Psalm 49

¹ Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,

² both low and high, rich and poor together.

³ My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart will utter understanding.

⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp.

⁵ Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?

⁶ Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches—

⁷ none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him.

⁸ For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough,

⁹ that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption.

¹⁰ For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹ Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves.

¹² But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish.

¹³ This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.

¹⁴ They 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.

¹⁵ But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.

¹⁶ Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

¹⁷ for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him.

¹⁸ Though while he lived he blessed his soul— and men praise you when you do well for yourself—

¹⁹ he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light.

²⁰ A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.

Around Psalm 49

Book context

PsalmsEditorial draft

Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers used in Israel’s worship, written by several people over a long period. Headings name David most often, along with Asaph, the sons of Korah and others. The collection falls into five books, each ending with a short blessing of the LORD (41:13, 72:19, 89:52, 106:48), and it closes with a call for everything that has breath to praise the LORD (150:6). The psalms hold praise, lament, thanksgiving, confession and trust, so readers find words for nearly every season of life.

Why we say this

HisFullGlory editorial · broad consensus · not yet reviewed by a theological reader

From the text itself

Sources

Notes summarise their sources in our own words. Where Christians or scholars disagree, the note says so. Notes are not original-language evidence and do not replace the text.

AI explanation

About Psalms as a whole · Written by an AI model · Not reviewed by a theological reader

This explanation was written by an AI model to help you get started. It names no sources and can contain mistakes. Scripture comes first, and context with sources is shown separately on this page.

What this book is about

“How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever?” A prayer can begin like that, and in the Psalms it does. Four times the poet asks how long, and then, in the same short song, comes the turn: “But I trust in your loving kindness.”

That honesty runs through the whole book. Psalms is a collection of 150 songs and prayers, and it holds praise, thanksgiving, lament, confession, songs for the king, and reflections on wisdom and on God's law. It is arranged in five books and moves, on the whole, from many laments at the start to pure praise at the end.

Joy, fear, anger, guilt and doubt are all spoken to God directly.

Background

The psalms were written and gathered over several centuries. Their headings link about half of them with David and others with Asaph, the sons of Korah, Solomon and Moses. They were sung in the worship of the temple and later in synagogues and churches.

How Christians read it

Jews and Christians have prayed the Psalms daily for well over two thousand years. The New Testament quotes them more than any other book and reads many as speaking of Christ, among them Psalms 2, 22 and 110. The psalms that call for judgment on enemies are hard to read. Many understand them as handing vengeance over to God instead of taking it oneself.

About this explanation

Written by Claude Sonnet 5.5, an AI model, on 19 October 2026. It draws on the WEB text and general knowledge and was not checked against sources by a person. Every quotation from Scripture is checked automatically against the WEB text.

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