Psalm 16 - Free Bible Commentary in Easy English (2024)

And Walk with You to Heaven

Psalm 16

AnEasyEnglish Translation with Notes (about 1200 word vocabulary) on Psalm 16

www.easyenglish.bible

Gordon Churchyard

Words inboxes are from the Bible. Words in brackets, ( ), are not in the Hebrew Bible.

Jesus said, "If anyone leaves their houses, family orland for me, then I will be good to them. I will be good to them in this life.And their inheritance will be life that never finishes". (Matthew 19:29)Matthew was a friend of Jesus. He wrote a book about Jesus. We call it theGospel of Matthew. Gospel means good news. See in 'The Story of Psalm 16' forwhat inheritance means.

Word list

feelings ~ what we feel and think inside us

in front ~ at the front of us

The Story of Psalm 16

Saul wastrying to kill David. David ran away to the woods, the hills and the fields. Hehid there from Saul. 400 men went with David. Saul had 3000 soldiers. Saul wasking of Israel. One night Saul and all his men slept. David came near in thenight and took some things from Saul. David did not kill Saul. In the morning David told Saul, "It was easy to kill you but Idid not. What have I done wrong? You sent me away from my own country. You toldme to find other gods. Why?" It was probably at this time that David wrotePsalm 16. It has two ideas in it:

1 The inheritanceof David. Your inheritance is what your parents give you when they die. Davidsays Saul made him go away from his own country. The inheritance of David wasthere. But David had a better inheritance. The LORD was his inheritance.

2 The God of David.Saul told David to find other gods. But David already had the best God thatthere was. David had the only God. He had no need to make a change.

What Psalm 16 means

Verses 1 - 4: "Secret" is "miktam" in Hebrew. "Secret" is only one ofthe things that it may mean. Another is "gold". Some Christians callPsalm 16 the "golden psalm". "Golden" means "likegold". Gold has great value. In Psalm 16 it isthe secret that is of great value. It is thesecret of living for ever. "For ever" means "with noend". First we live on earth. When we die we live with God in heaven. The secret is to believe inthe one true God. David found this secret. It is of more value than gold. Davidtells us that there are 2 groups of people:

1 the saints onearth. These are the people of the LORD, or the righteous. The righteous arepeople that God sees as clean. They are not his enemies. Saints is a word thatthe New Testament uses for Christians. The New Testament is part of the Bible.It tells us about Jesus and the Church.

2 people that runafter other gods. "Run after" is the Hebrew way of saying "goand serve". These are the enemies of God. Christians call them'unbelievers' because they do not believe in the one true God. Jesus came toshow us the one true God. What does "gifts of blood" mean in verse 4? In the time of Davidthey killed animals and sometimes children for their false gods. David calledthese "gifts of blood".

Verses 5 - 6: "my part" is"my inheritance" in Hebrew. An inheritance is what a father gives (orleaves) to his children when he dies. In the time of Davidit was probably land or animals. Saul made David go away. So, David had noinheritance. This part of the psalm tells us that David had a betterinheritance than land or animals. God himself was David's inheritance. Verses7-11 tell us what this meant to David. What does "lines" mean inverse 6? The lines measured the land into pieces. People then knew where theirpiece of land was. In ( ) is another way of translating this part.

Verses 7 - 11:There are 5 parts in the inheritance that David received from the LORD:

1 David will havethe LORD for a teacher

2 Nobody will moveDavid away from what he believes

3 David will alwaysbe safe and happy

4 David will not goto Sheol

5 David will livewith the LORD now and when David dies

Where isthe Pit? The Pit is a part of Sheol where very badpeople go when they die. This is what the Jews believed. You never came backfrom the Pit. In Psalm 16:10 we read about "the holy one". Who wasthe holy one? In the psalm it was David. But for Christiansthe psalms mean more than they do for the Jews. Saints Peter and Paul thoughtthat it meant Jesus.

Something to do

1. Make sure that you know the secret ofDavid. Do what he did. Tell God that you believe that he is the one true God.Thank God that he sent Jesus to earth. Remember that:

· Jesus showed us what God is like

· Jesus died so that God can forgive us (forgive means that Godgives our sins to Jesus who takes them away)

· Jesus went to heaven to prepare a place for us

2. Study Psalm 16 in the New Testament.Bits of it are in Acts 2:22-32 and Acts 13:35. If you do not have a New Testament they are both here:

Acts 2:22-32

Word list

Hades ~ another name for Sheol

rot ~ when plantsand animals change back into dirt

prophet ~ someone that speaks for God, andsays what will happen

descendants ~ members of your family thatlive many years after you

resurrection ~when God raises people from the dead

Special note

Acts2:25-28 is a bit different from Psalm 16:8-11. This is because the Jews had twotranslations of the Bible. One was in Hebrew and the other was in Greek. Godspeaks to us through each of them.

The Story and Meaning of Acts 2:22-32.

This ispart of the story of the start of the Church. After Jesus went back to heaven,he sent the Holy Spirit to his friends on earth. The Holy Spirit is the namethat we use for God working in the world. He lives in Christians. He also givesthem help to become more like Jesus. He came on a day that we call Pentecost.Pentecost means 50 days after Easter. Easter was the day that God raised Jesusfrom the dead.

