Psalms 16:2

[O my soul], thou hast said unto the Lord,.... Some take these to be the words of David speaking to the church, who had owned the Lord to be her Lord, and had declared what follows; others think they

O my soul, thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou art my Lord: my goodness extendeth not to thee; (O my soul), thou hast said unto the Lord - (Lamentations 3:24-25.) The Septuagint, Vulgate, and Syriac

O my soul; which words are fitly understood; for it is manifest he speaks to one person of another. And it is usual with David to turn his speech to his soul, as 43:5. Thou hast said; thou hast ofttimes avowed and professed it, and dost still persist to do so. Thou art my Lord, by creation, and preservation, and otherwise; to whom I owe all service and obedience upon that account. My goodness; whatsoever piety, or virtue, or good. ness is in me, or is done by me. Extendeth not to thee, i.e. doth not add any thing to thy felicity; for thou dost not need me nor my service, nor art capable of any advantage from it. Or, is not for thee, as this word is used, , i.e. for thy use or benefit. Or, is not upon thee, i.e. it lays no obligation upon thee, as this very word is taken, . All comes to the same thing. The sense is, God is all-sufficient and infinitely happy, and the author of all the good that is in or is done by any of his creatures; and therefore cannot prevent nor oblige God any further than he is graciously pleased to oblige himself. Thus he renounceth all opinion of merit; and though he urged his trust in God, as a motive to persuade God to preserve him, , yet he here declares that he did not do it, as thinking that God was indebted to him for it.

Psalms 16:2 [O my soul], thou hast said unto the LORD, Thou [art] my Lord: my goodness [extendeth] not to thee;Ver. 2. O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord] Or, I have said unto the Lord; and so I had rather read it, with Jerome and the Septuagint; because the letter Jod may be wanting in Amarti. See the like, Job 42:2 Ezekiel 16:59. David was here extra se abreptus, carried beyond himself, and so might easily speak short, and say Amart for Amarti; like as Moses, in a passion, said to God, At for Atta, Numbers 11:15, as not able to speak out. Amor Dei est ecstaticus, &c. Thou art my Lord] Heb. Thou my Lord, so the next words, My good not unto thee; all concise and abrupt, out of deepest affection; broken language from a broken spirit, spending and exhaling itself into God’ s blessed bosom. My goodness extendeth not to thee] But if it did I could with all my heart beteem it thee; even the very best of my best; but what can I give thee save only τασοεκτωνσων, since all is thine own? 1 Chronicles 29:14; 1 Chronicles 29:16 Psalms 24:1; thou needest no sacrifices, Psalms 50:8, neither art thou delighted therein, Psalms 51:18 Isaiah 1:11. All that thou requirest is mercy, Hosea 6:5 Micah 6:8 Matthew 12:7. Therefore I will seek out those thy receivers, the saints, that are in the earth, &c.

(2) Thou hast said.—The text of this passage is exceedingly corrupt. This appears (1) from the actual existence of various readings, (2) by the variations in the ancient versions, both from the Hebrew and each other. It will be best to take Psalms 16:2-3 together first. The consensus of the ancient versions in favour of the first person, “I said,” instead of “thou hast said” (the italicised words O my soul, are a mere gloss from the Chaldee), gives for Psalms 16:2 the plain and intelligible rendering I said to Jehovah, Thou art my Lord, I have no good besides thee. Psalms 16:3 also requires emendation, being quite unintelligible as it stands. The simplest device is to omit the conjunction and recognise one of those changes of person so agreeable to Hebrew, when the verse will run— “And of the saints who are in the earth, They are the excellent in whom is all my delight.” The Authorised Version, in inserting “extendeth,” introduces the fine thought that “Merit lives from man to man. And not from man, O God, to Thee;” but it could not have been the thought of the original, since “my good,” as Psalms 16:5-6 show, equals “happiness,” not “conduct.”

