Shared Word Translation
Psalm 49
Wisdom for All Peoples
Hear this, all peoples;
give ear, all who dwell in the world,
both low and high,
rich and poor together.
My mouth will speak wisdom;
the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will open my riddle with the lyre.
Wealth Cannot Ransom a Life
Why should I fear in days of evil,
when the iniquity of those at my heels surrounds me,
those who trust in their wealth
and boast in the abundance of their riches?
Surely no one can ransom another
or give to God the price of a life,
for the ransom of their life is costly
and forever beyond reach,
that one should live on forever
and never see the Pit.
For one sees that the wise die;
the fool and the senseless perish together
and leave their wealth to others.
Their graves are their homes forever,
their dwellings from generation to generation,
though they called lands by their own names.
A human being in honor does not remain;
one is like the beasts that perish.
God Will Ransom My Life
This is the way of those who are foolish,
and after them come those who approve their words.
Selah.
Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
death will shepherd them.
The upright will rule over them in the morning,
and their form will waste away in Sheol,
far from their lofty dwelling.
But God will ransom my life
from the hand of Sheol,
for God will receive me.
Selah.
Do not fear when someone becomes rich,
when the glory of the house increases.
For at death one will carry nothing away;
one’s glory will not descend after them.
Though while living one blesses one’s own life—
and people praise you when you do well for yourself—
one will go to the generation of one’s ancestors,
who will never again see light.
A human being in honor, yet without understanding,
is like the beasts that perish.