Messianic Prophecies
Not Suffer Thy Holy One to See Corruption
30-second summary
Psalm 16:10 promises that God's holy one will not see corruption. Preaching at Pentecost, Peter pointed to David's own occupied tomb to argue the line could not be about David and applied it to Christ's Resurrection (Acts 2:29-31); Paul made the identical argument at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:35-37). Both apostles quote the Greek Septuagint's 'corruption' wording, a translation already fixed in writing by the second century BC — well before Christ. The Church has read the verse as resurrection prophecy since the apostolic age.
Scripture
Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption.
Quoniam non derelinques animam meam in inferno, nec dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem.
Ye men, brethren, let me freely speak to you of the patriarch David; that he died, and was buried; and his sepulchre is with us to this present day. Whereas therefore he was a prophet, and knew that God hath sworn to him with an oath, that of the fruit of his loins one should sit upon his throne. Foreseeing this, he spoke of the resurrection of Christ. For neither was he left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption.
Viri fratres, liceat audenter dicere ad vos de patriarcha David, quoniam defunctus est, et sepultus: et sepulchrum ejus est apud nos usque in hodiernum diem. Propheta igitur cum esset, et sciret quia jurejurando jurasset illi Deus de fructu lumbi ejus sedere super sedem ejus: providens locutus est de resurrectione Christi, quia neque derelictus est in inferno, neque caro ejus vidit corruptionem.
And therefore in another place also he saith: Thou shalt not suffer thy holy one to see corruption. For David, when he had served in his generation, according to the will of God, slept: and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God hath raised from the dead, saw no corruption.
Ideoque et alias dicit: Non dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem. David enim in sua generatione cum administrasset, voluntati Dei dormivit: et appositus est ad patres suos, et vidit corruptionem. Quem vero Deus suscitavit a mortuis, non vidit corruptionem.
Prophecy & Fulfillment
- Given
- Traditionally c. 1000 BC (David); the Greek Septuagint's 'corruption' wording was fixed in writing by the 2nd century BC at the latest
- Fulfilled
- c. AD 33, Pentecost, per Acts' narrative (weeks after the Crucifixion)
Acts reports that at Pentecost in Jerusalem, Peter argued that since David died, was buried, and his tomb 'is with us to this present day,' the psalm's 'holy one' who would not see corruption could not be David himself, but was foreseeing 'the resurrection of Christ' (Acts 2:29-31). Paul makes the same argument at Pisidian Antioch (Acts 13:35-37). Both apostles quote the Septuagint's Greek wording, already fixed in writing well before the New Testament era. The Church holds the verse fulfilled in Christ's bodily Resurrection, His flesh never undergoing the decay of the grave.
Why this level?
The apostolic reading of Psalm 16:10 rests on a single textual anchor — the Septuagint's Greek wording, already fixed in writing by the second century BC — carried into the New Testament through Peter's and Paul's sermons in Acts, both preserved by a single author (Luke). The identification of the psalm's 'holy one' with the risen Christ is a theological reading the apostles themselves make and the Church has carried forward since; it is not established by a second, independent line of evidence outside that same interpretive tradition. That places this entry at Level 1: a tradition-dependent fulfillment reading anchored in one textual witness.
Dig deeper
A promise, and an argument from a known tomb
Psalm 16:10 reads, "thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption." At Pentecost, Peter took up this line and built his argument on a plain fact everyone in Jerusalem could check: David "died, and was buried; and his sepulchre is with us to this present day" (Acts 2:29). Since David's own body had seen the ordinary corruption of the grave, Peter reasoned, the psalm's promise that God's "holy one" would not see corruption could not have been about David himself. Being a prophet, David "foreseeing this, spoke of the resurrection of Christ" (Acts 2:31). Paul repeats the same proof-text and the same logic before the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch: "he whom God raised from the dead saw no corruption" (Acts 13:37).
