Psalms 116:16

16 Truly I am your servant, LORD; I serve you just as my mother did; you have freed me from my chains.

Psalms 116:16 in Other Translations

KJV
16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
ESV
16 O LORD, I am your servant; I am your servant, the son of your maidservant. You have loosed my bonds.
NLT
16 O LORD, I am your servant; yes, I am your servant, born into your household; you have freed me from my chains.
MSG
16 Oh, God, here I am, your servant, your faithful servant: set me free for your service!
CSB
16 Lord, I am indeed Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your female servant. You have loosened my bonds.

Psalms 116:16 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 116:16

O Lord, truly I [am] thy servant, I [am] thy servant
Not merely by creation, and as obliged by providential favours; but by the grace of God, which made him a willing one: and he was so, not nominally only, but in reality; not as those who say Lord, Lord, but do not the will of God; whereas he served the Lord cheerfully and willingly, in righteousness and true holiness: and this he repeats for the confirmation of it, and to show his heartiness in the Lord's service, and his zealous attachment to him; and which he mentions, not as though he thought his service meritorious of anything at the hand of God; but that his being in this character was an obligation upon him to serve the Lord, and him only, and might expect his protection in it;

[and] the son of thy handmaid;
his mother was also a servant of the Lord; and had trained him up in his infancy in the nurture and admonition of the Lord; so that he was inured to it early, and could not easily depart from it;

thou hast loosed my bonds;
the bonds of affliction and death in which he was held; these were loosed, being delivered from them, ( Psalms 116:3 Psalms 116:8 ) ; and the bonds of sin, and Satan, and the law, in whose service he had been, which was no other than a bondage; but now was freed from the servitude and dominion of sin, from the captivity of Satan, and the bondage of the law; and therefore, though a servant, yet the Lord's free man.

Psalms 116:16 In-Context

14 I will fulfill my vows to the LORDin the presence of all his people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORDis the death of his faithful servants.
16 Truly I am your servant, LORD; I serve you just as my mother did; you have freed me from my chains.
17 I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the LORD.
18 I will fulfill my vows to the LORDin the presence of all his people,

Cross References 3

  • 1. Psalms 119:125; Psalms 143:12
  • 2. S Psalms 86:16
  • 3. S Job 12:18
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.