Psalm 116: I Will Take the Cup of Salvation

"I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications… The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the LORD… Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee."

"I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted: I said in my haste, All men are liars. What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD. I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people. Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints… I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving… in the courts of the LORD's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD."

The cup and the vow

A person rescued from danger came to the temple to fulfil vows with a thank offering (todah) before the congregation (Leviticus 7:11–16). "The cup of salvation" was probably a drink offering or the cup at the thanksgiving meal. The psalm is the testimony spoken at such a meal.

Two psalms in the Greek

The Greek and Latin divide Psalm 116 into two: 116:1–9 is Greek 114, and 116:10–19 is Greek 115 (Vulgate "Credidi, propter quod locutus sum"). Paul quotes the Greek of 116:10 in 2 Corinthians 4:13, "I believed, and therefore have I spoken." The Hebrew of 116:10 is ambiguous ("I believed, even when I said, I am greatly afflicted").

"Precious… is the death of his saints"

Yaqar means "precious" or "costly, weighty": the death of the faithful is not a small thing to God, who does not let it happen lightly. Later Christian use applied the verse to the martyrs.

Heading

Psalm 116 has no heading; it belongs to the Hallel (113–118) and is sung at the Passover meal.