This narration is from a previous version of the study. The text on this page is current.
Psalm 116 is one of the most intimate songs in the Psalter, and it opens a rich horizon for Christian Eucharistic thanksgiving. In Brenton’s rendering it begins with the speaker well pleased because the Lord will hear the voice of supplication. The Lord has inclined His ear, so the speaker will call upon Him throughout life. The Psalm passes through the pangs of death and the danger of Hades, learns to return to rest in God, and then rises into faith speaking under affliction, the cup of salvation, vows paid in the assembly, and the confession that the death of the saints is precious in the Lord’s sight.
This note keeps the NKJV / Masoretic Psalm 116 whole. In the Brenton Septuagint, that single psalm is divided into LXX Psalms 114 and 115, so both are needed here. St Augustine’s exposition covers the entire movement and links faith, hope, and love: “because thou hast believed, thou hast hoped; because thou hast hoped, thou hast loved.”1 In Christian reading, that thread can lead us into Eucharistic praise, public witness, and resurrection-shaped rest.
Psalm 116 (LXX 114-115) - The Cup of Salvation in the Land of the Living
Psalm Metadata
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| NKJV / Masoretic numbering | Psalm 116 |
| Septuagint / Coptic numbering | Brenton LXX Psalms 114 and 115. NKJV Psalm 116 is divided in the Septuagint tradition. |
| Accepted author | Not named; Alleluia is the superscription of both LXX Psalms 114 and 115. |
| Period in author’s life | No fixed historical event is assigned; the Psalm speaks from affliction into thanksgiving and public worship. |
| Christ prophecy status | Christological and ecclesial. The Psalm opens into Christ’s heard prayer, His passage through death, the Eucharistic cup, the witness of martyrs, and the Church’s public sacrifice of praise. |
| Coptic lectionary/service use | The Nadian/St Bishoy Agpeya prints both parts in the Ninth Hour, pp. 120–121; its translation and paragraph numbering differ from Brenton’s. |
| Numbering issue | This note intentionally uses Brenton LXX Psalms 114 and 115 together because they correspond to the single NKJV Psalm 116. |
Historical and Scriptural Context
Psalm 116 belongs to the Hallel sequence and moves from private affliction to public thanksgiving. The voice is deeply personal, but it does not remain private. The speaker looks toward the land of the living, takes the cup of salvation, pays vows in the presence of all God’s people, and offers sacrifice of praise in the courts of the Lord’s house.
Augustine hears the voice of the soul and the witness of Christ’s martyrs in the Psalm. The first half speaks of prayer heard, death escaped, and rest restored. The second half speaks of faith under suffering, the cup of salvation, and the precious death of the saints. Thanksgiving does not deny the pain: the speaker brings suffering to the Lord and offers praise for deliverance.
Geographical Significance ⛰️
The Psalm moves from the brink of Hades toward the land of the living, and finally to the courts of the Lord’s house in the midst of Jerusalem. Salvation is not treated as inward relief alone. It restores the worshipper to visible communion, covenant life, and public praise.
The Characters 👥
The Lord. The One who hears, preserves, delivers, frees, and receives the sacrifice of praise.
The afflicted believer. The soul that cries out from danger, is delivered, and learns to return to rest.
The martyrs / saints. Those whose death is precious in the Lord’s sight.
The gathered people. The worshipping assembly before whom vows are fulfilled and thanksgiving is offered.
🕯️ Light from the Word
Psalm 116:1-4 / Brenton LXX 114:1-4, the Lord will hearken
114:1 Alleluia. I am well pleased, because the Lord will hearken to the voice of my supplication. 114:2 Because he has inclined his ear to me, therefore will I call upon him while I live. 114:3 The pangs of death compassed me; the dangers of hell found me: I found affliction and sorrow. 114:4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: O Lord, deliver my soul.
Brenton’s opening speaks of being well pleased because the Lord will hearken. The speaker’s confidence in continuing prayer rests on the Lord having inclined His ear. Surrounded by death and the danger of Hades, the soul calls upon Him. This is hope in the God who hears, not a promise that every prayer will bring the outcome or timing we desire. Delay or an unanswered request is not proof of failed faith or divine absence.
Augustine’s own textual tradition begins with love and future hearing, and he asks how hearing still to come can stir love now. The Lord has inclined His ear; faith gives rise to hope, and hope kindles love: “because thou hast believed, thou hast hoped; because thou hast hoped, thou hast loved.”1 He is interpreting his tradition, not correcting Brenton’s opening. Love here does not deny suffering; it grows in trust in the God who attends to us.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “The Lord will hearken to the voice of my supplication”; “O Lord, deliver my soul.”
