the Lord... The Lord has given him rest of soul, and deliverance from death: He has dried his tears and kept his feet. So he can look ahead with confidence and say, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Rest of soul leads to a godly walk that has the Lord for its object.
One writer reads the psalm first as the voice of a people brought low and rescued, and then as a pattern for every believer, since an apostle later quoted it.
They were brought low and He helped them. It drew out their love to Him. Such was Jehovah's character. He preserves the simple. The soul, tried so deeply, could return to its rest... The apostle's quotation shows that these psalms hold holy principles of life for every believer. Despite suffering and trial, trust in Jehovah opened the believer's mouth.
Another writer pushes the deliverance further still — rescue out of Sheol, the place of the dead:
These words may have some application to release from spiritual death. Even so, verse 15 makes it clear that the deliverance finally in view is from death in Sheol. This must be the "death of His saints" that remains precious in the eyes of the Lord. And rescue from it is the reason for the thanksgiving, "You have loosed my bonds."
- Return. The verse calls the soul back to a rest it once had and left. Deliverance reopens the door, and the soul may well welcome the way back.
- Rest. This is not the rest of solved problems. It is "the rest that comes from confidence in God", and it is on offer while the trouble is still in the room.
- Reason. The command carries its own argument: He has dealt bountifully. Faith takes shelter in God's character and in what He has already done.
- Redirection. What changes is the eye — lifted off human hands and onto the Lord's hand in everything He allowed.
- Result. Rest of soul does not end in stillness. It produces a walk before the Lord and an opened mouth. That principle belongs to every believer, not only to the one who first sang it.
For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, my feet from falling.
The verse looks back on a rescue and names three things God did, each one spoken straight to Him. Behind it stands a man who had been at death's door. The psalm asks what such a rescue should produce in the person rescued.
The psalmist does not divide the credit. Each of the three clauses has the same subject, and the change in him flows from that.
The psalmist goes on to describe the effect on his soul of the Lord's gracious dealings with him in the time of trial. First, he is brought into rest, as the result of the Lord's bountiful dealings — the rest that comes from confidence in God. Then he gladly credits every blessing he has received to the Lord. He can say, "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling." The Lord has done it all. The Lord has given him rest of soul, and deliverance from death; He has dried his tears and kept his feet. So he can look ahead with confidence and say, "I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living." Rest of soul leads to a godly walk that has the Lord for its object.
Why does God let anyone come to such a point at all? One writer answers from the psalmist's case.
Man's extremity is God's opportunity, as the psalmist shows. He praises the Lord for His grace, righteousness, and mercy. Then he can say, "You have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling." This is also the blessed experience of everyone who is brought low before God and throws himself on His mercy. God takes no pleasure in the sorrows of men. Yet in His great mercy and wisdom He often leads them into ways of sorrow and distress, so that they may come to the end of themselves and trust Him wholly.
Verse 7 was the psalmist talking to himself; verse 8 turns and speaks to God. One writer calls that turn a privilege in itself. He then asks what it should mean for anyone rescued from more than an early grave.
Turning to God, after having spoken to his own soul, the writer of the psalm can say, "For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling." It is a blessed thing to tell others what we have been through. It is blessed to think over the grace and mercy of God. But it is a wonderful privilege to return to God after praying to Him, and to acknowledge that He has answered our prayers. If this speaks of someone kept from death to live a little longer on earth, think of those who know what it is to be delivered from the judgment of God, and to have passed from death into life. What praise and thanksgiving should come from their hearts?
The three clauses are not all true of the believer in the same way today. One writer says so plainly. He also notes that the psalmist's circumstances had not changed — his view of them had.
There is no hint that the circumstances changed. Only the eye has lifted from man's hand to the Lord's. Verse 11 shows us who the instruments of the sorrow were — lying men. Now he sees the Lord's dealing in all that God had allowed to come upon him, so that the soul anticipates by faith the full result in resurrection. By grace we can do the same with the first clause of verse 8 — but what about the second and the third?
Commentators also read the psalm forward, to a coming age of blessing on earth. On that reading the dried tears and steadied feet describe a whole people, not one man's escape.
The grace of God has delivered their soul from death, taken the tears from their eyes, and kept their feet from stumbling (v. 8). How deeply the godly will feel it! This millennial blessing stands in contrast to the world as it is now — "the land of the dying."
Commentators differ on how far the deliverance reaches. One writer asks what happens to those who are not delivered.
Many a saint who enters the great tribulation will not be delivered, as the book of Revelation makes very plain. Verse 15 of our psalm fits with this. The death of those who fall before the persecuting power of Satan will be very precious in the sight of the Lord. He will show this by the special resurrection that Revelation 20:4 speaks of.
- Brought low. God allows distress so that a person comes to the end of himself and trusts Him wholly.
- Delivered. Three rescues, one Rescuer — life spared, tears dried, feet held. He did all of it.
- Acknowledged. The rescued man turns back to God and says so. Answered prayer calls for a word back to the One who answered it.
- Rested. Confidence in God is what settles the soul, and rest of soul comes first — everything else grows out of it.
- Walking. Rest produces a walk before the Lord — He kept your feet so that you would walk with Him in view.
