The Text:
Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (KJV)
Psalm 16:10 For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to the nether-world; neither wilt Thou suffer Thy godly one to see the pit. (JPS-ASVII, Jewish Publication Society)
Psalm 16:10. For thou wilt not abandon my soul to the grave: thou wilt not suffer thy pious (servant) to see corruption. (Isaac Leeser translation)
Psalm 16:10. For you leave not your Darling to look on decay. (Ferrar Fenton translation)
Psalm 16:10. For you will not leave my soul in Sheol. You will not allow your loyal one to see the pit. (NWT, New World Translation, 1984)
Psalm 16:10. For thou hast not left my soul in Sheol; neither hast thou suffered thy Holy One to see corruption. (Lamsa translation)
Psalm 16:10 for you will not abandon my soul to Sheol; you will not give your faithful one to see the grave. (LEB, Lexham English Bible)
Psalm 16:10 For you will not let my soul be prisoned in the underworld; you will not let your loved one see the place of death. (BBE, Bible in Basic English)
Psalm 16:10 because you will not leave Me in the grave or let Your loved One experience decay. (William Beck translation)
Psalm 16:10 because you do not abandon my soul to the grave or allow your holy one to decay. (GW, God’s Word translation)
Psalm 16:10 because you protect me from the power of death. I have served you faithfully, and you will not abandon me to the world of the dead. (GNB, Good News Bible)
Psalm 16:10 I am your chosen one. You won’t leave me in the grave or let my body decay. (CEV, Contemporary English Version)
THE CHALLENGE:
Christian tried to link this to Psalm 16:10 which has nothing to do with the messiah, him dying and resurrecting — and his body not rotting.
Psalm 16:10 is translated as: “For You shall not forsake my life (being alive / the living part of the soul) to the grave; You shall not allow Your pious one to see the pit.”
Most Christian do not know Hebrew (or they rely on poor tools such as the Strong Concordance) and when they see an English translation it will say “my soul” and not “my life.” Even most Jewish translations say “my soul,” but educated Jews realize that the Hebrew is not speaking of the immortal soul at all.
The Hebrew word in question is is נַפְשִׁ֣י / (nafSHI).
נַפְשִׁ֣י / (nafSHI) is a form of נֶפֶש / nefesh — a word which is speaking of the part of the soul attached to a living body which keeps the body alive through blood coursing through its veins. Animals and humans have a נֶפֶש / nefesh (נַפְשִׁ֣י / (nafSHI) means “my” soul). . . Nefesh is the lowest level of consciousness, is awareness of the physical body and the physical world.
Let me repeat: this is not the immortal soul. Animals do not have immortal souls.
Nefesh is the spiritual existence which resides in the body and keeps the physical metabolism working and the person alive.
“The ruach” is a connection between the neshama and the nefesh. It is the cause of feelings and personal qualities.
“Neshama” is the spiritual existence which pulls the man towards God, to the performance of good deeds, to be pious and humble and to seek knowledge and achievement in spiritual fields. It resides around the head.”
Thus Psalm 16 is not speaking of Jesus’ (or King David’s) immortal soul not rotting in a grave. The Hebrew does not speak of the immortal soul in this passage. It simply says that David is grateful that he is alive — PHYSICALLY alive.
This concept of more than one “soul” may be new to some readers, so let me repeat that there are three different terms that people confuse when it comes to translation:
רוּחַ ru’ah,
נְשָׁמָה n’shamah and
נֶפֶשׁ nefesh.
רוּחַ ru’ah is a “spirit“, also translated as “wind.” God breathed a spirit into man (Genesis 2:7).
נְשָׁמָה n’shamah is a word most people think of when they hear the English word “soul.” It means the immortal soul — the one that lives on after death, and defines who we are as people.
נֶפֶשׁ nefesh, confusingly, is also translated as a “soul” — but this word is actually that which keeps the body alive (the blood coursing through your veins). Both animals and humans have a נֶפֶשׁ nefesh.
Psalm 16:10 (and many other psalms) are speaking of the נֶפֶשׁ nefesh — the living human being. It has nothing to do with a person who dies (the נֶפֶשׁ nefesh would then die and this passage would not be applicable). Thus the idea that one can relate this psalm to Jesus dying, being resurrected and his body not rotting to Psalm 16:10 does not “match” the Hebrew word in question.
As mentioned earlier, Psalm 16 is written by King David, about himself after God has forgiven him for the sins related to his relationship with his wife, the daughter of Sheva ( בַּת שֶׁ֫בַע / Bat (daughter of) Sheva).
