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Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.

 Hear this, all peoples!
   Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
² both low and high,
   rich and poor together!
³ My mouth shall speak wisdom;
   the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.
⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb;
   I will solve my riddle to the music of the lyre.

⁵ Why should I fear in times of trouble,
when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,
⁶ those who trust in their wealth
and boast of the abundance of their riches?
⁷ Truly no man can ransom another,
or give to God the price of his life,
⁸ for the ransom of their life is costly
and can never suffice,
⁹ that he should live on forever
and never see the pit.

¹⁰ For he sees that even the wise die;
the fool and the stupid alike must perish
and leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their graves are their homes forever,^[a]
their dwelling places to all generations,
though they called lands by their own names.
¹² Man in his pomp will not remain;
he is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the path of those who have foolish confidence;
yet after them people approve of their boasts.^[b] Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;
death shall be their shepherd,
and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
¹⁵ But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol,
for he will receive me. Selah

¹⁶ Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,
when the glory of his house increases.
¹⁷ For when he dies he will carry nothing away;
his glory will not go down after him.
¹⁸ For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed
—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—
¹⁹ his soul will go to the generation of his fathers,
who will never again see light.
²⁰ Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.

Footnotes:

1. Psalm 49:11 Septuagint, Syriac, Targum; Hebrew Their inward thought was that their homes were forever
2. Psalm 49:13 Or and of those after them who approve of their boasts

Cross references:

1. Psalm 49:1 : Ps. 42, title
2. Psalm 49:1 : Ps. 78:1; Isa. 1:2; Mic. 1:2
3. Psalm 49:2 : Ps. 62:9
4. Psalm 49:3 : Prov. 1:20; 9:1
5. Psalm 49:4 : [Ps. 78:2; Matt. 13:35]
6. Psalm 49:4 : Num. 12:8; Prov. 1:6
7. Psalm 49:5 : [Ps. 37:1]
8. Psalm 49:5 : Ps. 94:13
9. Psalm 49:6 : Ps. 52:7; Prov. 11:28; Mark 10:24, 25; [Job 31:24]
10. Psalm 49:7 : [Matt. 25:9]
11. Psalm 49:7 : [Matt. 16:26]
12. Psalm 49:7 : See Job 33:24
13. Psalm 49:8 : Job 36:18, 19
14. Psalm 49:9 : Ps. 16:10; [Ps. 89:48]
15. Psalm 49:10 : Eccles. 2:16
16. Psalm 49:10 : Ps. 73:22; 92:6; 94:8; Prov. 30:2
17. Psalm 49:10 : See Ps. 39:6
18. Psalm 49:11 : Ps. 5:9; 64:6
19. Psalm 49:11 : Ps. 10:6
20. Psalm 49:11 : [Gen. 4:17]
21. Psalm 49:12 : ver. 20; [Ps. 39:5; 82:7]
22. Psalm 49:12 : ver. 20; Eccles. 3:19
23. Psalm 49:13 : [Luke 12:20]
24. Psalm 49:14 : [Dan. 7:22; Mal. 4:3; Luke 22:30; 1 Cor. 6:2; Rev. 2:26; 20:4]
25. Psalm 49:14 : Ps. 39:11
26. Psalm 49:14 : Job 24:19, 20
27. Psalm 49:15 : Hos. 13:14; [Dan. 12:2]
28. Psalm 49:15 : Ps. 16:11; 17:15; 73:24; [Gen. 5:24]
29. Psalm 49:17 : [Job 27:19]
30. Psalm 49:17 : 1 Tim. 6:7
31. Psalm 49:18 : Ps. 10:3; 36:2; Deut. 29:19; Luke 12:19
32. Psalm 49:19 : Gen. 15:15
33. Psalm 49:19 : Ps. 56:13; Job 33:30
34. Psalm 49:20 : ver. 12