I will walk before Jehovah in the land of the living.
Psalm 116 is the song of a man who came close to death, cried out, and was rescued. Verse 9 is what he does with the life he gets back, and it raises two questions: what is this walk, and where is "the land of the living"?
The order matters. He is not walking to earn anything. He is describing what rest of soul produces in a man just rescued.
The Lord has done it all. The Lord has given him rest of soul, and deliverance from death: He has dried his tears and kept his feet. So he can look to the future with confidence and say, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Rest of soul leads to a godly walk that has the Lord for its object.
Readers often flatten this phrase into "safely" or "under God's care". One writer, commenting on the same phrase elsewhere in the Psalms, says it means far more than protection.
This does not mean only, as Moll says, that he may walk under "divine protection", however much that phrase may suggest it. No — he is to walk before God, who has protected him. This means what "to walk with God" meant for Enoch. It means the same for all who have walked that path since. It is the simplest way to describe a life fit for such company.
The man who says verse 9 is still surrounded by trouble. One writer finds the same faith holding up the apostle in his own trials.
The apostle goes on to speak of the power that sustained him through all these trials. It was the power of faith. The same spirit of faith sustained the psalmist when the sorrows of death surrounded him, when he found trouble and sorrow, and was greatly afflicted. Then he could speak of life, for he said, "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living." Then he tells us how he could speak of life in the middle of death: "I believed, therefore have I spoken."
For the psalmist, the land of the living is this earth. His hope was to stay alive in it, though he still expected to die one day.
The hope is to be kept alive so as to live on the earth: "I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living" (Ps. 116:9; see also Pss. 37:19; 115:17). The hope of resurrection was there (Ps. 16:9), but the expectation was to go through death.
Commentators differ on how far the rescue reaches. Another writer looks at verse 15 and sees more than escape from an early grave: "the ultimate deliverance in view is from death in sheol" — the place of the dead (Frederick W. Grant).
One writer hears a whole people in this psalm, not just one man. Their rescue from death is what the walk of verse 9 follows.
Psalm 116 celebrates this deliverance when they were at the very point of death. Jehovah had heard them, and they would walk before the Lord in the land of the living. Seen this way, the psalm keeps retelling the gracious mercy of Jehovah. They were brought low, and He helped them. It drew out their love to Him.
Another writer applies the verse to Christ Himself: the world He walked through, and the one He will head:
Jesus once walked before Jehovah in the land of vanity. He was Himself the only living One in a world of death. So He will walk, as the anointed Head of Redemption, in the land of the living (verse 9).
The psalmist had escaped death for a time. Those who know a greater rescue have more reason for the same resolve. One writer turns it into a question.
Walking before Jehovah in the land of the living was a precious privilege for a man so near to the gates of death. But we can walk before God in the light of the full and perfect revelation He has made of Himself in the Person of the Son. We have the life the Son came to reveal, and we possess it in Him who is our life. We should still ask our own hearts whether we want to walk before God in the life He has given us.
- Rescued. God delivered the soul from death, the eyes from tears, the feet from falling. He did it all. The walk of verse 9 is the response, never the payment.
- Rested. Rest of soul comes before the walk, and produces it; a heart at rest walks with the Lord as its object.
- Before Him. To walk before the LORD is more than living under His protection. It is what "walking with God" meant for Enoch: a life fit for God's company.
- Spoken. Faith says these words while death still presses. The same spirit of faith held up the apostle in his own trials.
- Ahead. The psalmist looked for life on earth. Writers differ on whether the rescue reaches beyond it. The Christian walks before God in the fuller light of the Son.
I believed, therefore have I spoken. As for me, I was greatly afflicted.
The writer of this psalm is in deep trouble, and at this verse his faith begins to speak. Older translations read the line as "I believed, therefore have I spoken" — the wording Paul takes up as his own in 2 Corinthians 4:13.
Belief comes first, then speech. Faith also makes the believer feel the trouble around him.
"I believed, therefore I spoke." This is a proper order. Speaking ought always to come from faith. Then he adds, "I am greatly afflicted." Looking at the state of things around us with the eyes of faith is bound to afflict the soul.
The affliction did two things at once. It threw the psalmist onto God, and it emptied him of any other support.
And confidence in the Lord opens his mouth to witness to the Lord: "I believed, therefore have I spoken" (2 Cor. 4:13). If his affliction drew out his confidence in the Lord, it also destroyed his confidence in man, as such.
Nothing in the psalm says the pressure has lifted by the time he speaks. What has changed is where he is looking.
Nothing suggests that his circumstances changed. Only his eye has lifted from man's hand to the Lord's, to see His dealing in everything He had allowed to come on him. So by faith the soul already looks ahead to the full result in resurrection. Things had been very different with the Psalmist: "I was greatly afflicted. I said in my haste — in agitation, not hastiness — all men are liars." There is absolutely no one he can trust. But that was while he was taken up with the human instruments of the trial.
Paul quotes this line while death presses in on him.
Faith, however, looks ahead to the land of the living before it gets there. It may get there by rescue from death, or by resurrection. "I believed, therefore have I spoken" is the language of faith. The Apostle Paul pointed back to it in 2 Corinthians 4:13: "we have the same spirit of faith." Death rolled in on his spirit and threatened his body too. But by faith his eye was on the resurrection world, so he could testify boldly, just as the Psalmist did in his day.