Psalm 16 does not at all say anything about rising from the dead either. In this Psalm King David is thanking God for not punishing him with death. King David writes: “Therefore, my heart rejoiced, and my soul was glad; even my flesh shall dwell in safety.” Psalm 16:9.
If this were about Jesus who is saying (in present tense) that his heart rejoiced and his soul was glad that his life was safe?
Did you see anything yet about someone dying and arising from the dead?
Nope — and you never will.
Psalm 16:10 says “For You shall not forsake my life (being alive / the living part of the soul) to the grave; You shall not allow Your pious one to see the pit.”
Most people only think of “soul” as the immortal soul, but this is not the meaning of the word נַפְשִׁ֣י / (nafSHI). Animals and humans have a נֶפֶש / nefesh — a life force which keeps the body alive through oxygenated blood coursing through our veins. Animals do not have an immortal soul, a gift God breathed into man alone.
I repeat, in Psalm 16 David is simply speaking of being alive — not his immortal soul.
King David is saying that he will NOT die (so how is he going to arise from the dead if he isn’t dying?).
Psalm 16:11 says “You shall let me know the way of life, the fullness of joys in Your presence. The delights that are in Your right hand for eternity.”
“the way of life” — not death and resurrection.
King David is thanking God for allowing him to live and enjoy life. When King David speaks of delights being eternal — he is speaking of three things: enjoying life, enjoying the presence of God in his life and the realization that when he dies he will have eternal life with God.
There is no prophecy that the messiah will die and be resurrected in the T’nach (Jewish bible).
MY RESPONSE:
The answer to this challenge is simple: the author of the Opening Post has not categorized the lexical uses of the Hebrew word nephesh correctly. I give the correct categorizations below.
I have made an exhaustive study of the Hebrew and Greek terms used for “soul” and several other related terms as used in the Bible. I have given the results of my study of these Bible terms in both The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (1992, 1996, 2023, 2024) and The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury (2016).
Psalm 16:10 For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
Here are my notes and cross references to related passages of Scripture as I have given them in my digital Bible study resource, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury for Psalm 16:10,
Psalms 16:10
not leave my. +*Psa 9:17; Psa 21:4; Psa 30:3; *Psa 49:15 mg. Psa 69:15; Psa 71:20; *Psa 86:13; Psa 139:8, Lev 19:28, Num 6:6, *Deut 32:22, Job 11:8, *Pro 15:11; *Pro 27:20, *Isa 5:14; *Isa 14:9, Hos 13:14, *Amos 9:2, Mat 17:23, Mar 10:34, *Luk 16:23, *Joh 2:21; *Joh 2:22; Joh 20:9, Act 2:24; >Act 2:31; Act 3:15; Act 7:59, *1Co 15:4; *1Co 15:55 mg. Eph 1:20, *Rev 1:18; Rev 20:13, 14.
soul. Heb. nephesh, +Psa 30:3, FS121A8, Metonymy of the Cause F/S 545. Soul is put for the person, as when a city contains so many thousand souls. For other instances of this figure see Psa 49:15; Psa 103:1, Luk 1:46, Act 2:27; Act 2:31, +*Rev 6:9 note. Rev 20:4 note. Probably the theological presuppositions of E. W. Bullinger have influenced his categorization of “soul” here, for he was a materialist, who did not believe that the soul was a separate, conscious entity in man, and therefore he denied the conscious existence of man after death. Other more appropriate categorizations of “soul” here, equally if not more defensible than that assigned by Bullinger, would be **FS171Q1, +Gen 12:5, or FS171Q2, +Num 23:10. Other examples which should be carefully noted where the theology of the interpreter greatly influences the figure of speech categories assigned are discussed in the related notes (Gen 24:10 note. Jer 33:18 note. **Php 1:23 note). This materialist bias in the works of Bullinger necessitated considerable reorganization of the New Testament categories for “soul” (+*Mat 2:20 note) and “spirit” (+*Mat 8:16 note) presented in this edition of the Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury, compared with Bullinger’s original scheme presented in the otherwise helpful volume The Giver and His Gifts, Appendix I, “Classified List of Usages of Pneuma.” Gen 35:18.
hell. Heb. sheol, +Gen 37:35, +Psa 30:3. The word hell, from the Saxon hillan or helan, to hide, or from holl, a cavern, though now used only for the place of torment, anciently denoted the concealed or unseen place of the dead in general; corresponding to the Greek adas, hades, i.e. o aidas topos, the invisible place, and the Hebrew sheol, from shaal, to ask, seek, the place and state of those who are out of the way, and to be sought for. Psa 139:8, Isa 14:9, Amos 9:2, Jon 2:2, +**Mat 10:28.
neither. T44. *Psa 49:15; Psa 71:20, +*Gen 3:15; +*Gen 49:10, +*Isa 7:14; Isa 35:3-6, **Isaiah 53, Zec 11:12, 13, *Act 2:27-31; *>Act 13:35,6, 37, 38, *1Co 15:42; *1Co 15:50-54.
suffer. **FS108A4, +Gen 31:7, +Amo 3:6.
