Psalm 49 To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

 ¹Hear this, all peoples;

Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

²Both low and high,

Rich and poor together.

³My mouth shall speak wisdom,

And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will disclose my dark saying on the harp.

⁵Why should I fear in the days of evil,

When the 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 to God a ransom for him—

⁸For the redemption of their souls is costly,

And it shall cease forever—

⁹That he should continue to live eternally,

And not see the Pit.

¹⁰For he sees wise men die;

Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,

And leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,

Their dwelling places to all generations;

They call their lands after their own names.

¹²Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain;

He is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the way of those who are foolish,

And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are laid in the grave;

Death shall feed on them;

The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;

And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling.

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

For He shall receive me. Selah

¹⁶Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,

When the glory of his house is increased;

¹⁷For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;

His glory shall not descend after him.

¹⁸Though while he lives he blesses himself

(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),

¹⁹He shall go to the generation of his fathers;

They shall never see light.

²⁰A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,

Is like the beasts that perish.

 

Preamble: Psalm 49 is a psalm that is set forth to address the confusion and fears of everyone who lives righteously and yet sees the wicked, the greedy, and or the schemer of this world prospering in their evil ways. In many ways then this Psalm is also a rebuke of the prosperity “preachers” who make faith in Christ a means of attaining wealth which is to serve ones own greedy desires (consider 1 Tim. 6:5-10). Now without going into more detail here let’s just let the Word of God speak for itself concerning this.

Vs. 1-4 ¹Hear this, all peoples;

Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

²Both low and high,

Rich and poor together.

³My mouth shall speak wisdom,

And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to a proverb;

I will disclose my dark saying on the harp.

Because this is a universal issue that affects us all, the Scripture now calls all people, whether of low societal stature or high, whether rich or poor, to pay attention to the wisdom and understand that is about to be freely bestowed upon us. For the Godly sons of Korah as men of worship have taken their understanding and brought it forth on a musical harp so as to covey the Word of God’s truths through music, which itself is such an effective and powerful medium for doing so, and yet is so dearly lacking in today’s worship, which seems more about arousing peoples feelings, then bringing forth any sort of wisdom or understanding about God and our lives down here. Now feelings are good and emotions need to be expressed, but faith does not grow by these alone, and in perplexing or troubling times these will not sustain you, and very often they will betray you if you rely on them (Jer. 17:9). Therefore, give ear all peoples to the Word of God, for by it your wisdom and understanding will grow.

Vs. 5 “Why should I fear in the days of evil,

When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?”

Since our souls have been secured by Christ (see John 10:27-30), there really is no need for us to fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity at our heels surrounds us, when the ungodly and the unjust rise up, and they are seemingly rewarded in their evil ways, lies and lives. When opposition or persecution pursues us. For God’s haters will always rise up and prosper, they will always exploit and mistreat the just person and the poor, it’s what they do in every generation. And so, just as we stand juxtaposed to their Godless ways by refusing to participate in them, or legitimize their sins among them, so we will become hated by them, even be seen as a “threat” to them in their own eyes. This is every Godly Christians plight in every generation who stands juxtaposed to their moral degeneration, exploitation, oppression, censorship, and or violence by “law” brought down through them (2 Tim 2:12). Nonetheless as Isaiah 10:1-4, and many other passages, and this psalm is about to make clear, their end and the end of their ways is certain. Therefore do not fear! 

Vs. 6-9 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 to God a ransom for him—

⁸For the redemption of their souls is costly,

And it shall cease forever—

⁹That he should continue to live eternally,

And not see the Pit.

Because they trust in the abundance of their riches and wealth they now boost in their self sufficiency and pride. But what they fail to consider is that none of them can purchase eternal redemption for themselves or anyone else. None of them then can by any means redeem their brother. Because the redemption of their souls is costly, and God cannot be bought, He is not swayed by mans opulence, wealth, nor power. Instead He requires repentance towards God and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, two things which wicked and unjust people fear most to do. 

Vs. 10-11 ¹⁰For he sees wise men die;

Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,

And leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,

Their dwelling places to all generations;

They call their lands after their own names.

 It then is not hidden from them that “wise” men die, just like the fool and the senseless person do, for they all go to the grave, down to the eternal Pit, and so they will leave all their wealth and labor to others. And as king Solomon once noted who knows whether those who inherit their wealth will be wise in their use of it (Ecc. 2:19). And yet their inner thought while they live is that their houses, their dwelling places, their “legacies” will last forever. Therefore, they name their lands after their own names, they built and honor themselves with all manner of monuments, statues, and structures, all which are only destined to become ruins and rubble in the generations following. Now if they were truly wise, they would think about building everlasting legacies, just as Jesus tells us all to do.

Vs. 12 “Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain;

He is like the beasts that perish.”

Yes, the rich, the mighty, the powerful of this world all have their day, but their days all have an end, and their being honored as such is always just for a season. For soon enough their time comes and they perish just like the wild beasts of the earth. 

Vs. 13-14 “This is the way of those who are foolish,

And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are laid in the grave;

Death shall feed on them;

The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;

And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling.

Truly then their ways are the ways of the foolish, who only set their hope and seek their riches in this life, because they do not believe in the Lord, nor trust in His power, but only in their own wealth and power. Therefore, they also have their “followers”, all those who also approve of their sayings, who encourage them in their vain and temporal pursuits. Nonetheless like sheep they are laid in the grave, where death shall feed on them, and in the morning the upright shall have dominion over them. For in the Resurrection where they once held great wealth, power, and authority unjustly, there God will make certain that the once feared and mighty oppressors are now the ones who are repressed and reduced to nothing. And so, all their grandeur, opulence and beauty which they once so elegantly and arrogantly displayed before all will never be seen upon them again. Their persons will be greatly abhorred in the time to come when men then see them in their graves (consider Isaiah 51:6-8; 66:22-24).

Vs. 15 “But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,

For He shall receive me. Selah”

In contrast then is everyone who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ. For we will either rise from the dead, or rise to meet the Lord in the air when He returns to be with Him in His Kingdom forever (1 Thess. 4:16-17). 

 Vs. 16-20 ¹⁶Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,

When the glory of his house is increased;

¹⁷For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;

His glory shall not descend after him.

¹⁸Though while he lives he blesses himself

(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),

¹⁹He shall go to the generation of his fathers;

They shall never see light.

²⁰A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,

Is like the beasts that perish.

Therefore because of that, of God redeeming us all who believe in His Son. Do not fear when you see the ungodly, the wicked, the unjust become rich, when the glory of their house is increased. For none of it will remain with them. Death will find them, and all of it will be striped from them in the Godly days to come. And so, though he blesses himself while he now lives (and those like-minded with him will praise him for all his abundance) he shall go to the grave just as his fathers did, to the land of darkness, where there is nothing but eternal sorrow and regret. Those then who are now in honor but do not understand this are like the beasts who perish! Better then to do justly in this life with the wealth and privilege and power that one now has then to face that, for there is a reckoning with God for what we have all done, and what we have believed or not believed down here (consider Luke 16:19-31).

Scripture Quotations

New King James (1982): Thomas Nelson.