- Emphasize: the spiritual life begins again and again with the God who hears.
- Avoid: presenting love for God as mere emotion detached from affliction.
Psalm 116:5-9 / Brenton LXX 114:5-9, return unto thy rest
114:5 The Lord is merciful and righteous; yea, our God has pity. 114:6 The Lord preserves the simple: I was brought low, and he delivered me. 114:7 Return to thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord has dealt bountifully with thee. 114:8 For he has delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 114:9 I shall be well-pleasing before the Lord in the land of the living.
The Lord is merciful and righteous, and He has pity. He preserves the simple; the speaker was brought low and was delivered. From this mercy comes an inward command: return to thy rest. This is not laziness or numbness. It is the rest of a heart brought back under mercy.
Augustine grounds this return in the Lord’s gift, not the soul’s merit or strength. Following Christ’s humble path, the soul moves toward rest while the journey continues. The soul already tastes deliverance, yet it also hopes for the fullness of life before the Lord. Rest now is real, and it points toward the resurrection hope in which tears and falling are finally no more.
This promise does not demand that we feel calm. Amid sorrow, returning may begin with one small prayer or with accepting help. Anxiety, insomnia, and continuing tears are not evidence of failed faith.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Return to thy rest, O my soul”; “in the land of the living.”
- Emphasize: God’s mercy restores the inner life and gives resurrection-shaped hope.
- Avoid: treating rest as self-care language divorced from repentance and grace.
Psalm 116:10-14 / Brenton LXX 115:1-4a, faith speaks and takes the cup
115:1 Alleluia. I believed, wherefore I have spoken: but I was greatly afflicted. 115:2 And I said in mine amazement, Every man is a liar. 115:3 What shall I render to the Lord for all the things wherein he has rewarded me? 115:4 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. 115:4a I will pay my vows to the Lord, in the presence of all his people.
Faith does not wait for affliction to disappear before speaking. It speaks through affliction. The cry about every person is spoken in amazement by one who has been brought low. It exposes the fragility of human reliance, not a reason to distrust every person or refuse medical or pastoral help. Augustine also hears a warning against relying on one’s own strength: fidelity is a gift of grace, not a reason for self-congratulation. Paul takes up the Psalm’s language of faith and speech while looking to the God who raised Jesus and will raise us with Him (2 Corinthians 4:13–14).
In the Psalm, the speaker responds to deliverance by taking the cup of salvation, calling on the Lord, and paying vows before the people. Thanksgiving does not purchase what God has already given. Augustine asks who gives the cup and turns to Christ, who suffered first and enables His servants to follow Him: “Who hath given unto thee to imitate His sufferings, save He who hath suffered before for thee?”2 His focus here is following Christ in suffering, not an explicit exposition of the Eucharist.
Christian reading also hears a Eucharistic resonance, supported separately by Matthew 26:26–30 and 1 Corinthians 11:17–34. The Lord gives His disciples the cup, and the assembly proclaims His death until He comes. Paul rebukes the Corinthians for their divisions and for shaming those who have nothing, calling them to examine themselves and wait for one another. Self-examination invites repentance, not terror that drives repentant people away from Christ; Paul’s judgment of that community must not become a diagnosis of sick people today. Praise can reach a neighbor through sharing a meal or groceries (Hebrews 13:15–16).
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “I believed, wherefore I have spoken”; “I will take the cup of salvation.”
- Emphasize: grace is received, confessed, and offered back in thanksgiving.
- Avoid: reducing the cup to vague symbolism or reducing vows to private emotion.
Psalm 116:15-19 / Brenton LXX 115:6-10, precious in the sight of the Lord
115:6 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. 115:7 O Lord, I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast burst my bonds asunder. 115:8 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of praise, and will call upon the name of the Lord. 115:9 I will pay my vows unto the Lord, in the presence of all his people, 115:10 in the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, Jerusalem.
The Psalm brings together the death of the saints, broken bonds, and public praise. In Christian reading, this includes the witness of martyrs. Their death is precious, not because death is good, but because the Lord receives His faithful ones and holds them in the promise of resurrection.
Fidelity when suffering comes does not require a person to seek death, harm themselves, accept abuse, or refuse medical care or protection. No sufferer is required to remain in danger; when possible, seek safety and help from trusted people, medical professionals, or emergency services.
