Psa 3:2, 16:10 | JFB | STEP | 2. say of my soul —that is, "of me" (compare ). This use of "soul" is common; perhaps it arose from regarding the soul as man's chief part. no help . . . in God —rejected by Him. This is the bitterest reproach for a pious man, and denotes a spirit of malignant triumph. Selah —This word is of very obscure meaning. It probably denotes rest or pause, both as to the music and singing, intimating something emphatic in the sentiment (compare ).

Psalms 3:2

2. say of my soul—that is, "of me" (compare Ps 25:3). This use of "soul" is common; perhaps it arose from regarding the soul as man's chief part.

no help . . . in God—rejected by Him. This is the bitterest reproach for a pious man, and denotes a spirit of malignant triumph.

Selah—This word is of very obscure meaning. It probably denotes rest or pause, both as to the music and singing, intimating something emphatic in the sentiment (compare Ps 9:16).

Psalms 16:10

10. soul—or, "self." This use of "soul" for the person is frequent (Ge 12:5; 46:26; Ps 3:2; 7:2; 11:1), even when the body may be the part chiefly affected, as in Ps 35:13; 105:18. Some cases are cited, as Le 22:4; Nu 6:6; 9:6, 10; 19:13; Hag 2:13, &c., which seem to justify assigning the meaning of body, or dead body; but it will be found that the latter sense is given by some adjunct expressed or implied. In those cases person is the proper sense.

wilt not leave . . . hell—abandon to the power of (Job 39:14; Ps 49:10). Hell as (Ge 42:38; Ps 6:5; Jon 2:2) the state or region of death, and so frequently—or the grave itself (Job 14:13; 17:13; Ec 9:10, &c.). So the Greek Hades (compare Ac 2:27, 31). The context alone can settle whether the state mentioned is one of suffering and place of the damned (compare Ps 9:17; Pr 5:5; 7:27).

wilt . . . suffer—literally, "give" or "appoint."

Holy One— (Ps 4:3), one who is the object of God's favor, and so a recipient of divine grace which he exhibits—pious.

to see—or, "experience"—undergo (Lu 2:26).

corruption—Some render the word, the pit, which is possible, but for the obvious sense which the apostle's exposition (Ac 2:27; 13:36, 37) gives. The sense of the whole passage is clearly this: by the use of flesh and soul, the disembodied state produced by death is indicated; but, on the other hand, no more than the state of death is intended; for the last clause of Ps 16:10 is strictly parallel with the first, and Holy One corresponds to soul, and corruption to hell. As Holy One, or David (Ac 13:36, 37), which denotes the person, including soul and body, is used for body, of which only corruption can be predicated (compare Ac 2:31); so, on the contrary, soul, which literally means the immaterial part, is used for the person. The language may be thus paraphrased, "In death I shall hope for resurrection; for I shall not be left under its dominion and within its bounds, or be subject to the corruption which ordinarily ensues."