Psalms 16:10

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 

John 8:51-52

8:51 I tell you the solemn truth, ⁶  if anyone obeys ⁷  my teaching, ⁸  he will never see death.” ⁹ 

8:52 Then ¹⁰  the Judeans ¹¹  responded, ¹²  “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! ¹³  Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet ¹⁴  you say, ‘If anyone obeys ¹⁵  my teaching, ¹⁶  he will never experience ¹⁷  death.’ ¹⁸ 

Acts 2:27

2:27 because you will not leave my soul in Hades, ¹⁹ 

nor permit your Holy One to experience ²⁰  decay.

Acts 2:31

2:31 David by foreseeing this ²¹  spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, ²²  that he was neither abandoned to Hades, ²³  nor did his body ²⁴  experience ²⁵  decay. ²⁶ 

Acts 13:33

13:33 that this promise ²⁷  God has fulfilled to us, their children, by raising ²⁸  Jesus, as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son; ²⁹  today I have fathered you.’ ³⁰ 

Acts 13:35-37

13:35 Therefore he also says in another psalm, ³¹  ‘You will not permit your Holy One ³²  to experience ³³  decay.’ ³⁴  13:36 For David, after he had served ³⁵  God’s purpose in his own generation, died, ³⁶  was buried with his ancestors, ³⁷  and experienced ³⁸  decay, 13:37 but the one ³⁹  whom God raised up did not experience ⁴⁰  decay.

[16:10]  ¹ tn Or “my life.” The suffixed form of נֶפֶשׁ (nefesh, “being”) is often equivalent to a pronoun in poetic texts.

[16:10]  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.

[16:10]  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.

[16:10]  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.

[16:10]  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.

[8:51]  ⁶ tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[8:51]  ⁷ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

[8:51]  ⁸ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:51]  ⁹ tn Grk “he will never see death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

[8:52]  ¹⁰ tc ‡ Important and early witnesses (Ì⁶⁶ א B C W Θ 579 it) lack the conjunction here, while other witnesses read οὖν (oun, “therefore”; Ì⁷⁵ D L Ψ 070 Ë^1,13 33 Ï lat). This conjunction occurs in John some 200 times, far more than in any other NT book. Even though the most important Johannine papyrus (Ì⁷⁵) has the conjunction, the combination of Ì⁶⁶ א B for the omission is even stronger. Further, the reading seems to be a predictable scribal emendation. In particular, οὖν is frequently used with the plural of εἶπον (eipon, “they said”) in John (in this chapter alone, note vv. 13, 39, 48, 57, and possibly 41). On balance, it is probably best to consider the shorter reading as authentic, even though “Then” is virtually required in translation for English stylistic reasons. NA²⁷ has the conjunction in brackets, indicating some doubt as to its authenticity.

[8:52]  ¹¹ tn Grk “the Jews.” See the note on this term in v. 31. Here, as in vv. 31 and 48, the phrase refers to the Jewish people in Jerusalem (“Judeans”; cf. BDAG 479 s.v. ᾿Ιουδαῖος 2.e) who had been listening to Jesus’ teaching in the temple courts (8:20) and had initially believed his claim to be the Messiah (cf. 8:31).

[8:52]  ¹² tn Grk “said to him.”

[8:52]  ¹³ tn Grk “you have a demon.”

[8:52]  ¹⁴ tn “Yet” has been supplied to show the contrastive element present in the context.

[8:52]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “If anyone keeps.”

[8:52]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “my word.”

[8:52]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “will never taste.” Here the Greek verb does not mean “sample a small amount” (as a typical English reader might infer from the word “taste”), but “experience something cognitively or emotionally; come to know something” (cf. BDAG 195 s.v. γεύομαι 2).

[8:52]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “he will never taste of death forever.” The Greek negative here is emphatic.

[2:27]  ¹⁹ 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]  ²⁰ 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.”

[2:31]  ²¹ tn Grk “David foreseeing spoke.” The participle προϊδών (proidwn) is taken as indicating means. It could also be translated as a participle of attendant circumstance: “David foresaw [this] and spoke.” The word “this” is supplied in either case as an understood direct object (direct objects in Greek were often omitted, but must be supplied for the modern English reader).

[2:31]  ²² tn Or “the Messiah”; both “Christ” (Greek) and “Messiah” (Hebrew and Aramaic) mean “one who has been anointed.”

[2:31]  ²³ tn Or “abandoned in the world of the dead.” The translation “world of the dead” for Hades is suggested by L&N 1.19. The phrase is an allusion to Ps 16:10.

[2:31]  ²⁴ tn Grk “flesh.” See vv. 26b-27. The reference to “body” in this verse picks up the reference to “body” in v. 26. The Greek term σάρξ (sarx) in both verses literally means “flesh”; however, the translation “body” stresses the lack of decay of his physical body. The point of the verse is not merely the lack of decay of his flesh alone, but the resurrection of his entire person, as indicated by the previous parallel line “he was not abandoned to Hades.”

[2:31]  ²⁵ tn Grk “see,” but the literal translation of the phrase “see decay” could be misunderstood to mean simply “look at decay,” while here “see decay” is really figurative for “experience decay.”

[2:31]  ²⁶ sn An allusion to Ps 16:10.

[13:33]  ²⁷ tn Grk “that this”; the referent (the promise mentioned in the previous verse) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:33]  ²⁸ tn Or “by resurrecting.” The participle ἀναστήσας (anasthsa") is taken as instrumental here.

[13:33]  ²⁹ sn You are my Son. The key to how the quotation is used is the naming of Jesus as “Son” to the Father. The language is that of kingship, as Ps 2 indicates. Here is the promise about what the ultimate Davidic heir would be.

[13:33]  ³⁰ tn Grk “I have begotten you.” The traditional translation for γεγέννηκα (gegennhka, “begotten”) is misleading to the modern English reader because it is no longer in common use. Today one speaks of “fathering” a child in much the same way speakers of English formerly spoke of “begetting a child.”

[13:35]  ³¹ tn Grk “Therefore he also says in another”; the word “psalm” is not in the Greek text but is implied.

[13:35]  ³² tn The Greek word translated “Holy One” here (ὅσιόν, {osion) is related to the use of ὅσια (Josia) in v. 34. The link is a wordplay. The Holy One, who does not die, brings the faithful holy blessings of promise to the people.

[13:35]  ³³ 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.”

[13:35]  ³⁴ sn A quotation from Ps 16:10.

[13:36]  ³⁵ tn The participle ὑπηρετήσας (Juphrethsa") is taken temporally.

[13:36]  ³⁶ 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.

[13:36]  ³⁷ tn Or “forefathers”; Grk “was gathered to his fathers” (a Semitic idiom).

[13:36]  ³⁸ 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.

[13:37]  ³⁹ sn The one whom God raised up refers to Jesus.

[13:37]  ⁴⁰ 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.”