Psalm 16:1-11 vs. “Psalm 16”

Why it matters

Psalm 16 is one of the psalms the apostles preached from. At Pentecost, Peter read from verse 8 to the end of the psalm, stopping just short of its last clause, as the argument that the Messiah would not stay in the grave. Paul used verse 10 the same way in the synagogue at Pisidian Antioch.

So a setting that runs to the psalm's final verse leaves that whole run in place. You can learn the sermon's text as a song, and then go read the sermon and check it. An excerpt that stopped at verse 8 would not give you that.

Helpful comparison

The evidence here is unusually open, because the artist published the words. The description under the official upload prints the sung text, and the ESV credit line sits directly under it.

Here is what we checked, and what we did not. We compared that printed text to Psalm 16 verse by verse. All eleven verses are there, in the psalm's order, across 23 short lines, with nothing repeated. The printed text runs 191 words. The psalm runs 193 words in the Berean Standard Bible. Two different translations of the same eleven verses landing that close is what you would expect when nothing has been added. We then set that printed text beside an ESV of Psalm 16 and compared it word by word. All 191 words match, in order, with nothing added and nothing dropped. What a printed text cannot show is whether the recording repeats a line for musical shape, the way the Psalm 88 setting does.

One more detail worth seeing. Peter's quotation in Acts 2 begins at Psalm 16:8 and reaches verse 11. In the Berean Standard Bible it stops before the psalm's last clause, the one about pleasures at God's right hand. The song does not stop there. It sings the verse out.

Sources

• The Corner Room — official site · ("Adam began this process as music minister for Cahaba Park Church in 2013 writing Psalms to song for a summer sermon series on the Psalms"; the page describes the collection it is currently promoting as "Scripture set to music verbatim from the ESV Bible")
• Psalm Songs, Volume II — album page · (ten-track listing, in order, ending with "Psalm 16", which carries no verse range, alongside "Psalm 119:33-40" and the three "Psalm 139" tracks, which do)
• Psalm Songs, Volume II (Digital Download) — store page · ("Psalm Songs, Volume II is a collection of 8 Psalms, verbatim from the ESV Bible, set to original music"; its numbered track listing puts "Psalm 16" at track 10)
• The Corner Room — "Psalm 16" (Lyric Video) · (official channel upload; oEmbed returns author_name "The Corner Room", channel @TheCornerRoomMusic; uploaded 18 May 2018; runs 3:49; the description prints the sung text and credits the ESV Bible, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles)
• Apple Music — Psalm Songs, Vol. 2 · (released 18 May 2018; 10 songs; the track is listed as "Psalm 16", while other tracks carry verse ranges)
• Spotify — "Psalm 16" · (track title carries no version; album Psalm Songs, Vol. 2, 2018)
• Jesus Freak Hideout — Josh Balogh, Psalm Songs, Vol. 2 review, 19 June 2018 · (the psalms described as "taken directly from the English Standard Version of the Bible")