Psalms
Chapter 49
The psalmist calls every person on earth, rich and poor alike, to listen to a riddle he will play on the harp. His point is that no amount of money can buy anyone out of death: wise people, foolish people, and rich people all die and leave their wealth behind. Because of that, he says, there is no reason to be afraid of powerful, wealthy enemies. In the middle of the psalm he says that God will redeem his own life from the grave and receive him.
Plain reading written for preteens. Clear and complete, at about a fifth grade reading level.
Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world:
1Listen to this, all you peoples. Pay attention, everyone who lives on the earth.
2Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
2This is for everyone: important people and ordinary people, rich people and poor people, all together.
3My mouth shall speak of wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be of understanding.
3What I say will be wise. What I have thought about carefully will help you understand.
4I will incline mine ear to a parable: I will open my dark saying upon the harp.
4I will listen closely to a wise saying. I will play my harp and explain my riddle.
5Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?
5Why should I be afraid when hard days come, when wicked men who trip me up close in around me?
"The iniquity of my heels shall compass me about" is an old way of saying that wicked people who are at his heels have surrounded him.
6They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
6They are people who trust in their money and brag about how much they own.
7None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
7But not one of them can buy back his brother's life or pay God the price to set him free.
8(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
8The price for a person's life is far too high. No one can ever pay enough.
In 1611 "precious" meant costly, not treasured. The verse is about a price no one can afford to pay.
9That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
9No one can pay enough to keep a person alive forever and safe from rotting in the grave.
10For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
10Anyone can see that wise men die. Foolish and stupid people die too, and all of them leave their money to others.
11Their 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.
11Deep down they think their houses will last forever, and their homes will stand for all time. They even name their land after themselves.
12Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
12But no one keeps his high position. A person dies just like the animals die.
13This their way is their folly: yet their posterity approve their sayings. Selah.
13This is what happens to people who are sure of themselves, and to those after them who agree with what they said. Selah.
"Selah" is a musical mark in the Hebrew text. No one is certain what it meant, but it may have signalled a pause in the singing or the music.
14Like sheep they are laid in the grave; death shall feed on them; and the upright shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their beauty shall consume in the grave from their dwelling.
14They are headed for the grave like sheep, and death will be the shepherd that leads them. In the morning good people will rule over them. Their bodies will rot in the grave, far from the fine houses they lived in.
The KJV's "death shall feed on them" translates a Hebrew word for shepherding. Death is pictured as the shepherd leading the flock.
15But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave: for he shall receive me. Selah.
15But God will buy my life back from the power of the grave. He will take me to himself. Selah.
16Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
16So do not be upset when someone gets rich, when his household grows grander and grander.
17For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
17When he dies he will take nothing with him. All his grandness will not go down with him.
18Though while he lived he blessed his soul: and men will praise thee, when thou doest well to thyself.
18While he lived he told himself he had done well. And people do praise you when you take good care of yourself.
19He shall go to the generation of his fathers; they shall never see light.
19But he will join his fathers who died before him, and they will never see light again.
20Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.
20A person with wealth but no understanding dies just like the animals die.
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