Psalms 116:3

HOW PRECARIOUS HIS SITUATION WAS

"The cords of death compassed me,

And the pains of Sheol gat hold upon me:

I found trouble and sorrow.

Then called I upon the name of Jehovah:

O Jehovah, I beseech thee, deliver my soul."

Leupold noted that "Psalms 116:3 here is based upon Psalms 18:4."[7] This verse describes his illness (or whatever the crisis was) in figurative language. "In the Old Testament, death is represented as a hunter with a cord and a net. In any lingering sickness, the cord gets tighter and tighter until all possibility of escape is cut off."[8]

"I called upon the name of Jehovah ... I beseech thee, deliver my soul" (Psalms 116:4). This is a concise and very brief summary of his prayers to the Lord. In the throes of the terrible threat of death which was upon him, he did not cease to cry unto the Lord night and day.