A lot of people listened to what Peter said atPentecost. Acts 2:22-32 is a part of what Peter said. Peter was a specialfriend of Jesus.

Peter saidthat the Jews killed Jesus. This was part of God's plan. God raised Jesus fromthe dead. Peter said that David said this would happen in Psalm 16. How didPeter know? Because Jesus explained the Bible to hisfriends after God raised Jesus from the dead. So Peter repeated Psalm 16:8-11in Acts 2:25-28. It says above why they are a bit different. This is goodbecause it gives us more ideas.

The bigdifference is in Psalm 16:10. The Hebrew word translated "pit" alsomeans "rot". The Greek Old Testament used the second word"rot". Rot means that things change. What was goodchanges into something that is bad. For example, dead bodies change intodirt. So when we die, our bodies rot. Only our bones remain. Peter said thatthis did not happen to Jesus. God raised up Jesus from the dead. After 40 days Jesus went up into heaven. He is there now with God. 10days later Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to the Church.

Here is what happened toDavid and Jesus when they died:

David diedand his spirit went to live with God in heaven. He did not go to Sheol. His body rotted in the earth. Jesus died and hisbody (as well as his spirit) went to live with God. His body did not rot in theearth. His spirit went for a short visit to Sheolafter he died.

The bigchange when Jesus came to earth was this. Before he came, people did not thinkclearly about resurrection. After God raised Jesus from the dead, Christiansbelieved in the resurrection. Christians now believe that:

· God raised Jesus from the dead

· at the end of the world God will raise all Christians

Acts 13:33-35

The Story and meaning of Acts 13:33-35

Paulbecame a Christian a few years after Jesus died. Paul was a Jew. He did notlike Christians. He even put them in prison. But one day Paul saw a very brightlight. He heard Jesus speaking to him. Jesus told Paul to change his life. Fromnow on Paul must tell everyone about Jesus. Paul must tell Jews and people thatwere not Jews about Jesus.

So Paultravelled hundreds of miles. As he went, he told people about Jesus. Acts13:33-35 is part of what Paul said at a place that they called Antioch. It wasin a country that they called Pisidia. Today we callit Turkey. It was not the Antioch in Syria.

In Acts13:33-35 Paul repeated bits from Psalm 2, Psalm 16 and Isaiah 55. Paul saysthat God kept his promise. It was a promise that God made to David. Where do weread that promise? In Psalm 2:7 and in Psalm 16:10. By itselfPsalm 2:7 is not easy to understand. We must read Psalm 2:8-9 as well. Then welearn that Jesus is king of all the world. Thishappened after God raised him from the dead. This is what Paul thought. Why didPaul think this? Because Jesus explained everything to Paul. Paul was not aChristian when Jesus rose from the dead. So, Paul missed what Jesus said to thefirst Christians. But when Paul became a Christian, Jesus met him. Jesus taughtPaul everything that he needed. Paul repeated Psalm 16:10 from the Greek OldTestament. This was because the people in Pisidia spokeGreek.

The 'holyone' in the psalm was David, or one of the kings that came after him. The 'HolyOne' in Acts 13:35 is not David. It is Jesus. He is not only the king of theJews; Jesus is the king of the whole world. We learnt this in Psalm 2:7. So,'you will not let your Holy One rot' means 'God will raise Jesus from thedead'.

The Resurrection

This is the name that Christians give to a veryspecial time. That time was when God raised Jesus from the dead. Jesus is notthe only person in the Bible that somebody raised from the dead. Elijah raiseda boy from the dead. Jesus raised another boy and a little girl and Lazarus.Later Peter raised Dorcas and Paul raised Eutychus from the dead. But Lazarus, Dorcasand Eutychus, as well as the 3 children, all diedagain later. The resurrection of Jesus is different. Jesus did not die againlater. He is alive and he will never die.

Somepeople do not believe this. They say, "Prove it to me". (Prove means"show me that it is true".) Nobody can prove that it is true. BUT NOBODY CAN PROVE THAT IT IS NOT TRUE.Thomas did not believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. He said , I will not believe unless:

· I see in his hands the mark of the nails

· I put my finger into the nail holes

· I put my hand into the hole in his side

(Nails arebits of iron a few centimetres long with sharp ends. The Romans fixed Jesus tothe cross of wood with them. Jesus died on that cross.) 8 days later Jesus cameto Thomas. He told Thomas to do what Thomas wanted .Thomas knew then that Jesus was alive. Thomas said to Jesus, "My Lord andmy God". Then Jesus said these words: "You believed because you sawme. The people that do not see me will be very happy. They will be happy whenthey believe in me". (You will find the story in John 20:24-28. See below.)

If we wantto believe in the resurrection of Jesus, we must ask God for faith. He willgive it to us. The Bible teaches us that faith is the gift of God. (Ephesians2:8) But why should we believe in the resurrection? Because if Jesus was raisedfrom the dead, God will raise us too. Not like Dorcasand Lazarus and Eutychus, to die again. When Godraises us from the dead we will live for ever. We willnever die. Like Jesus , we will have a new body. Itwill do things we cannot do now. It will be a resurrection body. It will neverbe ill or sick. It will be beautiful. It will be like Jesus. That is the bestnews in the world.

John 20:24-28

© 2001, Wycliffe Associates (UK)

This publication is writtenin EasyEnglish Level A (1200 words)

January 2001

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