disappeared, perished from horrors!

As a dream upon awakening, so Thou shalt destroy their dreams by awakening them.445

But that's not all. The psalmist finds that he himself is seized by a love that will not let him disappear, a power that even death and decay of the body cannot stop:

But I am always with Thee: Thou hast held me by the right hand;

Thou hast guided me by thy counsel, and afterwards thou shalt receive me into glory.

Who am I in heaven?

And with Thee I desire nothing on earth.

My flesh and my heart are faint;

God is the stronghold of my heart and my part forever...

And it is good for me to draw near to God!

In the LORD I have placed my trust to declare all Thy works.446

Obviously, "and hereafter" (w'achar) does not refer to an event that will occur later in this life, but to a state that will be attained after guiding God's commandments in this life. This is confirmed by verse 26, where, echoing Isaiah 40:6-8, it is said that the power of God triumphs over death. Unfortunately, the key word "kaboi" (without which it is not quite clear what we are talking about), translated here as "words", may well mean "honor" (as NRSV). Before our eyes, as if for a moment, there flashed an amazing picture of life on the other side of the grave, a life where (as the logic of the psalm requires) evil will be corrected and God's justice will reign; where those who know the love of God in the present will discover that this love is stronger than death itself and that it will "accept" them for honor or glory.447

The same word "receive" is used in Psalm 48:16448. This whole psalm is a sober meditation on human mortality: all men, like animals, will eventually go down to the grave, and all their present splendor and ostentatious splendor will be good for nothing: