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Psalm 49

The Folly of Trust in Riches

To the leader. Of the Korahites. A Psalm.

Hear this, all you peoples;

give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

both low and high,

rich and poor together.

My mouth shall speak wisdom;

the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will solve my riddle to the music of the harp.

Why should I fear in times of trouble,

when the iniquity of my persecutors surrounds me,

those who trust in their wealth

and boast of the abundance of their riches?

Truly, no ransom avails for one’s life,

there is no price one can give to God for it.

For the ransom of life is costly,

and can never suffice,

that one should live on forever

and never see the grave.

When we look at the wise, they die;

fool and dolt perish together

and leave their wealth to others.

Their graves are their homes forever,

their dwelling places to all generations,

though they named lands their own.

Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;

they are like the animals that perish.

Such is the fate of the foolhardy,

the end of those who are pleased with their lot. Selah

Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;

Death shall be their shepherd;

straight to the grave they descend,

and their form shall waste away;

Sheol shall be their home.

But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,

for he will receive me. Selah

Do not be afraid when some become rich,

when the wealth of their houses increases.

For when they die they will carry nothing away;

their wealth will not go down after them.

Though in their lifetime they count themselves happy

—for you are praised when you do well for yourself—

they will go to the company of their ancestors,

who will never again see the light.

Mortals cannot abide in their pomp;

they are like the animals that perish.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

12 And man shall not abide in honor Having exposed the vain and delusory nature of the fancies entertained by the ungodly, he next shows that however fondly they may cherish them, they must experience the same fate with the beasts of the field. It is true that there is a great difference, so far as the soul is concerned, between man and the brute creation; but the Psalmist speaks of things as they appear in this world, and in this respect he was warranted to say of the ungodly that they die as the beasts. His subject does not lead him to speak of the world to come. He is reasoning with the children of this world, who have no respect to another, and no idea of a farther happiness than that which they enjoy here. He accordingly ridicules their folly in conceiving of themselves as privileged with exemption from the ordinary lot of humanity, and warns them that death will soon be near to humble their presumptuous thoughts, and put them on a level with the meanest of the lower creatures. This I prefer to the more ingenious interpretation which some would put upon the words, that they reduced themselves to the level of beasts by not recognising the true dignity of their nature, which consists in the possession of a never-dying soul. The Psalmist’s great aim is to show the vanity of the boasting of the wicked, from the nearness of death, which must join them in one common fate with the beasts of the field. The last word in the verse gives the reason why the ungodly may be compared to the beasts — they perish It matters little whether or not we consider the relative אשר, asher, as understood, and read, that perish