Holy One. or, saint. i.e. Christ the Messiah. T1916. Psa 89:18, 19, Deut 33:8, +Isa 1:4; Isa 10:17; Isa 29:23; Isa 49:7, *Dan 9:24, Hos 11:9, Hab 1:12; Hab 3:3, $Mar 1:24, +*$Luk 1:35; *Luk 4:34, >Act 2:27; *Act 3:14; Act 4:27; >Act 13:35, Heb 5:7; Heb 7:26, 1Jn 2:20, Rev 3:7.
corruption. Heb. shachath, +Job 9:31 (*S# H7845). +Psa 30:3; Psa 49:9; Psa 103:4, Gen 37:35 note. Num 6:20, Job 17:14, Jon 2:3; Jon 2:6-7, Rom 6:9.
I have given a list of the classified uses of nephesh at Genesis 2:7 in my digital resource, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury:
Genesis 2:7
Lord God. +Gen 2:4.
formed. Gen 2:19, 2Ki 19:25, Psa 94:9; Psa 95:5; Psa 100:3; Psa 139:14, 15, Isa 45:18; Isa 64:8, Note that man’s body was formed, but soul and spirit were created, Gen 1:26, 27, proving man is a compound being.
man. Gen 2:8; Gen 2:15. Note man is a compound being consisting of body and spirit (Gen 41:8 note. Num 27:16 note. Rom 8:10 note), +*Job 14:22, +*Ecc 12:7, +*Mat 10:28, Luk 8:55, 1Co 5:3; >1Co 15:45, 2Co 5:6; 2Co 5:8, %1Th 5:23, %Heb 4:12, 3Jn 1:2.
of the. Heb. dust of the ground.
dust. *Gen 3:19; *Gen 3:23, *Job 4:19; Job 33:6, +*Psa 103:14, Ecc 3:20; +*Ecc 12:7, *Isa 64:8, Rom 9:20, *1Co 15:47, 2Co 4:7; 2Co 5:1, S# H6083, translated elsewhere “ashes,” Num 19:17, 2Ki 23:4; “earth,” Gen 26:15; “ground,” Job 14:8; “morter,” Lev 14:42; Lev 14:45; “powder,” 2Ki 23:6; 2Ki 23:15; “rubbish,” Neh 4:2; Neh 4:10.
and breathed. Job 27:3; Job 33:4, Eze 37:9, Joh 20:22, Act 17:25.
nostrils. Gen 7:22, +*Ecc 3:21, Isa 2:22.
breath. Heb. neshamah. *S# H5397. Gen 7:22, Deut 20:16, Jos 10:40; Jos 11:11; Jos 11:14, 2Sa 22:16, 1Ki 15:29; 1Ki 17:17, Job 4:9; Job 26:4; *Job 27:3; Job 32:8; Job 33:4; +*Job 34:14; Job 37:10, Psa 18:15; Psa 150:6, Pro 20:27, Isa 2:22; Isa 30:33; Isa 42:5; Isa 57:16, Dan 5:23; Dan 10:17. Note that “spirit” or “soul” are not merely “breath.” “Breath” constitutes function, “spirit” and “soul” often designate “being,” or the immaterial part of man. “Breath” is distinct from “spirit” and “soul” as it cannot substitute for these terms in the following passages: Gen 34:3; Gen 41:8, Lev 20:27, Deut 2:30, 1Sa 1:15; 1Sa 28:7, 1Ki 21:5; 1Ki 22:21, 22, 23, 24, Job 34:14, Psa 16:10; Psa 19:7; Psa 34:18; Psa 106:15, Pro 16:18, 19; Pro 18:14, Ecc 1:14, Isa 29:24; Isa 58:5, +*Mat 10:28, Luk 12:19, Joh 4:23, Act 23:8-9, Eph 4:23, 1Th 5:23, Heb 4:12, 1Jn 4:1, Rev 6:9, 10, 11; Rev 20:4, Note also that the human soul or spirit is distinguished from the divine Spirit from whom it proceeded, thus refuting pantheism, 1Co 2:11. Soul or spirit is distinguished from the body it inhabits, refuting materialism, Gen 35:18. *1Ki 17:21, +*Job 14:22, +*Ecc 12:7, +*Zec 12:1 note. +**Mat 10:28 note. Jas 2:26.
