Psalm 49

¹Hear this, all you peoples.

Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,

²both low and high,

rich and poor together.

³My mouth will speak words of wisdom.

My heart will utter understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb.

I will solve my riddle on the harp.

⁵Why should I fear in the days of evil,

when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?

⁶Those who trust in their wealth,

and boast in the multitude of their riches—

⁷none of them can by any means redeem his brother,

nor give God a ransom for him.

⁸For the redemption of their life is costly,

no payment is ever enough,

⁹that he should live on forever,

that he should not see corruption.

¹⁰For he sees that wise men die;

likewise the fool and the senseless perish,

and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever,

and their dwelling places to all generations.

They name their lands after themselves.

¹²But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure.

He is like the animals that perish.

¹³This is the destiny of those who are foolish,

and of those who approve their sayings.

¹⁴They are appointed as a flock for Sheol.

Death shall be their shepherd.

The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning.

Their beauty shall decay in Sheol,

far from their mansion.

¹⁵But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,

for he will receive me.

¹⁶Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich,

when the glory of his house is increased;

¹⁷for when he dies he will carry nothing away.

His glory won’t descend after him.

¹⁸Though while he lived he blessed his soul—

and men praise you when you do well for yourself—

¹⁹he shall go to the generation of his fathers.

They shall never see the light.

²⁰A man who has riches without understanding,

is like the animals that perish.