Acts 13:36-37

13:36 For David, after he had served ¹  God’s purpose in his own generation, died, ²  was buried with his ancestors, ³  and experienced ⁴  decay, 13:37 but the one ⁵  whom God raised up did not experience ⁶  decay.

Psalms 49:9

49:9 so that he might continue to live ⁷  forever

and not experience death. ⁸ 

Psalms 89:48

89:48 No man can live on without experiencing death,

or deliver his life from the power of Sheol. ⁹  (Selah)

Luke 2:26

2:26 It ¹⁰  had been revealed ¹¹  to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die ¹²  before ¹³  he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ¹⁴ 

John 3:36

3:36 The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects ¹⁵  the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath ¹⁶  remains ¹⁷  on him.

John 8:51

8:51 I tell you the solemn truth, ¹⁸  if anyone obeys ¹⁹  my teaching, ²⁰  he will never see death.” ²¹ 

Hebrews 11:5

11:5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God.

¹ tn The participle ὑπηρετήσας (Juphrethsa") is taken temporally.

² tn The verb κοιμάω (koimaw) literally means “sleep,” but it is often used in the Bible as a euphemism for the death of a believer.

³ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “was gathered to his fathers” (a Semitic idiom).

⁴ tn Grk “saw,” but the literal translation of the phrase “saw decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “looked at decay,” while here “saw decay” is really figurative for “experienced decay.” This remark explains why David cannot fulfill the promise.

⁵ sn The one whom God raised up refers to Jesus.

⁶ tn Grk “see,” but the literal translation of the phrase “did not see decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “did not look at decay,” while here “did not see decay” is really figurative for “did not experience decay.”

⁷ tn The jussive verbal form with vav (ו) conjunctive is taken as indicating purpose/result in relation to the statement made in v. 8. (On this use of the jussive after an imperfect, see GKC 322 §109.f.) In this case v. 8 is understood as a parenthetical comment.

⁸ tn Heb “see the Pit.” The Hebrew term שַׁחַת (shakhat, “pit”) is often used as a title for Sheol (see Pss 16:10; 30:9; 55:24; 103:4).

⁹ tn Heb “Who [is] the man [who] can live and not see death, [who] can deliver his life from the hand of Sheol?” The rhetorical question anticipates the answer, “No one!”

¹⁰ tn Grk “And it.” Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

¹¹ tn The use of the passive suggests a revelation by God, and in the OT the corresponding Hebrew term represented here by κεχρηματισμένον (kecrhmatismenon) indicated some form of direct revelation from God (Jer 25:30; 33:2; Job 40:8).

¹² tn Grk “would not see death” (an idiom for dying).

¹³ tn On the grammar of this temporal clause, see BDF §§383.3; 395.

¹⁴ tn Or “Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

¹⁵ tn Or “refuses to believe,” or “disobeys.”

¹⁶ tn Or “anger because of evil,” or “punishment.”

¹⁷ tn Or “resides.”

¹⁸ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

¹⁹ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

²⁰ tn Grk “my word.”

²¹ tn Grk “he will never see death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.