of. FS181D. Genitive of Apposition, equivalent to “that is to say” or “consisting of,” thus “breath, that is to say, life.” For other instances of the Genitive of Apposition, see Isa 14:14, *Joh 2:21, Rom 4:11; Rom 4:13; Rom 4:18; Rom 8:23, 2Co 1:22; 2Co 3:17, 18; 2Co 5:1; 2Co 5:5, Eph 4:3; *Eph 4:9; *Eph 6:14, Heb 6:1, 1Pe 1:1, 2Pe 2:6.
life. Gen 6:17; Gen 7:22; Gen 17:15, *Act 17:25, *1Co 15:45, *Heb 12:9.
became. +Gen 1:2.
living. Gen 1:21; Gen 1:24; Gen 2:19, Job 27:3; Job 32:8; Job 33:4, Note man’s body is vitalized by a single principle, the living soul.
soul. Heb. +S# H5315, nephesh. +Gen 1:20; +**Gen 12:5; Gen 35:18, Num 16:22; Num 27:16, *1Ki 17:21, 2Ki 4:27, +*Job 14:22; Job 34:14, Psa 63:1, Pro 20:27, +*Ecc 12:7, *Isa 10:18, *Dan 7:15, Zec 12:1, +*Mat 10:28 note. *Mar 12:26; *Mar 12:27, 1Co 15:45, 1Th 5:23, +*Heb 12:9, Jas 2:26, +*1Pe 3:4. Note that Scripture uses the terms “soul” and “spirit” interchangeably in such passages as Gen 41:8 with Psa 42:6. Both depart the body at death: Gen 35:18 with Psa 146:4, 1Sa 30:12 with Lam 1:11 mg. Both are affirmed to be within man: Job 14:22 with Zec 12:1, Mat 10:28 with Mat 27:50, Joh 12:27 with Joh 13:21, Heb 12:23 with Rev 6:9. Both ’soul’ (nephesh, +Gen 23:8) and ’spirit’ (ruach, +Gen_26:35) are rendered mind: Eze 23:18; Eze 23:28 with Eze 20:32. Both are used of the departed: 1Pe 3:19 with Rev 20:4. Both are used of sadness or sorrow: 1Ki 21:5 with Psa 62:11, Mat 26:28 with Joh 13:21, Isa 26:9 a with Isa 26:9 b. Luk 1:46 with Luk 1:47, Php 1:27 a with Php 1:27 b. An examination of its lexical uses shows immediately that nephesh is used with a broader range of meaning than the more theological English term “soul.” The 754 occurrences of the Hebrew word nephesh (most often rendered “soul”) may be classified as to its lexical uses as follows.
(1) +Gen 2:19, used of lower creatures;
(2) +Gen 9:15, used alike of lower creatures and man, rendered “creature,” “life” (Lev 17:11), “soul” (Num 31:28);
(3) +Gen 12:5, used of man as an individual person;
(4) +Gen 12:13, used of mortal man, as though the soul could die or be destroyed; also rendered “life” (+Gen 44:30), “ghost,” etc. (+Num 23:10);
(5) +Gen 17:14, used of man as being “cut off” by God;
(6) +Gen 27:31, used of man, exercising certain powers, or performing certain acts, often rendered by emphatic pronouns;
(7) +Gen 34:3, used of man, exercising mental faculties, rendered “soul,” “mind” (+Gen 23:8), “heart” (+Exo 23:9), “lust,” etc. (+Exo 15:9); also used of God Himself, +Lev 26:11;
(8) +Lev 19:28, used of man actually dead;
(9) +Num 11:6, used of man as possessing animal appetites and desires;
(10) +Jos 10:28, used of man being slain or killed by man.
(11) +Psa 30:3, used of man as going to a place described by the word “grave,” etc.
[Note that at each key reference given above I give a full list of the occurrences of the Hebrew word that belongs to that lexical category.]
Compare the classification of the corresponding New Testament term psychē at Mat 2:20 note. For “spirit,” Heb. ruach, see Gen 6:3 note. Several faith groups, and some individuals, are most mistaken in their understanding of “soul” and “spirit” as used in the Bible, for they have failed to make a complete induction from all the evidence. All the evidence, a complete induction, is given immediately above under eleven lexical categories.