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⌂ ← PSA 49:1–49:20 → ║ ═ ©

Psalm 49

49 This is a note for the worship leader: of the Korahites wrote psalm.

1 Listen to me, members of people groups

from throughout the world,

2 whether or not you are famous

and whether or not you are rich!

3 I have thought carefully about what I am going to say,

so it will be wise, and it will help you understand things better.

4 There is a popular saying about something that people find difficult to understand.

I have considered it, and I will explain it as I sing and play my harp.

5 I do not have to be afraid during difficult times

when wicked people around me try to harm me.

6 These wicked people believe that they will be able to use their money to overcome any difficulty.

They boast about how rich they are.

7 No one can use his money to keep a person from dying.

No, no one can pay God money so that another person will not die.

8 No matter how much money a person has,

it is never enough to keep someone else from dying

9 so that the person will live forever

and never leave this world.

10 Whether people are wise or foolish and brutish, they all die.

Then other people inherit their money.

11 They imagine that the houses they live in will always exist.

They call their properties by their own names

as if they would always have them.

12 Even if someone is great, he does not stay that way.

He still dies, just as animals do.

13 Those who think and act as if they will never die are living in a foolish manner.

Even so, some other people admire them and approve of what they say. Selah

14 God has determined that they will die, as easily as sheep die,

and go to the place where dead people are.

They will remain there, as if death were a shepherd keeping them in a pen.

One day God will make righteous people rule over wicked people.

Wicked people will no longer live in comfortable homes.

Instead, their bodies will decay in their graves.

15 But God will take me to himself.

In that way, he will rescue me from the place where dead people are. Selah

16 Do not let it trouble you when a person becomes rich

and has many valuable possessions.

17 After all, when that person dies,

he will take nothing with him to the place where dead people are.

He will not be able to bring his money there with him.

18 While a rich person is alive, he says to himself that he is successful.

(People tend to praise anyone who is successful.)

19 Nevertheless, he will die and go to where his dead ancestors are.

All of them will remain in that dark place forever.

20 If someone is great but does not understand these things,

he will die, just as animals do.