I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.
Psalms 116:1-19.-The Psalmist's love to Yahweh, and resolution to call upon Him all his life, for having heard his prayer (Psalms 116:1-2); the deliverance (Psalms 116:3-6); now I have rest, as thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling: I will walk before thee (Psalms 116:7-9); as I believed, so Yahweh gave to me: what return shall I make to Him? (Psalms 116:10-12); I will accept salvation and pay my vows because His saints' lives are precious before Him (Psalms 116:13-15); henceforth I am thy servant, and as thou hast loosed my bonds I will offer thank-sacrifices in the Lord's house publicly (Psalms 116:16-19). Psalms 117:1-2 is the conclusion to this psalm. The Chaldee forms, as the suffix in Psalms 116:12, and the forms in Psalms 116:14-15, negdaah (H5048), 'in the presence,' hamaawªtaah (H4194), 'the death,' indicate the time of the captivity. The plural 'saints' (Psalms 116:15) shows that the Psalmist represents the nation just delivered from extinction, and her 'bonds loosed' (Psalms 116:16; cf. Psalms 107:14). The place of the altar set up by Jeshua and Zerubbabel, even before the building of the temple, was called "the house of the Lord" (Psalms 116:19; Ezra 2:68; Ezra 3:8). This psalm was sung after public worship had been set up; cf. Psalms 116:13-14; Psalms 116:17-19; a little later than Psalms 107:1-43 where cf. introduction.
I love the Lord, because he hath heard my voice - (Psalms 18:1.) The connection of the two psalms appears also by comparing, Psalms 116:3, "The sorrows of death compassed me," with Psalms 18:4, from which it is taken. This first verse contains in brief the substance of the psalm. God's love to the Psalmist (or to the people whom he represents) calls forth love on his part; and so supplies the motive of obedience to Deuteronomy 6:5, "Thou shalt love (the same Hebrew as here) the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."