That hope lies on the other side of death.
No trial or suffering, not death itself in view, can stop the believer's mouth: he trusts God, and can speak out, and speak well of Him.
The psalmist's trouble was not Paul's trouble. So how much of this psalm belongs to us?
The quotation of the apostle shows how these psalms can be used as containing holy principles of life for every saint. Despite suffering and trial, trust in Jehovah opened the believer's mouth. The passage does not describe Paul's own case, and he never said in sudden distress that all men were liars — though there is something like it in "all seek their own." But the apostle can take up the general and important principle.
Some writers hear another voice in this psalm — the voice of Christ Himself.
Psalm 116 is the end of His life of faith — in resurrection, joy, and praise; and the apostle, in "the same spirit of faith," can look to share the same kind of resurrection-joy with his divine Lord and Forerunner (2 Cor. 4:13-14).
So the sufferer who speaks here does not speak alone.
Psalm 116 recounts His experiences, and shows Him as the Leader of our praises.
- Affliction — the trouble is real and stays real; faith is not a way around it but the eye lifted from man's hand to the Lord's.
- Belief — pressure that drains confidence in man draws out confidence in God. That confidence opens the mouth.
- Speech — the order never reverses. Speaking should always come out of faith.
- Resurrection — faith speaks of the land of the living before it gets there. So no trial, and not death itself, can stop the believer's mouth.
- Praise — Paul takes up the same spirit of faith. And Christ, who walked this path to the end, leads the praise of His people.
I said in my haste, All men are liars.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
What shall I render unto Jehovah, [for] all his benefits toward me?
The psalmist has just escaped the gates of death, and now he stops to count what God has done for him. His question — how can such kindness ever be repaid? — reaches every grateful heart, and the psalm's answer is not the one most people expect.
The question comes not from guilt but from a full view of what God has given. One writer notes how easily we slide into thinking God is standing over us with a bill.
The legal mind leads you to think that God demands payment from you. It makes you think He is making claims on you, and that He wants your services in one way or another. But remember: your first great business, your primary and all-important work, is to believe in Jesus. Rest quietly in Him, in what He has done for you on the cross, and in what He is doing for you on the throne. "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." You remember the interesting question of the psalmist. He asked it when his eye rested on the size and number of the Lord's benefits.
The honest answer to "what shall I render" is: nothing that God needs.
What then could he do for One who needs no help from His creatures? For Him, "all the forests of Lebanon are not enough to burn, nor its beasts enough for a burnt offering." How could he repay Him? There could be only one way — to receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. He could not add one ray to God's glory. He was to receive from Him and so glorify Him.
The next verse answers the question, and it answers it backwards from how we would. The wording quoted for verse 13 here, "I will take the cup of salvation," comes from an older translation.
The psalmist asked, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits?" The answer is "I will take the cup of salvation." The way to "render" to God is to "take" yet more fully from His generous hand. To be a thankful, unquestioning receiver of grace glorifies God far more than all we could render to Him.
Something does come back to God, and it is not a payment but a song. Praise is what fits a soul that owes everything.
Looking at verses 12 and 13, we find that the most grateful return the vessel of God's mercy can make to the Creator of his joy is praise. "I will take the cup of salvation, and call on the name of the Lord." The Spirit keeps leading souls who have once tasted that the Lord is gracious to drink still deeper of the love of Christ. Praise then abounds, and with it strength for true and acceptable service. For faith can only work by love.
Another writer puts the same point negatively — the return owed is real, but it is not made in goods:
When I face the truth about myself along with "all men," I find the Lord answering in pure grace, so we know it is only right that we render some return to the Lord for all the great benefits He has supplied us with (v. 12). But the answer is not in giving material presents to the Lord. Rather, it is in receiving from Him the cup of salvation and calling on His name (v. 13).
The cup he lifts is the reverse of the one he had been drinking, and what he does with it is public.
The delivered soul owns its debt to the Lord. The cup of sorrow has been exchanged for a cup of salvation. The psalmist gladly takes this cup, and confesses the name of the Lord. His vows, made in the presence of death, will be paid to the Lord in the presence of all His people.
The vows mentioned later in the psalm might sound like a bargain struck with God. Commentators are careful to rule that out.
There are thanksgiving vows that in the day of coming blessing will be fulfilled. They imply no legality. They imply the awareness of what grace has done, and the praise that fills and strengthens the heart. Praise is now easy — even necessary… So these vows belong wholly to the gospel. They are connected with the "cup of salvation," and Another's work — the joyful assurance of what that work means for them.
The order in the psalm is fixed: rescue first, worship after.
Worship comes in when deliverance is completed. He worships as a delivered man, and because he has been delivered — not in order to be delivered. Saved in public, he will own it in public.
- Question. Counting God's benefits raises the debt question — but God is not standing over you with a bill.
- Impossible. No repayment exists; He needs no help from His creatures, and you cannot add one ray to His glory.
- Take. The way to render is to take. Receiving more from His hand glorifies Him more than anything you could hand back.
