Scripture Guide

Psalm 116

Author

Paul Koptak

Keywords (9)

Scripture (8)

Updated

Feb 19, 2025

Preaching Guide

Introduction

This passage is often used on Maundy Thursday to accompany either the story of Jesus instituting the Lord's Supper or Jesus washing the disciples' feet.

This psalm is part of the hallel collection of Psalms 113-118 that Jesus may have used at the Passover meal in the gospels. Reference to the cup of salvation (v. 13) links this psalm to that celebration as Jesus’s offers the bread and cup as memorial to him.

If the Psalm is chosen as the text for preaching, it can be read aloud as a whole; it is not too long. The reader can add emphasis to repeated phrases: calling on the name of the Lord (vv. 2, 4, 13, 17) and the repetition of “I will pay my vows to the LORD” (vv. 14, 18).

Note: I will comment the…

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Related Image

Detail of the crucifixion panel of the Isenheim Altarpiece (1512-16) by Matthias Grünewald (1470-1528). Unterlinden Museum, Colmar.

As Paul Koptak points out in his commentary, we see how Christ transforms the psalmist's pathway, passing through death to resurrection. The sores on Christ's legs would have been relatable to those in the hospital chapel where this altarpiece was originally displayed. (For more views of this altar.)

Wikimedia Commons - Public Domain

Author

Paul Koptak

Paul Koptak is Professor Emeritus of Communication and Biblical Interpretation at North Park Theological Seminary in Chicago. He worked in both fields for his joint PhD from Northwestern University and Garrett Evangelical Seminary. Likewise at North Park, Paul taught introductions to preaching and the Old Testament along with electives in preaching from Genesis and Proverbs.

Paul is author of The New International Version Application Commentary: Proverbs, and Circles in the Stream– Index, Identification, and Intertext: Reading and Preaching the Story of Judah in Genesis 37–50. You can read an excerpt from chapter 1 here. He plays dobro and lap steel guitars, performing around the area of his home near Asheville, North Carolina.