Psalms 16

Keep me safe, God, because I go to you for protection.

1Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.

2I said to the LORD, "You are my Master. Every good thing I have comes from you; I have nothing good apart from you."

2O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee;

NoteWhere the King James prints "LORD" in capitals it stands for the personal name of Israel's God, four Hebrew letters (YHWH) that Jewish readers did not pronounce aloud. "Lord" or "Master" in ordinary type translates a different Hebrew word, adonai, meaning owner or superior, the ordinary word a servant used for the man he served. The verse uses both in a row: "you, YHWH, are my master."

3As for God's own people who live in this land, they are the fine and worthy ones, and I take all my delight in them.

3But to the saints that are in the earth, and to the excellent, in whom is all my delight.

Note"Saints" here does not mean canonized holy people. The Hebrew word means "holy ones", those set apart as belonging to God, and in the Hebrew Bible it can refer either to God's human worshipers or to heavenly beings in his court. This verse is one of the most damaged and disputed sentences in the Hebrew Psalms; ancient copies differ, and translators have to guess at how its pieces connect. Read it as "the holy ones in the land, they are the noble ones I delight in" while knowing the wording is uncertain.

4Those who run after some other god will have more and more pain. I will not pour out the blood offerings they pour, and I will not even say the names of their gods.

4Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.

NoteA drink offering (a libation) was liquid, normally wine, poured out on the ground or on an altar as a gift to a god. "Of blood" makes this one abnormal: either blood poured in place of wine, or wine the speaker regards as bloody and tainted. Speaking a god's name was itself an act of worship: names were used in oaths, blessings and summonses, so refusing to say the name is refusing to have anything to do with the god.

5The LORD is the share of land I was given and the cup that is mine. You are the one who keeps my portion secure.

5The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

Note"Portion," "cup" and "lot" all belong to one picture: the dividing up of Canaan among the tribes of Israel, where each family's share of land was assigned by casting lots. The tribe of Levi received no land at all; instead they were told that the LORD himself was their portion. "Cup" extends the same idea to the table, the share of food and drink handed to you at a meal, and so, by extension, the lot in life you have been dealt.

6The boundary lines of my land fell in pleasant places. Yes, what I have been given is good.

6The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.

Note"Lines" are measuring cords, the rope a surveyor stretched to mark out a plot of ground; the lines "falling" refers to the lots being thrown to decide who got which piece. "Heritage" is the family land that passed from father to son and was not supposed to be sold out of the family permanently.

7I will praise the LORD, who gives me advice. Even at night, something deep inside me teaches me.

7I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.

Note"Reins" is old English for the kidneys. Hebrew located a person's deepest, least conscious thoughts and feelings in the internal organs, kidneys and heart, much as modern English locates them in the heart or the gut. "Night seasons" are the watches into which the night was divided.

8I keep the LORD in front of me at all times. Because he is at my right side, nothing can knock me down.

8I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

NoteTo be at someone's right hand is to stand where a defender, advocate or supporter stood: a shield-bearer in battle, or the person who spoke up for you in a legal dispute. It is a picture of backing, not of location.

9So my heart is glad, and everything in me is singing. My body, too, will rest in safety.

9Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.

Note"My glory" translates a Hebrew word (kavod) that here seems to mean the speaker's own honored self or inmost being. The ancient Greek translation, and the New Testament quotation of this verse, read it instead as "my tongue", a nearly identical Hebrew word (kaved, liver) which was also regarded as a seat of emotion. Both readings are defensible.

10You will not abandon me to the place of the dead. You will not let your faithful one rot in the grave.

10For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.

Note"Hell" is the King James rendering of Sheol, which in the Hebrew Bible is not a place of punishment but simply the realm of the dead, where everyone goes (a shadowy underworld beneath the earth. "Holy One" here translates hasid, meaning loyal or faithful one, someone bound to God by committed love. The word behind "corruption" (shachat) can mean either decay or the pit) the grave itself, and ancient readers took it both ways.

11You show me the path that leads to life. Being with you fills me with joy. At your right hand there is pleasure that never ends.

11Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

NoteAt a king's right hand stood the place of highest honor, and it was the hand from which gifts and favors were given. The phrase carries that court image rather than describing where anyone is standing.