- Praise. What comes back is praise, and praise brings strength for real service.
- Public. The cup of sorrow is traded for the cup of salvation. He pays his vows in front of God's people — worship because he was rescued, not to get rescued.
I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of Jehovah.
The psalm writer has just escaped death, and verse 12 asks the obvious question: what can anyone give God in return? Verse 13 answers it — and the answer is not a gift handed up, but a cup taken.
One writer works through the problem and finds only one road open.
What then could he do for One who needs no help from His creatures, and for whom "Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering"? (Isa. 40:16). How could he repay Him? There could be only one way — to receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of Jehovah. He could not add one ray to God's glory. He was to receive from Him and so glorify Him.
The same writer marks the moment when worship begins.
In verse 4 he said he would call on His name for salvation. Now that he is saved, he will not forget Him... Worship comes in when deliverance is complete. He worships as a delivered man, and because he is delivered — not to get delivered.
One writer asks whether taking can count as giving God something back.
Is this the way to "render to the Lord"? Yes, this is the very way that pleases and glorifies Him. If you truly want to give back, you must take. Take what? "The cup of salvation" — a full and overflowing cup, without doubt. And as you drink of that cup, as the glories of God's salvation shine before your soul, streams of living praise will flow from your grateful heart. And you know He says, "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies Me."
Scripture holds out more than one cup, and they are not offered to the same people. One commentator sets the two cups side by side.
The wine cup, the cup of trembling, the cup of His fury, the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath — these are different names for the same cup. It stands for God's judgments... The cup of salvation, on the other hand, expresses the joy of the kingdom... The cup drunk here by the people of the earth does not pass on to Messiah. He takes the other cup instead, and at once calls on the name of the Lord. The cup of anger is for their hand, the cup of salvation for His. He did once take the cup of sorrows, the cup of Gethsemane, for us poor sinners. But it is the cup of praise, the joy of the kingdom, that remains for Him now.
The second half of the verse names something believers have done from the very beginning.
From the earliest days of humanity, people turned to God and prayed. They called upon His name: "At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD" (Gen. 4:26). Calling on the name of the Lord became the mark of believers down the centuries, even in Old Testament times (1 Kings 18:24; Ps. 99:6; 116:13, 17).
Commentators differ over who is speaking here. Some hear the voice of a rescued Israel.
In this Psalm redeemed Israel tells Jehovah of her love — for His gracious rescues, for answered prayer, and for His salvation. During the great tribulation they were a faithful remnant, surrounded by the sorrows of death... Death stared them in the face. Then they cried to the Lord, and, as of old, He heard them and sent deliverance... And now they serve Him, taking the cup of salvation and performing their vows to the Lord.
Others hear the voice of Jesus Himself, on the night before the cross.
Many think, with good reason, that the hymn sung at the close of the Last Supper was part of the great Hallel (Psalms 115–118), which the Jews sang at the end of the Passover meal. If so, it included Psalm 116, which is Messiah's own words, celebrating His deliverance from the gates of death. How fitting that, before He entered that dark doorway, He could celebrate His deliverance from it in advance.
One writer turns the verse on the reader who thinks salvation is something to earn.
Perhaps you would like to work for salvation? The word of God tells us, "For by grace you have been saved through faith... it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast." This shows that we cannot get salvation any other way: we receive it as God's free gift... This is the simple way into the blessing. Take that blessed cup now.
- Question — Verse 12 asks what we can give back to God. The honest answer is nothing: no creature can add one ray to His glory.
- Cup — So God fills the empty hands instead. He hands over a cup, and the one who wants to render must first take.
- Choice — Scripture holds two cups: the cup of God's fury, and the cup of salvation. Christ drank the cup of sorrow so that this one could be ours.
- Call — Taking the cup and calling on the Lord's name go together. That call has marked believing people since the earliest days.
- Consequence — Worship follows rescue, never buys it. As the cup is drunk, praise flows out — and that praise is the very thing that glorifies Him.
I will perform my vows unto Jehovah, yea, before all his people.
This verse is the turning point of the psalm. The speaker came to the edge of death, God heard him, and now he names where he will settle the promises made in that dark hour — in the open, before all God's people.
Psalm 116 celebrates this deliverance when they were at the very point of death. The Lord had heard them, and they would walk before the Lord in the land of the living... The soul so sorely tried could return to its rest. The death of His saints was precious in His sight. And now he would pay the vows he made in his distress, when he called on the Lord. He would pay them before all His people, in the courts of the Lord's house, in the middle of Jerusalem. He would offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.
Just before this verse, the psalm asks what a rescued man can give back to God. One writer answers that question, and marks when worship begins.
How could he repay Him? There could be only one way — to receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. He could not add one ray to God's glory. He was to receive from Him and so glorify Him... "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people." Worship comes in when deliverance is completed. He worships as a delivered man, and because he was delivered — not as a way to be delivered. Publicly saved, he will publicly own it.
Commentators hear Christ speaking here. One writer reads the verse next to the command not to misuse God's name, then names the vows Christ took on.