Verse 2. Thou hast said unto the Lord, Thou art my Lord] Thou hast said ליהוה layhovah, to Jehovah, the supreme, self-existing, and eternal Being; Thou art my Lord, אדני אתה adonai attah, Thou art my prop, stay, or support. As the Messiah, or Son of God, Jesus derived his being and support from Jehovah; and the man Christ was supported by the eternal Divinity that dwelt within him, without which he could not have sustained the sufferings which he passed through, nor have made an atonement for the sin of the world; it is the suffering Messiah, or the Messiah in prospect of his sufferings, who here speaks. My goodness extendeth not to thee] There are almost endless explanations of this clause; no man can read them without being confounded by them. The SEPTUAGINT read ὁτιτωναγαθωνμουουχρειανεχεις; Because thou dost not need my goods. The VULGATE follows the Septuagint. The CHALDEE: My good is given only by thyself. So the SYRIAC: My good is from thee. The ARABIC: Thou dost not need my good works. And in this sense, with shades of difference, it has been understood by most commentators and critics. Bishop Horsley translates, Thou art my good - not besides thee. Dr. Kennicott, My goodness is not without thee. I think the words should be understood of what the Messiah was doing for men. My goodness, טובתי tobathi, "my bounty," is not to thee. What I am doing can add nothing to thy divinity; thou art not providing this astonishing sacrifice because thou canst derive any excellence from it: but this bounty extends to the saints - to all the spirits of just men made perfect, whose bodies are still in the earth; and to the excellent, אדירי addirey, "the noble or supereminent ones," those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. The saints and illustrious ones not only taste of my goodness, but enjoy my salvation. Perhaps angels themselves may be intended; they are not uninterested in the incarnation, passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord. They desire to look into these things; and the victories of the cross in the conversion of sinners cause joy among the angels of God. The קדושים kedoshim, "saints," or consecrated persons, may refer to the first planters of Christianity, evangelists, apostles, c., who were separated from all others, and consecrated to the great important work of preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ. With these was all the desire, חפץ chephets, the good will and delight of Christ. In all their ministrations he was both with them and in them. The passage, taken as referring to David, intimates that he abhorred the company of the profane and worthless, and delighted to associate with them that excelled in virtue. On these two verses the translation and paraphrase of my old Psalter must not be forgotten: - Ver. 1. Conserva me, Domine, c. Trans. Kepe me Lord, for I hoped in the I said til Lord, my God thou ert for, of my gudes thu has na nede. Par.

2. The Massoretic Text reads thou (fem.) hast said, assuming that the poet holds colloquy with himself, and addresses his soul, as in Psalms 42:5; Lamentations 3:24 (a passage evidently based on this psalm). So the Targum. But an ellipse of O my soul cannot be grammatically justified; and R.V. is certainly right in reading I have said, with LXX, Vulg., Syr., Jer. Cp. Psalms 31:14; Psalms 91:2; Psalms 140:6. my Lord] The confession of Jehovah’s servant (cp. Psalms 35:23), in contrast to the self-asserting independence of Psa 12:4. R.V. marg. the Lord is possible, but less satisfactory. my goodness extendeth not to thee] Render with R.V., I have no good beyond thee. “Not merely is God the source of all his weal, but everything which he recognises as a true good, God actually contains within Himself” (Robertson Smith). Cp. Psalms 73:25. The P.B.V. my goods are nothing unto thee (cp. Psalms 50:9 ff.) follows LXX and Vulg., τῶνἀγαθῶνμουοὐχρείανἔχεις: bonorum meorum non eges.

O my soul, thou hast said unto the Lord - The words “O my soul” are not in the original. A literal rendering of the passage would be, “Thou hast said unto the Lord,” etc., leaving something to be supplied.

2. O my soul—These words are not in the original, but ΰξψϊ, thou hast said, being in the second person feminine, supposes the soul addressed, which is not uncommon in David’s dramatic style.