Psalm 49

A Psalm of the Sons of Korah

1-2 Listen, everyone, listen— earth-dwellers, don't miss this. All you haves and have-nots, All together now: listen.
3-4 I set plainspoken wisdom before you, my heart-seasoned understandings of life. I fine-tuned my ear to the sayings of the wise, I solve life's riddle with the help of a harp.
5-6 So why should I fear in bad times, hemmed in by enemy malice, Shoved around by bullies, demeaned by the arrogant rich?
7-9 Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn't guarantee Life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole.
10-11 Anyone can see that the brightest and best die, wiped out right along with fools and dunces. They leave all their prowess behind, move into their new home, The Coffin, The cemetery their permanent address. And to think they named counties after themselves!
12 We aren't immortal. We don't last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.
13-15 This is what happens to those who live for the moment, who only look out for themselves: Death herds them like sheep straight to hell; they disappear down the gullet of the grave; They waste away to nothing— nothing left but a marker in a cemetery. But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death, he reaches down and grabs me.
16-19 So don't be impressed with those who get rich and pile up fame and fortune. They can't take it with them; fame and fortune all get left behind. Just when they think they've arrived and folks praise them because they've made good, They enter the family burial plot where they'll never see sunshine again.
20 We aren't immortal. We don't last long. Like our dogs, we age and weaken. And die.

Psalm 49

1 Hear this, all ye peoples; Give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world,

2 Both low and high, Rich and poor together.

3 My mouth shall speak wisdom; And the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.

4 I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.

5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, When iniquity at my heels compasseth me about?

6 They that trust in their wealth, And boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;

7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him;

8 (For the redemption of their life is costly, And it faileth for ever;)

9 That he should still live alway, That he should not see corruption.

10 For he shall see it. Wise men die; The fool and the brutish alike perish, And leave their wealth to others.

11 Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, And their dwelling-places to all generations; They call their lands after their own names.

12 But man being in honor abideth not: He is like the beasts that perish.

13 This their way is their folly: Yet after them men approve their sayings. Selah

14 They are appointed as a flock for Sheol; Death shall be their shepherd; And the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; And their beauty shall be for Sheol to consume, That there be no habitation for it.

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

16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, When the glory of his house is increased.

17 For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away; His glory shall not descend after him.

18 Though while he lived he blessed his soul (And men praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself,)

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

20 Man that is in honor, and understandeth not, Is like the beasts that perish.