Psalm 116:1-4, 12-19

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

Psalm 116 is a thanksgiving offered after rescue from death, and the two halves appointed here reflect an old division, since the Greek and Latin Psalters treat it as two psalms and break it at verse 10. The first selection narrates the danger in the standard vocabulary of the Psalter’s laments, the cords of death and the pangs of Sheol (v. 3), and answers it with the simplest of prayers, the calling on a name. The second asks what can be returned and answers in liturgical terms, a cup lifted, vows paid in the presence of all the people, a sacrifice of thanksgiving in the courts of the house of the Lord (vv. 13, 14 and 17 to 19). The psalm belongs to the Hallel sung at Passover (Psalms 113 to 118), which is the likely content of the hymn sung before the walk to the Mount of Olives (Mark 14:26).

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