Psalms

Chapter 116

The LORD Has Heard My Voice

This psalm is a deeply personal thanksgiving in which the singer loves the LORD because he has listened and delivered him from the grip of death. The chapter moves from remembered distress and rescue, to quiet renewed trust, and then into public vows of gratitude, so that private deliverance becomes communal praise in the courts of the LORD's house.

Psalm 116 continues the Hallel by moving from the communal trust of Psalm 115 into the testimony of one worshiper who has been heard, spared, and restored. It fits Book V by showing that salvation is not only a national theme but a personally experienced mercy, one that properly ends not in inward relief alone but in thanksgiving, vowed obedience, and praise among the people of God.

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Psalms 116

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vv. 1-19

The LORD Has Heard My Voice

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I¹ love the LORD, for He has heard my voice — ²Because He has inclined His ear to me, ³The ropes of death entangled me; ⁴Then I called on the name of the LORD:

⁵The LORD is gracious and righteous; ⁶The LORD preserves the simplehearted; ⁷Return to your rest, O my soul, ⁸For You have delivered my soul from death, ⁹I will walk before the LORD ¹⁰I believed, therefore I said, ¹¹In my alarm I said,

¹²How can I repay the LORD ¹³I will lift the cup of salvation ¹⁴I will fulfill my vows to the LORD ¹⁵Precious in the sight of the LORD ¹⁶Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; ¹⁷I will offer to You a sacrifice of thanksgiving ¹⁸I will fulfill my vows to the LORD ¹⁹in the courts of the LORD’s house,

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01vv. 1-19The LORD Has Heard My VoiceThe psalm begins with love for the LORD because he has heard the singer's cries, then recalls the cords of death, the call for mercy, and the gracious rescue that brought the soul back to rest. From there it turns toward a life of walking before the LORD, asks how such goodness could ever be repaid, and answers with thanksgiving, fulfilled vows, and praise in the midst of Jerusalem.