Footnotes

1. Psalm 116:1 sn Psalm 116. The psalmist thanks the Lord for delivering him from a life threatening crisis and promises to tell the entire covenant community what God has done for him.
2. Psalm 116:1 tn Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3-4).
3. Psalm 116:2 tn Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”
4. Psalm 116:2 tn Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”
5. Psalm 116:3 tn Heb “surrounded me.”
6. Psalm 116:3 tn The Hebrew noun מֵצַר (metsar, “straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (m^etsade, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.
7. Psalm 116:3 tn The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.
8. Psalm 116:6 tn Heb “guards.” The active participle indicates this is a characteristic of the Lord.
9. Psalm 116:6 tn Or “the [morally] naive,” that is, the one who is young and still in the process of learning right from wrong and distinguishing wisdom from folly. See Ps 19:7.
10. Psalm 116:6 tn Heb “I was low.”
11. Psalm 116:7 tn Heb “return, my soul, to your place of rest.”
12. Psalm 116:7 tn The Hebrew idiom גָּמַל עַל (gamal ʿal) means “to repay,” here in a positive sense (cf. Ps 13:5).
13. Psalm 116:8 tn Or “for.”
14. Psalm 116:8 tn “Lord” is supplied here in the translation for clarification.
15. Psalm 116:9 tn Heb “walk before” (see Ps 56:13). On the meaning of the Hebrew idiom, see the notes at 2 Kgs 20:3/Isa 38:3.
16. Psalm 116:9 tn Heb “lands, regions.”
17. Psalm 116:11 tn Heb “I said in my haste.”
18. Psalm 116:13 tn Heb “a cup of deliverance I will lift up.” Perhaps this alludes to a drink offering the psalmist will present as he thanks the Lord for his deliverance. See v. 17.
19. Psalm 116:15 tn Heb “precious in the eyes of the Lord [is] the death of his godly ones.” The point is not that God delights in or finds satisfaction in the death of his followers! The psalmist, who has been delivered from death, affirms that the life-threatening experiences of God’s followers get God’s attention, just as a precious or rare object would attract someone’s eye. See Ps 72:14 for a similar expression of this belief.
20. Psalm 116:16 tn Heb “I am your servant, the son of your female servant.” The phrase “son of a female servant” (see also Ps 86:16) is used of a son born to a secondary wife or concubine (Exod 23:12). In some cases the child’s father is the master of the house (see Gen 21:10, 13; Judg 9:18). It may used metaphorically and idiomatically to emphasize the psalmist’s humility before the Lord and his status as the Lord’s servant. Or it may be a reference to the psalmist’s own mother who also was a servant of the Lord.
21. Psalm 116:16 tn Heb “you have loosed my bonds.” In this context the imagery refers to deliverance from death (see v. 3).