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Psalms

About this book
Psalm 116

1 I love the Lord because he heard my plea for mercy⁠ 2 and listened to me. As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. 3 The ropes of death tightened around me, the snares of Sheol confronted me.⁠ I was confronted with trouble and sorrow. 4 I called on the name of the Lord, “Please, Lord, rescue my life!” 5 The Lord is merciful and fair; our God is compassionate. 6 The Lord protects the untrained; I was in serious trouble and he delivered me. 7 Rest once more, my soul, for the Lord has vindicated you. 8 Yes, Lord, you rescued my life from death, kept my eyes from tears and my feet from stumbling. 9 I will serve the Lord in the land of the living. 10 I had faith when I said,⁠ “I am severely oppressed.” 11 I rashly declared, “All men are liars.” 12 How can I repay the Lord for all his acts of kindness to me? 13 I will celebrate my deliverance and call on the name of the Lord. 14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord before all his people. 15 The Lord values the lives of his faithful followers. 16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant; I am your servant, the son of your female servant. You saved me from death. 17 I will present a thank offering to you, and call on the name of the Lord. 18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord before all his people, 19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple, in your midst, O Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

Texts in conversation

Compare Psalm 116:3 and Jonah 2:2

Hebrew Bible

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Summary

In Psalm 116, the psalmist describes the snares of Sheol closing in around them and calling on God for rescue. Jonah prays a very similar prayer from inside the fish, crying out from the deep of Sheol as the water closes in around him.

Passages

Psalm 116:3

Hebrew Bible
1 I love the Lord because he heard my plea for mercy 2 and listened to me. As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. 3 The ropes of death tightened around me, the snares of Sheol confronted me. I was confronted with trouble and sorrow. 4 I called on the name of the Lord, “Please, Lord, rescue my life!” 5 The Lord is merciful and fair; our God is compassionate. 6 The Lord protects the untrained; I was in serious trouble and he delivered me.
600–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Psalms

Jonah 2:2

Hebrew Bible
1 Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the stomach of the fish 2 and said, “I called out to the Lord from my distress, and he answered me; from the belly of Sheol I cried out for help, and you heard my prayer. 3 You threw me into the deep waters, into the middle of the sea; the ocean current engulfed me; all the mighty waves you sent swept over me. 4 I thought I had been banished from your sight and that I would never again see your holy temple. 5 Water engulfed me up to my neck; the deep ocean surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6 I went down to the very bottoms of the mountains; the gates of the netherworld barred me in forever, but you brought me up from the Pit, O Lord, my God.
300–201 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jonah

References

“... “The snares of death encompassed me; the pangs of Sheol laid hold on me” (116:3). Kathryn Roberts compares this torment to Jonah’s: “Waters closed in over me; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped around my head” (Jonah 2:5, see also Ps. 18:5; Roberts, in Van Harn and Strawn 2009: 301). Sheol simply is death, a vague, shadowy underworld where no praise is given. The place is best left unvisited. Yet the details are intentionally vague. Basil sees the specific pain of a mother in childbirth (Homilies on the Psalms 22, in Wesselschmidt 2007: 286). Alter (2007: 411) suggests that such language could refer to battle. Kraus (1993: 386) imagines more literally a dungeon or prison. ...”
Jason Byassee, Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible: Psalms 101-150 (Grand Rapids: Brazos, 2018), 163.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Psalm 116:3 and Jonah 2:2

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