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116. Psalm 116

¹ I love the LORD, for he heard my voice;
he heard my cry for mercy.
² Because he turned his ear to me,
I will call on him as long as I live.

    ³ The cords of death entangled me,
   the anguish of the grave came over me;
   I was overcome by distress and sorrow.
⁴ Then I called on the name of the LORD:
   “LORD, save me!”

    ⁵ The LORD is gracious and righteous;
   our God is full of compassion.
⁶ The LORD protects the unwary;
   when I was brought low, he saved me.

⁷ Return to your rest, my soul,
for the LORD has been good to you.

    ⁸ For you, LORD, have delivered me from death,
   my eyes from tears,
   my feet from stumbling,
⁹ that I may walk before the LORD
   in the land of the living.

    ¹⁰ I trusted in the LORD when I said,
   “I am greatly afflicted”;
¹¹ in my alarm I said,
   “Everyone is a liar.”

¹² What shall I return to the LORD
for all his goodness to me?

    ¹³ I will lift up the cup of salvation
   and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁴ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
   in the presence of all his people.

    ¹⁵ Precious in the sight of the LORD
   is the death of his faithful servants.
¹⁶ Truly I am your servant, LORD;
   I serve you just as my mother did;
   you have freed me from my chains.

    ¹⁷ I will sacrifice a thank offering to you
   and call on the name of the LORD.
¹⁸ I will fulfill my vows to the LORD
   in the presence of all his people,
¹⁹ in the courts of the house of the LORD—
   in your midst, Jerusalem.

Praise the LORD. Hebrew Hallelu Yah

12. What shall I render unto Jehovah? He now exclaims with devout admiration, that the multitude of God’s benefits was greater than he could find language to give expression to the grateful emotions of his heart. The question is emphatic, What shall I render? and imports, that it was not the desire, but the means, of which he was destitute, to enable him to render thanks to God. Acknowledging his inability, he adopts the only means in his power, by extolling the grace of God as highly as he could. “I am exceedingly wishful to discharge my duty, but when I look around me, I find nothing which will prove an adequate recompense.” Some understand the phrase, upon me, to intimate, that David had the recollection of all the benefits which God bestowed on him deeply engraven upon his mind. Others, along with the LXX., supply the particle for, What shall I render unto Jehovah for all his benefits towards me? But it is much better to make the first clause of the verse a complete sentence, by putting a period after Jehovah. Because, after confessing his incompetency, or rather his having nothing to offer to God as a sufficient compensation for his benefits, he at the same time adds in confirmation of it, that he was laid under such obligations, not by one series of benefits only, but by a variety of innumerable benefits. “There is no benefit on account of which God has not made me a debtor to him, how should I have means of repaying him for them?” All recompense failing him, he has recourse to an expression of thanksgiving as the only return which he knows will be acceptable to God. David’s example in this instance teaches us not to treat God’s benefits lightly or carelessly, for if we estimate them according to their value, the very thought of them ought to fill us with admiration. There is not one of us who has not God’s benefits heaped upon us. But our pride, which carries us away into extravagant theories, causes us to forget this very doctrine, which ought nevertheless to engage our unremitting attention. And God’s bounty towards us merits the more praise, that he expects no recompense from us, nor can receive any, for he stands in need of nothing, and we are poor and destitute of all things.