Psalm 116 (1928 BCP)
Psalm 116 (1928 BCP) is the psalm Dilexi, quoniam in the Psalter of the Book of Common Prayer (1928). The 1928 monthly cycle appoints it at Morning Prayer on the Twenty-fourth Day. It is a thanksgiving after mortal distress: the speaker calls on the Lord, receives deliverance, and answers publicly with vows, thanksgiving, and service.
Prayer Book Text and Daily Office Appointment
The Prayer Book prints Psalm 116 after Psalm 115 under “The Twenty-fourth Day. Morning Prayer.” Its opening joins love, prayer, and deliverance; neither the trouble nor the thanksgiving is concealed.
MY delight is in the LORD; * because he hath heard the voice of my prayer; 2 Because he hath inclined his ear unto me; * therefore will I call upon him as long as I live. 3 The snares of death compassed me round about, * and the pains of hell gat hold upon me. 4 I found trouble and heaviness; then called I upon the Name of the LORD; * O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. 5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; * yea, our God is merciful. 6 The LORD preserveth the simple: * I was in misery, and he helped me.
The Psalm does not represent faith as immunity from grief. It names “trouble and heaviness,” calls upon the divine Name, and confesses the character of the God who answers: gracious, righteous, and merciful. The return to rest is grounded in what God has done, not in the worshipper's self-possession.
Turn again then unto thy rest, O my soul; * for the LORD hath rewarded thee. 8 And why? thou hast delivered my soul from death, * mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. 9 I will walk before the LORD * in the land of the living.
The final movement turns gratitude outward. Faith speaks despite affliction; the “cup of salvation,” vows, thanksgiving, and Jerusalem's courts make the answer communal rather than merely inward.
I believed, and therefore will I speak; but I was sore troubled: * I said in my haste, All men are liars. 11 What reward shall I give unto the LORD * for all the benefits that he hath done unto me? 12 I will receive the cup of salvation, * and call upon the Name of the LORD. 13 I will pay my vows now in the presence of all his people: * right dear in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. 14 Behold, O LORD, how that I am thy servant; * I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid; thou hast broken my bonds in sunder. 15 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, * and will call upon the Name of the LORD. 16 I will pay my vows unto the LORD, in the sight of all his people, * in the courts of the LORD’S house; even in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD.
Scripture in the Church's Prayer
Paul explicitly receives the Psalm's movement from belief to speech. In context, he writes of ministry amid suffering and of confidence in the God who raised Jesus; Psalm 116 therefore gives the Daily Office a vocabulary for witness that does not deny frailty.
We having the same spirit of faith, according as it is written, I believed, and therefore have I spoken; we also believe, and therefore speak; Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you.
The Psalm's thanksgiving also belongs to a Passover-shaped horizon. Matthew records that Jesus and his disciples sang a hymn before departing for the Mount of Olives; traditional Christian use has often heard Psalm 116, one of Psalms 113–118, within that setting. This is a theological and liturgical reception, not a claim that the Gospel names a particular psalm.
And when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the mount of Olives.
Historical Christian Interpretation
Augustine reads the Psalm's first words through faith, hope, and love. His is a Christian interpretation of the Psalm prayed by the Church, rather than a denial of Israel's own thanksgiving and anguish.
These three things, therefore, abide, faith, hope, charity: because you have believed, you have hoped; because you have hoped, you have loved.
That reading illuminates the Psalm's order: the Lord's attentive hearing awakens hope, and hope issues in love and continued prayer. Augustine likewise takes “rest” seriously, while refusing to confuse it with passivity.
Meek therefore and humble, following, so to speak, Christ as its path, should the action of the soul be that tends towards repose; nevertheless, not slothful and supine; that it may finish its course.
The Psalm's cup and thanksgiving invite a specifically Eucharistic Christian hearing, but the text first speaks of grateful response to deliverance. John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale keep both the Passover background and the Christian liturgical reception in view:
The direct reference is to the cup of wine used in the benediction at the Paschal meal ... and thus denotes a promise on the part of the Psalmist, to observe the Passover with true devotion, just as a little later he pledges himself to “offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving.”
Their commentary also identifies the Psalm's public character: thanksgiving is not a private repayment of a debt to God, but a response made in worship and among God's people. The Prayer Book's Morning Prayer appointment gives a congregation words in which deliverance becomes praise, vows become renewed service, and the Lord's house becomes the place of shared thanksgiving.
Use in Worship
On the Twenty-fourth Day at Morning Prayer, Psalm 116 follows Psalm 115's praise of the living God and precedes Psalm 117's summons to all nations. The sequence moves from trust and blessing, through an individual's grateful testimony, to universal praise. It is especially fitting where the Church needs language both for honest distress and for public thanksgiving: “I believed, and therefore will I speak,” followed by the sacrifice of thanksgiving in the midst of God's people.
See Also
- The Psalter (1928 BCP)
- Morning Prayer (1928 BCP)
- Psalm 115 (1928 BCP)
- Psalm 117 (1928 BCP)
- Book of Common Prayer (1928)
External Links
- The 1928 BCP Psalter: Psalms 101–150 (Justus Anglican)
- Augustine, Exposition on Psalm 116
- Neale and Littledale, A Commentary on the Psalms, vol. III
References
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Psalter,” Psalm 116, Dilexi, quoniam, verses 1–6, Twenty-fourth Day, Morning Prayer, pp. 486–487, Justus Anglican, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Psalter,” Psalm 116.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Psalter,” Psalm 116, Dilexi, quoniam, verses 7–9, Twenty-fourth Day, Morning Prayer, p. 487, Justus Anglican, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Psalter,” Psalm 116.
- ↑ The Protestant Episcopal Church, The Book of Common Prayer and Administration of the Sacraments and Other Rites and Ceremonies of the Church (New York: Church Pension Fund, 1928), “The Psalter,” Psalm 116, Dilexi, quoniam, verses 10–16, Twenty-fourth Day, Morning Prayer, p. 487, Justus Anglican, “The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: Psalter,” Psalm 116.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the Original Tongues: and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised by His Majesty’s Special Command (Authorized Version, 1611), 2 Corinthians 4:13–14, Bible Gateway, “2 Corinthians 4:13–14 KJV”.
- ↑ The Holy Bible, Containing the Old and New Testaments: Translated out of the Original Tongues: and with the Former Translations Diligently Compared and Revised by His Majesty’s Special Command (Authorized Version, 1611), Matthew 26:30, Bible Gateway, “Matthew 26:30 KJV”.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 116, §2, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), New Advent, “Exposition on Psalm 116”.
- ↑ Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 116, §6, trans. J. E. Tweed, in Philip Schaff, ed., Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, First Series, vol. 8 (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1888), New Advent, “Exposition on Psalm 116”.
- ↑ John Mason Neale and Richard Frederick Littledale, A Commentary on the Psalms: From Primitive and Mediaeval Writers; and From the Various Office-Books and Hymns of the Roman, Mozarabic, Ambrosian, Gallican, Greek, Coptic, Armenian, and Syriac Rites, vol. III, Psalms LXXXI–CXVIII (London: Joseph Masters; New York: Pott and Amery, 1871), p. 501, commentary on Psalm CXVI, verses 11–12, Internet Archive, “A Commentary on the Psalms, vol. III”.