to call out to (i.e. properly · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common singular
name
וּבְשֵֽׁםu.ve.shem-
H8034
an appellation · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֥הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
LORD
יְ֝הוָ֗הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
beseech
אָנָּ֥ה'a.Nah
H577
oh now! · interjection
deliver
מַלְּטָ֥הma.le.Tah
H4422
properly · verb, piel imperative, 2nd person masculine singular + paragogic he
soul
נַפְשִֽׁיnaf.Shi
H5315
properly · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 118:5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
Psalms 22:20 Deliver my soul from the sword; my darling from the power of the dog.
Psalms 143:6-9 I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
Luke 23:42-43 And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.
Psalms 30:7-8 LORD, by thy favour thou hast made my mountain to stand strong: thou didst hide thy face, and I was troubled.
Psalms 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.
Psalms 142:4-6 I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.
Luke 18:13 And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 116:1-9
In this part of the psalm we have,
I. A general account of David's experience, and his pious resolutions (Psa 116:1, Psa 116:2), which are as the contents of the whole psalm, and give an idea of it. 1. He had experienced God's goodness to him in answer to prayer: He has heard my voice and my supplications. David, in straits, had humbly and earnestly begged mercy of God, and God had heard him, that is, had graciously accepted his prayer, taken cognizance of his case, and granted him an answer of peace. He has inclined his ear to me. This intimates his readiness and willingness to hear prayer; he lays his ear, as it were, to the mouth of prayer, to hear it, though it be but whispered in groani…
Then called I upon the name of the Lord,.... Upon the Lord himself in prayer for speedy deliverance; or "in the name of the Lord" (h), in the name of the Messiah, the only Mediator between God and man; "saying", as follows, and which word may be supplied,
O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul; from these sorrows and pains, from these afflictions and distresses, from death and the grave, and from wrath, and a sense of it, and fears about it.
(h) "in nomine Domini", Montanus, Musculus, Vatablus.
John Calvin on Psalms 116:1-4
Psalm 116:1-4
1. I have loved, because Jehovah shall hear the voice of my supplication. 2. Because he hath inclined his ear to me, and during my days I will call upon him. 3. The snares [375] of death compassed me, [376] and the sorrows of the grave found me: [377] I found tribulation and grief. 4. And I will call upon the name of Jehovah; I beseech thee, O Jehovah! deliver my soul.
1 I have loved, because Jehovah will hear the voice of my supplication. At the very commencement of this psalm David avows that he was attracted with the sweetness of God's goodness, to place his hope and confidence in him alone. This abrupt mode of speaking, I have loved, is the more emphatic, intimating that…
O Lord, deliver my soul. Neither the Greek nor the Latin can express the peculiar force of the Hebrew. For "O" the Hebrew has ANNA. Now anna is interpreted "I beg" and "I entreat." And what he says is this: I entreat you, Lord, deliver my soul. For it is not the feeling of one wondering, but of one entreating: for he is set in enormous peril.
But after "I too found trouble and heaviness, I called upon the Name of the Lord." For trouble and profitable sorrow I did not feel; trouble, wherein He giveth aid, unto whom it is said, "O be Thou our help in trouble: and vain is the help of man." For I thought I might rejoice and exult in the vain help of man; but when I had heard from my Lord, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted:" I did not wait until I should lose those temporal blessings in which I rejoiced, and should then mourn: but I gave heed to that very misery of mine which caused me to rejoice in such things, which I both feared to lose, and yet could not retain; I gave heed to it firmly and courageously, and I saw that I was not only agonized by the adversities of this world, but even bound by its good fortune; and thus "I found the trouble and heaviness" which had escaped me, "and called upon the Name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech Thee, deliver my soul." Let then the holy people of God say, "I called upon the Name of the Lord:" and let the remainder of the heathen hear, who do not as yet call upon the Name of the Lord; let them hear and seek, that they may discover trouble and heaviness, and may call upon the Name of the Lord, and be saved. ...
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Temple, the Second — After the return from captivity, under Zerubbabel (q.v.) and the high priest Jeshua, arrangements were almost immediately made to reorganize the long-desolated kingdom. The body of pilgrims, forming…
Prayer · Is described as: Calling upon the name of the Lord — Is described as: Calling upon the name of the Lord
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Psalms 116:1-4
Not only is כּי אהבתּי "I love (like, am well pleased) that," like ἀγαπῶ ὅτι, Thucydides vi. 36, contrary to the usage of the language, but the thought, "I love that Jahve answereth me," is also tame and flat, and inappropriate to the continuation in Psa 116:2. Since Psa 116:3-4 have come from Psa 18:5-17, אהבתּי is to be understood according to ארחמך in Psa 18:2, so that it has the following יהוה as its object, not it is true grammatically, but logically. The poet is fond of this pregnant use of the verb without an expressed object, cf. אקרא in Psa 116:2, and האמנתּי in Psa 116:10. The Pasek after ישׁמע is intended to guard against the blending of the final a‛ with the initial 'a of אדנ…
This is the first of three times that the psalmist calls on the Lord’s name (i.e., reputation).
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 116:4
Then called I upon the name of the Lord; O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.
Then I called upon the name of the Lord. Prayer is never out of season, he prayed then, when things were at their worst. When the good man could not run to God, he called to him. In his extremity his faith came to the front: it was useless to call on man, and it may have seemed almost as useless to appeal to the Lord; but yet he did with his whole soul invoke all the attributes which make up the sacred name of Jehovah, and thus he proved the truth of his confidence. We can some of us remember certain very special times of trial of which we can now say, "then called I upon the name of the Lord." The Psalmist ap…
