Bible Strands
Psalms 116:16
Truly, O LORD, I am Your servant; I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant; You have broken my bonds.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist addresses the LORD in the immediate aftermath of deliverance, transitioning from recounting divine rescue to declaring personal allegiance.
The words — עַ֫בְדֶּ֥/ךָ ('avDe/kha) means your servant, and בֶּן־ (ben-) means son of, anchoring the declaration in inherited and personal submission.
The thread — This formulaic identification runs through Psalms 86:16, 143:12, and 119:125, where the speaker repeatedly grounds requests for mercy and understanding in the status of being God’s servant.
Why it lands — The text demands recognition that liberation from constraint originates with God and requires a corresponding posture of obedient dependence.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
O Lord, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.
Cross-references
- Psalms 86:16 Turn to me and have mercy; grant Your strength to Your servant; save the son of Your maidservant.
- Psalms 143:12 And in Your loving devotion, cut off my enemies. Destroy all who afflict me, for I am Your servant.
- Psalms 119:125 I am Your servant; give me understanding, that I may know Your testimonies.
- James 1:1 James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings.
- 2 Chronicles 33:11 So the LORD brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria, who captured Manasseh, put a hook in his nose, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon.
- Psalms 107:14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death and broke away their chains.
- Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on Me, because the LORD has anointed Me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and freedom to the prisoners,
- John 12:26 If anyone serves Me, he must follow Me; and where I am, My servant will be as well. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.
- Acts 27:23 For just last night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve stood beside me
- Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.