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Psalm 16 Bible study: The path of life
Psalm 16 speaks of the LORD in the words of dividing the land: portion, lot, lines, inheritance (16:5-6). Its "I shall not be moved" (16:8) is, in Hebrew, the wicked man's words in Psalm 10:6, said here because the LORD is at his right hand. And Peter, pointing to David's tomb, says David "spoke about the resurrection of the Christ" (Acts 2:31).
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“I have set the LORD always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.”
Try it · Did you catch it?
“When Peter explains Psalm 16 in Acts 2, he points to David's tomb.”
Is that in Psalm 16, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Portion, lot, lines, inheritance
The WEB prints the psalm's title at the start of its first verse: "A Poem by David" (16:1). Then the psalm begins, "Preserve me, God, for I take refuge in you" (16:1) (tap take refuge). In verses 5 and 6 it speaks in words the Bible uses when the land is divided: "The LORD assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure. The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance" (16:5-6) (tap portion, lot, lines, inheritance). Here is what almost everyone misses. In Hebrew the first line of 16:5 has no word for assigned: literally it is the LORD, portion of my share, and my cup. The lines that have fallen are the words of "Ten parts fell to Manasseh" (Joshua 17:5). And the Hebrew words behind share and inheritance are the words of the LORD's promise to Aaron, where the WEB has portion and inheritance: "I am your portion and your inheritance among the children of Israel" (Numbers 18:20). The psalm doesn't say its speaker is a priest or a Levite. Other psalms say it plainly: "The LORD is my portion" (Psalm 119:57), and "You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living" (Psalm 142:5).
Where it leads to Jesus
He spoke about the resurrection of the Christ
Psalms 16:10leads toActs 2:31
The psalm says, "For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption" (Psalm 16:10). Peter, standing up with the eleven (Acts 2:14), spoke of "Jesus of Nazareth" (Acts 2:22), "whom God raised up, having freed him from the agony of death, because it was not possible that he should be held by it" (Acts 2:24). "For David says concerning him" (Acts 2:25), he said, and gave the psalm's words, among them "because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay" (Acts 2:27). Then he said that David "both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day" (Acts 2:29), and "he foreseeing this, spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that his soul wasn’t left in Hades, and his flesh didn’t see decay" (Acts 2:31). The WEB words the psalm and Acts a little differently: Sheol and Hades, holy one and Holy One, corruption and decay.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Psalm 16
That was a taste
The rest of Psalm 16 is waiting in Favor
- Because, therefore, for
- "Your holy one"
- "At my right hand"
- "That he should not see corruption"
- 7 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
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The Hebrew word behind it
חָסִידchasidsay kha-SEED
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "kind, pious". Strong's: "properly, kind, i.e. (religiously) pious (a saint)". "neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption" (16:10). The WEB gives the same word as godly in Psalm 4:3 and 12:1; here it has holy one, and Peter's and Paul's quotations have Holy One (Acts 2:27, 13:35). The saints of 16:3 are another word, qedoshim. Psalm 86 has this word with the verb of 16:1's Preserve me: "Preserve my soul, for I am godly" (Psalm 86:2).
For your group
Psalm 16 Bible study questions
- 1"You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing" (16:2). What in your life competes for that place?
- 2"The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places" (16:6). Where can you say that about your own life, even where it isn't what you would have chosen?
- 3"I have set the LORD always before me" (16:8). What would it look like for you to do that this week, on an ordinary day?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Psalm 16 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home