Psalm 116:1-14

“What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation.” (Psalm 116:12-13)

Psalm 116 belongs to the Egyptian Hallel, Psalms 113 to 118, sung in connection with Passover, which places its words close to the last supper in Jewish practice; the Greek and Latin versions divide it into two psalms at v. 10. It is a thanksgiving told backwards. The rescue has already happened, and the distress is described from safety, the snares of death and the pangs of Sheol recalled by someone who is walking in the land of the living (vv. 3, 9). The second half of the appointed portion is not reflection but ritual. The cup of v. 13 is a drink offering poured out with the payment of a vow (cf. Num 15:5-10), and the vow is paid where it was made, in the presence of all the people (v. 14), so gratitude is a public transaction with a liturgy of its own. Read beside the walk to Emmaus, a psalm about a lifted cup and feet kept from stumbling reads as a table grace.

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