Psalms

49 Hear this, all peoples,

give ear, all dwellers here below,

2 Humankind and sons of men,

together rich and poor.

3 My mouth shall speak wisdom

and the thought of my heart shall be reason.

4 I will bend my ear to aphorism,

will expound a problem with the lyre.

5 Why must I be afraid in days of evil,

with the knavery of my underminers all round me,

6 Who are confident in their fortunes

and boast of the greatness of their wealth?

7 Only not a man will buy himself off,

will give God his composition-money

8 The ransom of their lives is too high,

and they let it go forever—

9 That one should live on to perpetuity,

not see the Pit.

10 For see it he will. Wise men will die,

rattlehead and blockhead will perish as well,

and leave their fortunes to others.

11 Their graves are their houses forever,

their dwellings for generation after generation.

They have named lands after themselves,

12 but man is not in honor through the night;

He is on a level with the cattle—

all is over with them.

13 This course of theirs is a foolishness that they have;

and after them they run, going by their utterances. (Selah)

14 Like sheep they are brought down to the world below,

death shepherding them,

And upright men shall tread over them in the morning

and their forms are to waste away, having the world below for dwelling.

15 Yet God will ransom my soul

out of the hands of the world below when it takes me. (Selah)

16 Do not be afraid when a man grows rich,

when the assets of his house grow large;

17 For he will not at his death take it all along,

his assets will not follow him down.

18 Though he blesses himself in his life,

“they will praise you because you have done well by yourself,”

20 Man in honor, without being conscious of it,

is on a level with the cattle—

all is over with them.