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Psalm 116:3

The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.

1I love the LORD, because he listens to my voice, and my cries for mercy.
2Because he has turned his ear to me, therefore I will call on him as long as I live.
3The cords of death surrounded me, the pains of Sheol got a hold of me. I found trouble and sorrow.
4Then I called on the LORD’s name: “LORD, I beg you, deliver my soul.”
5The LORD is gracious and righteous. Yes, our God is merciful.
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← Psalm 116:2Psalm 116:4 →
Notice

The cords of death make danger feel close and constricting, while the plain words “trouble and sorrow” leave room for distress without a tidy explanation.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

What, if anything, in your life feels like the encircling cords described here?

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What difference do you hear between “trouble” and “sorrow” when you read this verse?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

10 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.

This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 39:12“Hear my prayer, LORD, and give ear to my cry. Don’t be silent at my tears. For I am a stranger with you, a foreigner, as all my fathers were.Sorrow takes the form of tears in Psalm 39; both speakers name distress without hiding its weight.
Psalm 38:6I am in pain and bowed down greatly. I go mourning all day long.Both speakers describe pain and sorrow, with Psalm 38 adding the bowed posture and long hours of mourning.
Psalm 18:4–6The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.Both verses use the exact words “The cords of death surrounded me” to describe danger closing around the speaker.
2 Samuel 22:6The cords of Sheol were around me. The snares of death caught me.Both passages picture death and Sheol as forces that bind or catch a person who cannot escape their grip.
Luke 22:44Being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down on the ground.Both texts describe intense distress; Luke records agony expressed through prayer and sweat, while the psalm names death, trouble, and sorrow.
1 Samuel 2:6“The LORD kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and brings up.Both passages name death and Sheol; Samuel speaks of the LORD’s power over them, while the psalm describes their grip.
Jonah 2:2–3He said, “I called because of my affliction to the LORD. He answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried. You heard my voice.Both speakers use Sheol to describe their distress; Jonah also recounts crying to the LORD and being heard.
Hebrews 5:7He, in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been …Death and anguish appear in both texts, with Hebrews describing strong crying and tears before the one able to save.
1 Samuel 23:27But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have made a raid on the land!”The link is limited to danger: a Philistine raid in Samuel, and death surrounding the speaker in the psalm.
Isaiah 53:3–4He was despised and rejected by men, a man of suffering and acquainted with disease. He was despised as one from whom men hide their face; and we didn’t …Both passages name suffering; Isaiah adds rejection and disease, while the psalm describes death’s cords and personal sorrow.
Where this verse fits

Illness or diagnosis. death and what comes after. grief.

What the Bible says about death →What the Bible says about grief →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Write a short prayer naming trouble without softening it

prayeroncelight
Encouragement

These words belong within a psalm that begins with love for YHWH. Fear of death and honest sorrow have a place in speech addressed to the God who hears.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 116:3. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

Keep goingPsalm 116 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).