Bible Strands
Psalms 116:3
The ropes of death entangled me; the anguish of Sheol overcame me; I was confronted by trouble and sorrow.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The psalmist speaks to God, describing the moment of acute distress that immediately follows the affirmation of God's attentive ear in verse 2 and precedes the plea for deliverance in verse 4.
The words — חֶבְלֵי־מָוֶת (ḥəḇlê-māwet) translates literally to "cords of death," and צָרָה (ṣārâ) means "trouble." The text states these terms describe the entanglement and confrontation the speaker experiences.
The thread — The motif of death's cords and overwhelming distress runs through Psalms 18:4, 38:6, and 32:3, where comparable language catalogs physical and emotional affliction.
Why it lands — The text records the speaker's entanglement before stating the subsequent call to God. It requires the reader to treat distress as the factual ground for invoking divine rescue rather than a condition to be avoided.
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
The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow.
Cross-references
- Psalms 18:4 The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me.
- Psalms 38:6 I am bent and brought low; all day long I go about mourning.
- Psalms 32:3 When I kept silent, my bones became brittle from my groaning all day long.
- Psalms 88:6 You have laid me in the lowest Pit, in the darkest of the depths.
- Luke 22:44 And in His anguish, He prayed more earnestly, and His sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
- Jonah 2:2 saying: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and He answered me. From the belly of Sheol I called for help, and You heard my voice.
- Hebrews 5:7 During the days of Jesus’ earthly life, He offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the One who could save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.
- Isaiah 53:3 He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
- Mark 14:33 He took with Him Peter, James, and John, and began to be deeply troubled and distressed.