So also in the performance of vows: no one had ever fulfilled their obligations and promises to God. So our Lord warned them against taking oaths they could not keep (Matt. 5:33-37). But He could say, "Your vows are upon Me, O God" (Ps. 56:12); "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people" (Ps. 116:14). What vows they were! — to glorify God about sin; to seek and to save the lost; to lay the eternal foundations of redemption deep, firm and broad; to bring many to glory. As we think about the cost of performing these vows, may we adore Him. He never made a rash vow. He never broke a single promise He made to His God and Father.
So what place do vows have for us? One writer goes back to the law, which allowed vows and exposed what man does with them.
Under law, people could make vows about what they might do in the future. As long as man is under law, he is on trial. But this testing of Israel — a sample of all mankind — proved one thing. Man cannot be trusted to keep what he promises... So vows have no place in Christianity. There is only One who has perfectly kept His vows. The Lord Jesus says in Psalm 116:18, "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people." He did this at Calvary. So we rest on the absolute truth of His word, which could not fail, and not on our own reliability.
Another writer draws the same conclusion from the sacrifices, and adds relief to it.
In the light of that sacrifice, how petty are all legal vows! We may well bless God that, under grace, such vows have been annulled. The only One competent to make them is He who has fulfilled His vows and has paid them in the presence of the Lord's people (Ps. 116:14-18).
One writer still finds a vow for us to keep.
Such vows are not promises of something material to God. The vows of the Lord Jesus are seen in His offering Himself as a sacrifice on behalf of sinners, and His vows were perfectly kept, as Israel's were not. But if the value of His sacrifice moves someone to purpose to give Him His place of supreme honour, this will in its measure be counted as keeping a vow. "All His people" will witness the value of this.
The end of the psalm shows what a freed servant does.
The closing verses present the psalmist as the servant of the Lord, freed from his chains. He thanks the Lord and calls on His name. He pays his vows before all the people in the middle of His house, and calls on others to praise. What a wonderful example for us! We really are the servants of God. He set us free from the bondage of sin and Satan, and delivered us from the authority of darkness — so that, calling on His name, we might seek in public the things that please Him.
- Distress — the vows were made at the point of death. God heard him and brought him back to walk in the land of the living.
- Deliverance — worship starts where rescue ends. He worships because he is saved, not to get saved. He can add nothing to God's glory.
- Christ — commentators hear the perfect vow-keeper here. He vowed to glorify God about sin, to seek the lost, and to bring many to glory. He paid at Calvary.
- Rest — man on trial could not keep his promises. So we rest on the truth of His word, not on our own reliability.
- Witness — the payment is public. The freed servant gives Christ supreme honour in front of all His people, for all the benefits he received.
Precious in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his saints.
Psalm 116 is the song of a man God pulled back from the edge of the grave. In the middle of his thanksgiving he turns from his own rescue to say something about God: the death of His godly ones costs Him something. Commentators ask two questions here. What makes a death "precious" to the Lord? And does this verse promise rescue from death, or comfort in it?
The verse sits inside a story of answered prayer. One writer traces the psalm from distress to rest:
Psalm 116 celebrates this deliverance when they were at the very point of death. The Lord had heard them, and they would walk before the Lord in the land of the living. It is a continual retelling of the Lord's gracious mercy: they were brought low and He helped them. It drew out their love to Him. Such was the Lord's character. He preserves the simple. The soul that had been tried so hard could return to its rest. The death of His saints was precious in His sight.
The word behind "saints" does not point to a title. It points to the heart:
It is not "holy ones" here, but those whose heart toward Himself the Lord recognises and acknowledges.
Another commentator, writing to a grieving family, shows how far that word reaches:
The word "saints" in this verse is a beautiful word. It means more than those who are set apart for God, though it includes all such. It means those marked by piety, grace and goodness… What made her what she was as wife, mother, sister and friend? Was it not first of all and most of all the grace of the Lord within her?
If something is precious, it is not spent carelessly. Here that has a practical edge: nothing reaches God's people without His permission:
The hairs of their head were all numbered. Satan could do nothing that was not permitted… for "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints"; He did not lightly permit it.
The worth is not manufactured by the dying believer. One writer roots it in another death entirely:
It may seem strange that verse 15 comes here… but it reminds us of the most precious of all deaths, that of the Lord Jesus. That death should move every heart to adore Him. The death of every one of His saints is precious because of the value of His death… The death of His saints is worth more to God than all their so-called good works.
Commentators differ over what the verse promises. Some read it with the psalm's own setting — the words of a man kept alive:
He learns this by being kept alive on the earth. As the context shows, this verse speaks of saints kept alive, not of saints who die… So here he looks to be kept from death.
Others take the words to cover those who do die, including those killed for their faith:
The death of His saints is precious in the Lord's sight. This is true of them all. He is always glorified in those who can make a sober claim to endless life and blessedness in the hour when nature breaks down. They can do so because their trust is in the living God. He is not ashamed of such people. But He is glorified even more in those who are given, for Christ's sake, to suffer for His name to the point of death.
The verse is not only about the last hour. The same writer draws out a present, moral meaning:
Do not overlook the moral meaning of this verse. To carry about in a body still alive the dying of the Lord; to die a daily death; to be willing to hate one's present life in order to know the power of the resurrection better — such things are pleasing in the Father's sight.
