Psalms 16:10

You will not abandon me ¹  to Sheol; ²  you will not allow your faithful follower ³  to see ⁴  the Pit. ⁵ 

because you will not abandon me to the grave, nor will you let your Holy One see decay.

For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol; Nor will You allow Your Holy One to undergo decay.

For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your godly one to rot in the grave.

You canceled my ticket to hell--that's not my destination!

For you will not let my soul be prisoned in the underworld; you will not let your loved one see the place of death.

For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit.

For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, Nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.

You will not abandon me ¹  to Sheol; ²  you will not allow your faithful follower ³  to see ⁴  the Pit. ⁵ 

¹ tn Or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

² sn In ancient Israelite cosmology Sheol is the realm of the dead, viewed as being under the earth’s surface. See L. I. J. Stadelmann, The Hebrew Conception of the World, 165-76.

³ tn A “faithful follower” (חָסִיד [khasid], traditionally rendered “holy one”) is one who does what is right in God’s eyes and remains faithful to God (see Pss 4:3; 12:1; 18:25; 31:23; 37:28; 86:2; 97:10). The psalmist here refers to himself, as the parallel line (“You will not abandon me to Sheol”) indicates.

⁴ tn That is, “experience.” The psalmist is confident that the Lord will protect him in his present crisis (see v. 1) and prevent him from dying.

sn According to Peter, the words of Ps 16:8-11 are applicable to Jesus (Acts 2:25-29). Peter goes on to argue that David, being a prophet, foresaw future events and spoke of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (Acts 2:30-33). Paul seems to concur with Peter in this understanding (see Acts 13:35-37). For a discussion of the NT application of these verses to Jesus’ resurrection, see R. B. Chisholm, Jr., “A Theology of the Psalms,” A Biblical Theology of the Old Testament, 292-95.

⁵ tn The Hebrew word שָׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 30:9; 49:9; 55:24; 103:4). Note the parallelism with the previous line.