Read & explore together
The LORD Has Heard My Voice
Psalm 116 is a song of love and thanks to Yahweh. The speaker remembers deep distress, calls for mercy, and answers Yahweh’s rescue with trust, vows, service, and praise among God’s people.
Understanding the passage
Read these words in context
This poem speaks directly to Yahweh and also to the singer’s own soul. It moves from being heard in prayer, through danger and deliverance, to a public response of thanksgiving in Yahweh’s house at Jerusalem.
Psalms 116:1–19Main takeaway
Psalm 116 teaches that Yahweh’s rescue leads the singer to keep calling on him and to thank him openly.
Explore the poem and its images
Open a card to explore the full explanation and its Bible references.
01Yahweh hears the cryThe psalm begins with love for Yahweh because he listens. The singer says Yahweh hears his voice and cries for mercy, and has turned his ear towards him.
Explanation
The psalm begins with love for Yahweh because he listens. The singer says Yahweh hears his voice and cries for mercy, and has turned his ear towards him. Because Yahweh listens, the speaker resolves to call on him for the rest of his life.
02From deathly trouble to rescueThe danger is described with strong poetic images: cords of death, the pains of Sheol, trouble, and sorrow.
Explanation
The danger is described with strong poetic images: cords of death, the pains of Sheol, trouble, and sorrow. In that distress, the singer calls on Yahweh for deliverance. Yahweh is then praised as gracious, righteous, and merciful, the one who preserves the simple and saves the lowly.
03Rest, life, and honest speechAfter rescue, the singer tells his soul to return to rest because Yahweh has dealt bountifully with him.
Explanation
After rescue, the singer tells his soul to return to rest because Yahweh has dealt bountifully with him. Yahweh has delivered him from death, tears, and falling, so he will walk before Yahweh in the land of the living. He also speaks honestly about affliction and hasty words spoken in distress.
04Thanksgiving before all the peopleThe final movement asks what can be given to Yahweh for his benefits. The answer is thankful worship: taking the cup of salvation, calling on Yahweh’s name, paying vows publicly, and offering thanksgiving.
Explanation
The final movement asks what can be given to Yahweh for his benefits. The answer is thankful worship: taking the cup of salvation, calling on Yahweh’s name, paying vows publicly, and offering thanksgiving. The singer says he is Yahweh’s servant, freed from chains, and ends by praising him in Jerusalem.
Questions to explore
Pause, look back at the verses and talk together.
01Why does the singer say he loves Yahweh?
Look for the repeated idea in the opening lines that Yahweh listens and hears cries for mercy.
02What pictures describe both the danger and the rescue in this psalm?
Notice the contrast between cords of death, sorrow, tears, and falling, and the words about deliverance, saving, and preserving.
03How does the psalm show thanksgiving becoming public worship?
Trace the movement from private prayer to paying vows and offering thanks in the presence of all Yahweh’s people in Jerusalem.
Read the Bible passage
World English Bible ClassicScripture quotation · Public domain
Psalms 116:1–19
1I love Yahweh, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy.
2Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
4Then I called on Yahweh’s name: “Yahweh, I beg you, deliver my soul.”
5Yahweh is gracious and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful.
6Yahweh preserves the simple. I was brought low, and he saved me.
7Return to your rest, my soul, for Yahweh has dealt bountifully with you.
8For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.
9I will walk before Yahweh in the land of the living.
10I believed, therefore I said, “I was greatly afflicted.”
11I said in my haste, “All people are liars.”
12What will I give to Yahweh for all his benefits toward me?
13I will take the cup of salvation, and call on Yahweh’s name.
14I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all his people.
15Precious in Yahweh’s sight is the death of his saints.
16Yahweh, truly I am your servant. I am your servant, the son of your servant girl. You have freed me from my chains.
17I will offer to you the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call on Yahweh’s name.
18I will pay my vows to Yahweh, yes, in the presence of all his people,
19in the courts of Yahweh’s house, in the middle of you, Jerusalem. Praise Yah!