The author and date of this psalm are unknown. It seems to be rather of a private than a public character, and there are expressions in it which must have been drawn from the personal experience of its writer. It is adapted to public use only because in all public assemblages there are those who would find their own experience represented by the language of the psalm. It may have been composed after the return from Babylon, but there is nothing in the psalm to limit it to that time, and the language is such that it may have been composed at any period after Jerusalem became the place of public worship, Psalm 116:19.
The Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate, which combined the two previous psalms into one, divide this into two, at the end of Psalm 116:9. The reason why this was done is unknown.
The psalm appears to have been composed in reference to a dangerous sickness, or some deep affliction which threatened life, Psalm 116:3, Psalm 116:8-9, Psalm 116:15; and it expresses a purpose to praise and serve God in view of the fact that the author had been delivered from impending death, and that his days had been lengthened out upon the earth.
The psalm embraces the following points:
I. An expression of love and gratitude in view of the mercies of God, and of a purpose to serve him as long as life should last, Psalm 116:1-2.
II. A description of his sufferings, as if the pains of hell had seized him, Psalm 116:3-4.
III. A description of the mercy and goodness of God as interposing in answer to his prayer, and delivering him, Psalm 116:5-11.
IV. A solemn declaration of his purpose to praise God for all his mercies; to take the cup of salvation and call on his name; to pay his vows in the presence of the people of God; to offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving; to worship in the courts of the Lord's house, in the midst of Jerusalem, Psalm 116:12-19.

The psalmist praises God for his deliverance from thraldom, which he compares to death and the grave, Psalm 116:1-9. The exercises through which he had passed, Psalm 116:10, Psalm 116:11. His gratitude for these mercies, and resolution to live to God's glory, Psalm 116:12-19.
This Psalm is also without a title, and its author is unknown. It appears to have been written after the captivity, and to be a thanksgiving to God for that glorious event. The psalmist compares this captivity to death and the grave; and shows the happy return to the promised land, called here The land of the living. The people recollect the vows of God which were upon them, and purpose to fulfill them. They exhult at being enabled to worship God in the temple at Jerusalem.
The Syriac, which abounds in conjectural prefaces, supposes this Psalm to have been written on the occasion of Saul coming to the mouth of the cave in which David lay hidden; but spiritually taken, it relates to the bringing of a new people, the Gentiles, to the Christian faith. In a few MSS. this Psalm is joined to the preceding. Many think it relates wholly to the passion, death, and triumph of Christ. Most of the fathers were of this opinion.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM 116
Theodoret applies this psalm to the distresses of the Jews in the times of the Maccabees under Antiochus Epiphanes; and R. Obadiah interprets some passages in it of the Grecians of those times; but it rather seems to have been written by David on account of some troubles of his, out of which he was delivered; and refers either to the times of Saul, and the persecutions he endured from him, particularly when he was beset round about by him and his men in the wilderness of Maon, 1-Samuel 23:26, to which he may have respect Psalm 116:3. The inscription of the psalm in the Syriac version is,
"the progress of the new people returning to the Christian worship, as a child to understanding: and as to the letter, it was said when Saul stayed at the door of the cave where David lay hid with his men;''
see 1-Samuel 24:4. But since mention is made of Jerusalem, Psalm 116:19, where the psalmist would praise the Lord for his deliverance, which as yet was not in his hands nor in the hands of the Israelites, but of the Jebusites; some have thought it was written on account of the conspiracy of Absalom against him, and who, hearing that Ahithophel was among the conspirators, said the words related in Psalm 116:11, it is very probable it was composed after the death of Saul, and when he was settled in the kingdom, as Jarchi observes, and was delivered out of the hands of all his enemies; and very likely much about the same time as the eighteenth psalm was, which begins in the same manner, and has some expressions in it like to what are in this. David was a type of Christ, and some apply this psalm to him.

(Psalm 116:1-9) The psalmist declares his love to the Lord.
(Psalm 116:10-19) His desire to be thankful.

Thanksgiving Song of One Who Has Escaped from Death
We have here another anonymous Psalm closing with Hallelujah. It is not a supplicatory song with a hopeful prospect before it like Ps 115, but a thanksgiving song with a fresh recollection of some deadly peril that has just been got the better of; and is not, like Ps 115, from the mouth of the church, but from the lips of an individual who distinguishes himself from the church. It is an individual that has been delivered who here praises the loving-kindness he has experienced in the language of the tenderest affection. The lxx has divided this deeply fervent song into two parts, Psalm 116:1-9, Psalm 116:10-19, and made two Hallelujah-Psalm out of it; whereas it unites Psalm 114:1-8 and Ps 115 into one. The four sections or strophes, the beginnings of which correspond to one another (Psalm 116:1 and Psalm 116:10, Psalm 116:5 and Psalm 116:15), are distinctly separate. The words אקרא וּבשׁם ה are repeated three times. In the first instance they are retrospective, but then swell into an always more full-toned vow of thanksgiving. The late period of its composition makes itself known not only in the strong Aramaic colouring of the form of the language, which adopts all kinds of embellishments, but also in many passages borrowed from the pre-exilic Psalm. The very opening, and still more so the progress, of the first strophe reminds one of Ps 18, and becomes an important hint for the exposition of the Psalm.