PSALM 49

A Riddle About Death

1 Hear this, all peoples;	Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
2 Both low and high,	Rich and poor together.
3 My mouth will speak wisdom (חָכְמוֹת)[1],	And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
4 I will incline my ear to a proverb;	I will express my riddle on the harp.

5 Why should I fear in days of adversity,			When the iniquity of my foes surrounds me,
6 Even those who trust in their wealth			And boast in the abundance of their riches?
7 No man can by any means redeem his brother			Or give to God a ransom for him—
8 For the redemption of his soul is costly,			And he should cease trying forever—
9 That he should live on eternally,			That he should not undergo decay.
10 For he sees that even wise men die;	The stupid and the senseless alike perish			And leave their wealth to others.
11 Their inner thought (some versions have “graves”) is that their houses are forever	And their dwelling places to all generations;			They have called their lands after their own names.
12 But man in his pomp will not endure (יָלִין);		He is like the beasts (כַּבְּהֵמוֹת) that perish. [2]

13 This is the way of those who are foolish,		And of those after them who approve their words. Selah. [3]
14 As sheep they are appointed for Sheol;	Death shall be their shepherd;			And the upright shall rule over them in the morning,
And their form shall be for Sheol to consume			So that they have no habitation.
15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,			For He will receive [4] me. Selah.
16 Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich,			When the glory of his house is increased;
17 For when he dies he will carry [receive] nothing away;			His glory will not descend after him.
18 Though while he lives he congratulates himself—			And though men praise you when you do well for yourself—
19 He shall go to the generation of his fathers;			They will never see the light (cf. Psalm 17:15).
20 Man in his pomp, yet without understanding (יָבִין), [5]			Is like the beasts (כַּבְּהֵמוֹת) that perish. [6] [7]

[1] Note that the Hebrew words for “wisdom” (v.3) and “beasts” (vv.12,20) sound alike.

[2] “In the refrain “they are like the animals that perish,” the verb dmh, “perish,” is a homonym of dmh, “imitate” or “be equal to”” (Schaefer, Psalms p.125).

[3] “Being unable to cure death, wretchedness, and ignorance men have decided, in order to be happy, not to think about such things” (Blaise Pascal, Pensees, [Penguin Books: New York, 1966], 37).

[4] This is the same Hebrew verb לָקַח [lāqaḥ] is found of the two men in the Old Testament who never died. It is used in Genesis 5:24, “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took (לָקַח [lāqaḥ]) him.” It is also used for Elijah being taken into heaven (2 Kings 2:3,5,9-10) and in Psalm 73:24 where it also occurs in the context of faith and hope. “The rich cannot “take,” for they have no power for life” (Walter Brueggemann, The Message of the Psalms p.109).

[5] The refrain contains a warning. Despite all of your pomp and learning, not to understand the answer to this riddle places you on the level of beasts.

[6] Repetition of refrains in Psalms are found in: 42:5,11; 43:5; 46:7,11; 49:12,20; 56:4, 11; 57:5,11; 59:6,14; 59:9,17; 67:3,5; 80:3,7,19; 99:5, 9; 107:8,15,21,31; 107:6,13,19,28 (cf. Psalm 8:1,9; 136). It is also found in Israel’s “first Psalm” (Exodus 15:1,21).

[7] Death is the final word of Psalm 48 but death does not have the final word. “Death” is the final word of Psalm 49 AND death has the final word (cf. Revelation 20:11-15). The verb “perish” used here probably has the sense of a “violent end” (cf. Isa.15:1; Jer.47:5; Hos.4:5-6; 10:15). Psalm 48 has a happy ending for the righteous but Psalm 49 has a violent ending for the unrighteous.