Psalms 139:18

139:18 If I tried to count them,

they would outnumber the grains of sand.

Even if I finished counting them,

I would still have to contend with you. ¹ 

Acts 2:25-28

2:25 For David says about him,

‘I saw the Lord always in front of me, ² 

for he is at my right hand so that I will not be shaken.

2:26 Therefore my heart was glad and my tongue rejoiced;

my body ³  also will live in hope,

2:27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, ⁴ 

nor permit your Holy One to experience ⁵  decay.

2:28 You have made known to me the paths of life;

you will make me full of joy with your presence.’ ⁶ 

Hebrews 11:27

11:27 By faith he left Egypt without fearing the king’s anger, for he persevered as though he could see the one who is invisible.

[139:18]  ¹ tc Heb “I awake and I [am] still with you.” A reference to the psalmist awaking from sleep makes little, if any, sense contextually. For this reason some propose an emendation to הֲקִצּוֹתִי (haqitsoti), a Hiphil perfect form from an otherwise unattested verb קָצַץ (qatsats) understood as a denominative of קֵץ (qets, “end”). See L. C. Allen, Psalms 101-150 (WBC), 252-53.

[2:25]  ² tn Or “always before me.”

[2:26]  ³ tn Grk “my flesh.”

[2:27]  ⁴ tn Or “will not abandon my soul to Hades.” Often “Hades” is the equivalent of the Hebrew term Sheol, the place of the dead.

[2:27]  ⁵ tn Grk “to see,” but the literal translation of the phrase “to see decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “to look at decay,” while here “see decay” is really figurative for “experience decay.”

[2:28]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Ps 16:8-11.