Thi Thiên 49

No one can buy a way out of death

¹For the music director. Of the sons of Korah. A psalm. ²Listen to this, all you nations; pay attention, everyone who lives in the world, ³the humble and the great, the rich and the poor together. ⁴What I say will be wise; what my heart has pondered will give insight. ⁵I will listen closely to a proverb; to the music of the lyre I will lay open my riddle. ⁶Why should I be afraid in evil times, when the wrongdoing of those who dog my steps closes in on me,^{a 7}people who rely on their money and brag about how rich they are? ⁸No one can ever buy back the life of another, or pay God the price for that person’s life,^{b 9}for the price of a life is far too high, and no payment could ever be enough, ¹⁰so that anyone could live on forever and never see the grave. ¹¹Anyone can see it: wise people die, and fools and dullards perish with them, handing over their wealth to others. ¹²They imagine their houses will last forever, their homes for all generations; they have named whole estates after themselves.^{c 13}Yet no one, however honored, stays for long; humans are no different from animals that die. ¹⁴Such is the road of the foolishly self-assured, and of those who come after them and like what they say. Selah ¹⁵Like sheep they are herded into Sheol, and Death is their shepherd. The upright will rule over them when morning comes; their bodies will waste away in Sheol, far from their grand houses.^{d 16}But God will pay the ransom for my life and free it from Sheol’s grip, for he will take me. Selah ¹⁷Do not be alarmed when someone gets rich and their household gains in wealth and honor, ¹⁸for when they die they can take none of it with them; their splendor will not follow them down. ¹⁹Though in life they count themselves blessed — and people praise you when you prosper — ²⁰they will go to join the generation of their ancestors, who will never again see the light. ²¹A person held in honor who does not understand is no different from animals that die.