And where God does not step in to prevent death, the promise still holds:
God does not always step in to save His saints from death. We know this well when we walk through a scene of death. But how comforting it is to realise that "Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." In the light of Christianity we know that for the believer death is only "to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better." To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.
- Precious — because of His death. A believer's death is precious because of the worth of Christ's death, not because of the believer's record.
- Precious — so not lightly permitted. Nothing touches God's people without His permission. He does not spend what He counts precious.
- Precious — to His godly ones. "Saints" means those whose heart toward God He Himself recognises. The mark is grace and goodness, not a title.
- Precious — while alive, too. Commentators differ. Does the verse promise rescue from death, or honour those who die? Either way, dying daily with Christ pleases the Father.
- Precious — therefore comforting. When God does not prevent death, He still values it. For the believer, death is departing to be with Christ — far better.
Yea, Jehovah! for I am thy servant; I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid thou hast loosed my bonds.
A rescued man speaks here: he calls himself God's servant twice, and gives one reason — God has cut his chains. Freedom comes first and service follows, so what were the bonds, and why does a free man call himself a slave?
Release comes first in the verse; ownership follows. One writer takes that order as the mark of real redemption.
This is a sign of perfect redemption in every age: "O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds." (Ps. 116:16.) So redemption is the source of service, and shapes its character. And if we stand in the nearer and more wonderful place of sons of God, then the service of sons is simply the fullest and most joyful service of all.
This is not a warm word about family. Older translations read "the son of your handmaid," and the phrase belongs to the language of the household.
Others have judged "the son of your handmaid" (v. 16) to mean "your property, like the child of a female slave," someone "born in your house."
Some of the best known women in Scripture chose this same word for themselves when they prayed.
These words often refer in Scripture to a female slave, as with Hagar the Egyptian, Gen. 25:12. But women also used them of themselves as a term of humility: Hannah, when she spoke to the Lord and to Eli, 1 Sam. 1:11, 16, 18; Abigail, when she spoke to David, 1 Sam. 25:24-41; and Mary and Elizabeth, as handmaids of the Lord, Luke 1:38, 48.
Commentators differ on how far to press the word "bonds." One writer reads the psalm as a whole. He ties the bonds back to the earlier lines about the cords of death, and to Sheol, the place of the dead.
Psalm 116 records a similar experience. Whatever these words may say about release from spiritual death, verse 15 makes it clear that the ultimate deliverance in view is from death in Sheol. This must be the "death of His saints" which remains precious in the eyes of the Lord, and rescue from this is the reason for the thanksgiving, "You have loosed my bonds" (v. 16).
Another writer sets the verse against the hired worker, the man who serves for what he can get.
Grace alone breaks the dominion of sin, as the apostle says, "Sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace." The hired worker with God is the very picture of a self-seeker, of one who serves God for his own ends. But the power of Christianity shows itself in this, "that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised." The psalmist gives the principle and power for service under grace when he says, "You have loosed my bonds." It is a loved bond-service for bonds loosed!
One writer hears Israel speaking here, a nation that came within a step of destruction.
This does not complete the story. Psalm 116 comes in here to show how close Israel had been to those terrible jaws of death. Without the mercy of God they would have been swallowed up in utter ruin. It is the sense of this deliverance that brings their hearts to God, and makes them His servants for ever.
Freedom ends in public worship, and one writer applies that straight to us.
The closing verses present the psalmist as the servant of the Lord, loosed from his bonds. He thanks the Lord and calls on His Name. He pays his vows before all the people in God's house, and he calls on others to praise. What a blessed example for us! We are indeed the servants of God. He has set us free from the bondage of sin and Satan. He has delivered us from the authority of darkness, so that we may call on His Name and openly seek the things that please Him.
- Bonds — God cut the chains first. That release is the mark of real redemption.
- Belonging — "son of your maidservant" marks one born in the master's house: God's own by birth, not by hire.
- Death — one writer ties the loosed bonds to the cords of death. The rescue is rescue from the grave.
- Love — freed service is not a hired worker's deal for wages. It is loved bond-service for bonds loosed.
- Witness — the freed servant does not stay quiet. He keeps his promises in public and calls others to praise.
I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of Jehovah.
A man pulled back from the edge of death asks what he can give back to God. This verse is his answer: not a payment, but a thanksgiving sacrifice and a call on the Lord's name.
What can a rescued man give back to God? One writer shows the question has no answer if we treat it as a debt.
What then could he do for One who needs no help from His creatures, and for whom "Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering"? How could he repay Him? There could be only one way — to receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. He could not add one ray to God's glory. He was to receive from Him and so glorify Him. In verse 4 he had said he would call on His name for salvation. Now that he is saved, he will not forget Him. Worship comes in once the deliverance is complete. He worships as a delivered man, and because he is delivered — not to get delivered. Saved in public, he will own it in public.
The verse just before this one says God loosed his bonds. That order matters: release comes first, so the sacrifice that follows is not a duty.
The godly remnant of Israel sees her place as one of complete service to the Lord. This is not because a law commands it. God has loosed her completely from bondage (v. 16), so she is free to serve in the liberty of love. Their sacrifice no longer comes out of legal bondage. It is voluntary thanksgiving, offered as they call upon the name of the Lord.
