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PsalmsChapter 49

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For the choirmaster. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm.
Hear this, all you peoples; listen, all who live in the world,
both low and high, rich and poor alike.
My mouth will speak wisdom; the meditation of my heart is understanding.
I will turn my ear to a proverb; with the harp I will unfold my riddle.
Why should I fear when evil days come, when the treachery of my pursuers closes in on me—
men who trust in their wealth and boast of their great riches?
No one can ever redeem another or pay God a ransom for him.
The price of a life is too costly; no one can ever pay it,
so that he might live on forever and never see the grave.
For all can see that the wise die, that the fool and the senseless perish alike and leave their wealth to others.
Their graves become their homes forever, their dwellings for all generations, though they gave their names to lands of their own. [Footnote: The Hebrew as preserved reads "their inward thought"; ancient versions read "their graves," which is followed here.]
But no one endures in his splendor; he is like the beasts that perish.
This is the way of those who trust in themselves, and of those who follow after them, approving their words. Selah
Like sheep they are appointed for the grave, and death will be their shepherd. The upright will rule over them in the morning; their forms will waste away in the grave, far from their lofty homes.
But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave; he will surely take me to himself. Selah
Do not be afraid when someone grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases.
For he takes nothing with him when he dies; his splendor will not go down after him.
Though while he lived he congratulated himself—and people praise you when you do well for yourself—
he will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light again.
A man in his splendor who lacks understanding is like the beasts that perish.
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