Not abandoned to Sheol; will not see corruption
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10For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
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7I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.
8I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.
9Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
10For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
11Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.
25For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
28Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
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29Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
30Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
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22Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know:
23Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
24Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
25For David speaketh concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
28Thou hast made known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
29Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
30Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.
34For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
35Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
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32And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto the fathers,
33God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
34And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise, I will give you the sure mercies of David.
35Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
36For David, after he had served his own generation by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption:
37But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption.
38Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins:
The Hebrew says God will not let his faithful one see shachat, "the Pit", and the verse before has "my flesh rests secure". The Septuagint, which Acts quotes exactly, has "see corruption" and "in hope", and the KJV has the same wording.
The psalmist trusts God: "For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (), and "Thou wilt shew me the path of life" (). Acts records that at Pentecost Peter argued that David "is both dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto this day" (), so the words must speak of another: "he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption" (). Paul made the same argument (). Some readers see in the psalm's "path of life" a hope that reaches beyond death. Whether Jesus was raised is examined in the site's resurrection questions.
Psalm 16 is a psalm of trust in which the psalmist expects God to keep him from death. No pre-Christian reading of it as messianic is known. The resurrection itself is assessed separately on the site and is not counted again here.
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The Hebrew and the Greek differ. The Hebrew says God will not let his faithful one see "the Pit" (shachat) and that "my flesh rests secure"; the Septuagint has "see corruption" and "in hope". Acts quotes the Septuagint exactly, and the apostles' argument works best on the Greek wording. It also assumes that David wrote the psalm. Rabbinic use of the psalm for David's body is later than Christianity.