The phrase is not a general word for gratitude. It names one particular offering, and its mark was that everyone involved got a share.
This sacrifice of thanksgiving is the "peace offering," though it is also called the "thanksgiving offering." It was a voluntary offering with a pleasing aroma to the LORD. We read of it in Leviticus 3 and 7, where it is called "the sacrifice of thanksgiving." It is a strikingly beautiful side of the sacrifice of Christ. In this sacrifice, God had first His own special share. The priest who offered it had his share. Aaron had his share, and there was a share for Aaron's sons, and the man who offered the sacrifice also had his share.
Calling on the Lord's name did not start with this psalm, and it did not end with it.
From the earliest days of humanity, people turned to God, called upon His name, and prayed. Scripture says, "At that time people began to call upon the name of the LORD" (Gen. 4:26). Calling on the name of the Lord became the mark of believers through the centuries, even in Old Testament times (1 Kings 18:24; Ps. 99:6; 116:13, 17).
The verses around this one speak of paying vows. One writer measures such vows against the sacrifice of Christ.
In the light of that sacrifice, how petty are all legal vows! We may well bless God that, under grace, such vows have been annulled. The only One competent to make them is He who has fulfilled His vows and has paid them in the presence of the Lord's people (Ps. 116:14–18).
Verses 18 and 19 set this praise in the courts of the Lord's house. The Lord gains something there too.
He now delights to own that he is the willing servant of the One who has set him free. In the presence of all His people, in the courts of the Lord, in the middle of Jerusalem, he will pay his vows and offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. So the Lord secures a loving and praising people to fill the courts of His house.
One writer takes the rescued man's response as an example for us, and reads his loosed bonds more widely.
The closing verses present the psalmist as the servant of the Lord, loosed from his bonds. He thanks the Lord and calls upon His Name. He pays his vows before all the people in the middle of His house, and calls on others to praise. What a wonderful example for us! We are indeed the servants of God. He has set us free from the bondage of sin and Satan and delivered us from the authority of darkness, so that, calling upon His Name, we may openly seek the things that please Him.
- Rescued — the sacrifice follows deliverance; worship is the response of a saved man, not a bid to be saved.
- Received — God needs nothing from us, so the only return is to take the cup of salvation and call on His name.
- Released — God loosed his bonds first (v. 16), so the offering is free thanksgiving, never a legal duty.
- Shared — the thanksgiving sacrifice is the peace offering. God, the priest, and the one who brings it each get a share.
- Published — he pays his vows before all God's people, and a loving, praising people fills the courts of His house.
I will perform my vows unto Jehovah, yea, before all his people,
The verse repeats word for word what was said four verses earlier, and it stands at the end of the psalm rather than in the middle of the trouble. One writer ties the repetition to the point the psalm has reached: the danger is over, so the promise made in the danger can now be settled in public.
Notice that Psalm 116 is a psalm of thanksgiving. He does not love the Lord as someone under law. He loves as one God loved first — loved in deliverance, because God heard him when judgment and evil pressed on his soul. Christ leads this thanksgiving, this turning of the heart back to Jehovah, saying, "our God is merciful." The vows can now be paid, and paid in the middle of Jerusalem, because the deliverance is done.
The word "vows" can sound like bargaining with God. One writer reads it the other way round. These vows are not payments for a rescue. They flow out of one already given, and they belong with the cup of salvation.
There are vows now to pay to Jehovah, and the psalm repeats this in the same words before it closes. Israel failed completely to keep her legal vow, as we know, and she is still suffering the consequences of that failure. But there are thanksgiving vows that will be kept in the day of coming blessing. They carry nothing legal. They come from knowing what grace has done, and from the praise that fills and empowers the heart. Praise is now easy — necessary... These vows are gospel vows only. They are tied to the "cup of salvation," and to Another's work — the joyful assurance of what that work means for them.
Some writers hear this sentence on the lips of Christ. He alone kept every promise He made to God.
It is the same with keeping vows: no one had ever kept their obligations and promises to God. That is why our Lord warned people against taking oaths they could not keep (Matthew 5:33-37). But He could say, "Your vows are upon Me, O God" (Psalm 56:12, in an older translation); "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people." What vows they were! — to glorify God about sin; to seek and to save the lost; to lay the eternal foundations of redemption deep, firm and wide; to bring many to glory. Think of the cost of paying these vows. May we adore Him who never made a rash vow, and never broke a single promise He made to His God and Father.
So what is left for us to vow? Another writer answers:
Such vows are not those of promising something material to God. We see the vows of the Lord Jesus in His offering Himself as a sacrifice for sinners. He kept His vows perfectly, as Israel never did. But if the value of His sacrifice moves someone to resolve to give Him His place of supreme honour, that will count, in its own measure, as keeping a vow. "All His people" will witness the value of this.
What can a rescued man give back to God? One writer starts there.
How could he repay Him? There could be only one way — to receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of Jehovah. He could not add one ray to God's glory. He was to receive from Him, and so glorify Him... Worship comes in when deliverance is completed. He worships as one delivered, and because he is delivered — not to get delivered. Publicly saved, he will publicly own it.