A translation already in place before Christ
The wording Peter and Paul both preach from is the Greek Septuagint's rendering of the verse, diaphthoran, "corruption" or "decay." That Greek text existed in writing by the second century BC at the latest — a floor that puts the "corruption" wording on record well over a century before the Crucifixion, ruling out any suggestion that it was shaped after the fact to fit the Resurrection. The Church receives the Septuagint as Scripture in its own right, and has read Psalm 16:10 through it since the apostolic preaching recorded in Acts.
One translation note worth knowing: the underlying Hebrew word, shachat, is a homonym, and some modern English versions render the parallel line as "the Pit" rather than "corruption" — a poetic name for the grave used elsewhere in the Psalms (30:3; 86:13). The Douay-Rheims and Vulgate, following the Church's Greek and Latin textual tradition, carry the "corruption" wording that Peter's argument is built on.
The Church's reading
David's tomb was a known landmark in Jerusalem, referenced elsewhere in the Old Testament (1 Kings 2:10; Nehemiah 3:16), and it anchors Peter's argument in a concrete, checkable fact rather than an abstraction. From that fact, the apostles drew a theological conclusion: the psalm's "holy one" who would not see corruption is Christ, whose flesh, the Church proclaims, did not undergo the decay of the grave. St. John Chrysostom's fourth-century homily on this passage shows the Church holding the same reading from its earliest centuries onward, a continuous line of testimony running from apostolic preaching through the Fathers to the Church today.
Keep digging
- Ask Magisterium AI about the Church's reading of Psalm 16 as resurrection prophecy — https://www.magisterium.com
- St. John Chrysostom, Homily 6 on the Acts of the Apostles — https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/210106.htm
- Peter's Pentecost sermon: Acts 2 (Douay-Rheims/Vulgate) — https://www.drbo.org/drl/chapter/51002.htm
- Paul's parallel sermon at Antioch: Acts 13 (Douay-Rheims) — https://drbo.org/chapter/51013.htm
Citations
- Scripture
Douay-Rheims Bible, Psalm 15 (modern Psalm 16)
Psalm 15:9-11 (DR)
Supports: Provides the exact Douay-Rheims English text of Psalm 16:10, 'nor wilt thou give thy holy one to see corruption.'
- Scripture
Douay-Rheims + Clementine Vulgate, Psalm 15
Psalm 15:10 (DR/Vulgate)
Supports: Confirms the exact Clementine Vulgate Latin wording, 'nec dabis sanctum tuum videre corruptionem,' paired with the Douay-Rheims.
- Scripture
Psalm 16:10 (NRSVUE)
Supports: Shows a widely used modern translation rendering the underlying Hebrew word shachat as 'the Pit,' a poetic name for the grave — a translation-variant note alongside the DR/Vulgate's 'corruption.'
- Scripture
Douay-Rheims + Clementine Vulgate, Acts of the Apostles 2
Acts 2:25-32 (DR/Vulgate)
Supports: Gives the DR and Vulgate text of Peter's Pentecost sermon quoting Psalm 16 and arguing from David's known tomb to the resurrection reading.
- Scripture
Acts 13:35-37 (DR)
Supports: Gives the DR text of Paul's use of the identical proof-text at Pisidian Antioch, showing the apostles' shared reading of Psalm 16 applied to the Resurrection.
- Church Father
St. John Chrysostom, Homily 6 on the Acts of the Apostles
Homilies on Acts, Homily VI
Supports: Patristic commentary showing the Church has read Peter's argument this way since at least the 4th century, a continuous line of testimony from the apostolic age forward.
- Academic
Working Preacher commentary on Acts 2:14a, 22-32
Matt Skinner, Working Preacher, Luther Seminary
Supports: Lays out Peter's exegetical logic as reported in Acts — the argument from David's known tomb to the resurrection reading.
- Scripture
BibleHub, Psalm 16:10 interlinear
Psalm 16:10
Supports: Shows the underlying Hebrew (including the word shachat) alongside modern versification and the traditional 'corruption' rendering.