Augustine says Christ purchased this precious death by His own Blood, which He first shed for the salvation of His servants. Christ’s saving Passion comes first; martyr witness does not supply something lacking in it. Augustine also turns the broken bonds toward liberation from sin. The freed servant responds with the sacrifice of praise, publicly and in the Church.
Lesson Guide
- Key phrases: “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”; “thou hast burst my bonds asunder.”
- Emphasize: death, bondage, and praise are all transformed in Christ.
- Avoid: sentimentalizing saintly death or suggesting fidelity requires someone to remain in danger.
The Church’s Voice in Worship 📖
The retained Nadian/St Bishoy trilingual Agpeya prints both parts of this study, Psalms 114 and 115, in the Ninth Hour (pp. 120–121). Its English opening speaks of love and hearing, and the end of Psalm 114 speaks of walking before the Lord; those are the book’s renderings, not the Brenton wording quoted here. Its paragraph numbers are not Brenton verse labels.
For this study, praying these passages invites us to bring danger before God, receive His saving gift, and give thanks with His people. This is a reflection on the passages, not a claim about the intention of everyone who arranged or prays the Hour.
Iconography Connection 🖼️
As a teaching association, an icon of the Mystical Supper can help us reflect on receiving the cup, while images of the martyrs and of Christ delivering the faithful from death can bring witness and resurrection hope to mind. These are suggested connections for this study, not a claim that an iconographer intended Psalm 116 or that every icon tradition interprets it in this way.
Spiritual Fruit 🍇
- Pray from the edge honestly. The Psalm gives words for the believer surrounded by sorrow and danger.
- Command the soul to return to rest. Rest is learned in the mercy of God, not manufactured by the self. Begin with one short prayer or accept help.
- Receive before you repay. The cup of salvation is first a gift.
- Make thanksgiving public. Praise belongs in the assembly, not only in private feeling; let it reach a neighbor through sharing.
- Reverence the witness of the saints. Their death is precious because they belong to the Lord.
Teacher's Notes
- Timing: 10 minutes for hearing and deliverance, 10 minutes for return to rest, 15 minutes for faith speaking and the cup of salvation, 15 minutes for the death of the saints and sacrifice of praise.
- Where to linger: Psalm 116:7; Psalm 116:13; Psalm 116:15.
- Key phrase to say slowly: “because thou hast believed, thou hast hoped; because thou hast hoped, thou hast loved.”1
- Pastoral warning: do not flatten the Psalm into generic gratitude. Its thanksgiving is Eucharistic, ecclesial, and resurrection-shaped. Do not use rest or martyrdom language to pressure someone to conceal distress or remain unsafe.
Glossary
- Land of the living: The realm of life among the living and, in Christian reading, a phrase charged with resurrection hope.
- Cup of salvation: In the Psalm, part of the grateful response to deliverance; in Christian reading, an image that can be related to the Eucharistic cup.
- Vows: Publicly fulfilled promises of thanksgiving made to God.
- Sacrifice of praise: Worship offered from a freed and thankful heart, with goodness and sharing as fitting responses.
Translation and Source Notes
Embedded Scripture here comes from Brenton’s English Septuagint, Psalms 114 and 115, because the single NKJV Psalm 116 is divided into two LXX psalms. The section headings keep the NKJV verse flow visible while identifying the corresponding LXX text actually quoted.
By the words of the passages, Psalm 116:1–9 corresponds to 114:1–9; 116:10–14 to 115:1–4a; and 116:15–19 to 115:6–10. The quoted source labels the first vow 115:4a, distinct from the preceding 115:4 even though they share a digital verse identifier; the next printed verse is 115:6. These correspondences do not follow one fixed offset throughout the Psalm.
Sources
Primary sources: Brenton Septuagint, Psalms 114-115; Matthew 26:26–30; 1 Corinthians 11:17–34; 2 Corinthians 4:7–18; Hebrews 13:10–16.
Patristic sources: St Augustine, Expositions on the Psalms, Psalm 116, §§1–2, 6–8, 10–14, ccel.org; Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on the Psalms, Psalm 116, translated by Robert C. Hill, vol. 102, pp. 229–234, a historical interpretation of thanksgiving and witness, not presented here as normative Coptic authority.
Coptic Orthodox / liturgical sources: Fr Jacob B. Nadian, Rites: Agpeya Book, St Bishoy trilingual witness, Ninth Hour, pp. 120–121, saintbishoy.ca, which prints both parts of this study.