The psalm ends by showing what God gains from the whole rescue.
He now delights to own that he is the willing servant of the One who has set him free. In the presence of all His people, in the courts of the Lord, in the midst of Jerusalem, he will pay his vows and offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. So the Lord secures a loving and praising people to fill the courts of His house.
One writer applies this to believers today:
What a wonderful example for us! We are indeed the servants of God, set free from slavery to sin and Satan, delivered from the authority of darkness. So, calling on His name, we should openly seek the things that please Him... What a praising people we should be!
- Delivered first. The vows are paid only after the rescue is complete. Worship follows salvation. It never buys it.
- Freed, then vowing. The speaker is a servant whose bonds God has loosed. What he brings is free thanksgiving, not legal debt.
- Christ's vows. Only One ever made promises to God and kept them all — to glorify God about sin, to seek the lost, to bring many to glory.
- Paid in public. Publicly saved, he publicly owns it, in the courts of God's house before all His people.
- God's aim. The Lord secures a loving, praising people for Himself. That same calling belongs to everyone He has set free from the authority of darkness today.
In the courts of Jehovah's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Hallelujah!
Psalm 116 ends by naming a place: the courts of God's house in Jerusalem, where a rescued man keeps the promise he made. The last words turn the song outward into a call to praise — so why own a rescue in public, and why in that one place?
One writer notes that the psalmist has nothing to give God, only something to receive. That fixes the order: worship answers rescue, it does not buy it.
How could he repay Him? There could be only one way — to receive the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. He could not add one ray to God's glory. He was to receive from Him and so glorify Him. What a position is this to be placed in! He had said in verse 4 that he would call on His name for salvation. When saved, he will not forget Him. "I will pay my vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people." Worship comes in when deliverance is complete. He worships as a delivered man, and because he is delivered — not as a way to get deliverance. Publicly saved, he will publicly own it.
The verse names a house and a city. Under Israel's law you could make a vow anywhere, but you could pay it in only one place.
They could pay their vows only in Jerusalem, the place the LORD had chosen to put His name. They might make them far from home, in the land of Jordan and the Hermonites, as we read they will (Psalm 66:13-14). But to pay them, they must be at Jerusalem, and the house must be rebuilt.
Verse 18 repeats the promise of verse 14. So who can keep a promise made to God? One writer hears these words as Christ's own, and draws a conclusion about the promises we make.
So vows have no place in Christianity. Only One has kept His vows perfectly. In Psalm 116:18 the Lord Jesus says, "I will pay My vows to the LORD in the presence of all His people." He did this at Calvary. We rest on the certain truth of His word, which could not fail, and not on our own reliability.
Just before this verse the speaker calls himself God's servant, set free from his bonds. The last line shows what God gains by that freedom.
He now delights to own that he is the willing servant of the One who has set him free. In the presence of all His people, in the courts of the LORD, in the midst of Jerusalem, he will pay his vows and offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving. So the Lord secures a loving and praising people to fill the courts of His house.
The closing words name where the whole vision lands.
The psalm now adds the circumstances, and they show us the scene where the vision ends: "in the courts of the house of the LORD, in your midst, O Jerusalem." The LORD has taken His place once more among His gathered people. That is the sign that the day has now come for the earth, and for the "gathering of the peoples" so long foretold, at last to Shiloh (Genesis 49:10).
Commentators differ on how much of this is future. Some read the whole psalm as the voice of a delivered remnant after great suffering, with the thanksgiving in the courts of the house as the outcome for those who came through and for those who died in it:
Then, together with those who have been delivered and brought through the tribulation, there will be the sacrifice of thanksgiving in the courts of the LORD's house in the midst of Jerusalem, as is shown at the end of the Psalm.
The psalm signs off with "Praise the LORD!" — older translations render it "Hallelujah". That word is rarer in the Psalms than most readers expect.
Other Psalms in this book end in the same way — Psalm 115:18, 116:19, 117:2, 135:21, 146:10, 147:20, 148:14, 149:9, 150:6. And Psalms 135 and 146—150 also begin with it. But until the Lord Jesus is viewed as having returned to Zion, this word "Hallelujah" is not found in the Psalter.
One writer takes these closing verses as an example for us to follow now.
The closing verses present the psalmist as the servant of the Lord, set free from his bonds. He thanks the Lord and calls on His name. He pays his vows before all the people in the middle of His house, and calls on others to praise. What a blessed example for us! We are indeed the servants of God. He has set us free from the bondage of sin and Satan, and delivered us from the authority of darkness. So now, calling on His name, we may openly seek the things that please Him.
- Loosed — the speaker is a freed servant, and that freedom drives everything else in the verse.
- Paid — you can make a vow anywhere, but you pay it in God's house; and only Christ kept His vows perfectly, paying them at the cross.
- Public — worship answers rescue; it never buys it. Publicly saved, publicly owned, before all His people.
- Placed — the courts and the city matter: God has taken His place again among His gathered people.
- Praise — the song ends in "Praise the LORD!", the word "Hallelujah" that the Psalms hold back until the Lord is seen returned to Zion.