Psa 116:1-4 | NETfull | STEP | I love the Lord because he heard my plea for mercy,

Psalms 116:1-4

1 I love the Lord
because he heard my plea for mercy, ^{▼▼ Heb “I love because the Lord heard my voice, my pleas.” It is possible that “the Lord” originally appeared directly after “I love” and was later accidentally misplaced. The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls that God heard his cry for help (note the perfect in v. 2a and the narrative in vv. 3–4).}
2 and listened to me. ^{▼▼ Heb “because he turned his ear to me.”}
As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help. ^{▼▼ Heb “and in my days I will cry out.”}
3 The ropes of death tightened around me, ^{▼▼ Heb “surrounded me.”}
the snares ^{▼▼ The Hebrew noun מצר (“straits; distress”) occurs only here, Ps 118:5 and Lam 1:3. If retained, it refers to Sheol as a place where one is confined or severely restricted (cf. BDB 865 s.v. מֵצַר, “the straits of Sheol”; NIV “the anguish of the grave”; NRSV “the pangs of Sheol”). However, HALOT 624 s.v. מֵצַר suggests an emendation to מְצָדֵי (m^etsadey, “snares of”), a rare noun attested in Job 19:6 and Eccl 7:26. This proposal, which is reflected in the translation, produces better parallelism with “ropes” in the preceding line.} of Sheol confronted me.
I was confronted ^{▼▼ The translation assumes the prefixed verbal form is a preterite. The psalmist recalls the crisis from which the Lord delivered him.} with trouble and sorrow.
4 I called on the name of the Lord,
“Please Lord, rescue my life!”