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For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
Psalms 49:10 · King James Version
Parallel translations
  • WEB For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.
  • BSB For it is clear that wise men die, and the foolish and the senseless both perish and leave their wealth to others.
  • NKJV For he sees wise men die; Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish, And leave their wealth to others.
  • NASB ¶For he sees that even wise people die; The foolish and the stupid alike perish And leave their wealth to others.
  • NLT Those who are wise must finally die, just like the foolish and senseless, leaving all their wealth behind.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Everyone sees that wise and foolish alike die, leaving their wealth to others. Death spares no one.

Overview

The plain observation that the wise, the fool, and the brutish all perish reinforces death's universality. Whatever a person accumulates passes to others at death. This echoes Ecclesiastes' theme that one cannot take wealth beyond the grave, exposing the futility of living for possessions.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 19

  • Ps 39:6Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them.
  • Luke 12:20But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?
  • Eccl 5:13–16There is a sore evil which I have seen under the sun, namely, riches kept for the owners thereof to their hurt.
  • 1 Tim 6:6–10But godliness with contentment is great gain.
  • Heb 9:27And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:
  • Jer 10:8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
  • Prov 30:2Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man.
  • Ps 73:22So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee.
  • Ps 49:17For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
  • Prov 11:4Riches profit not in the day of wrath: but righteousness delivereth from death.
  • Eccl 2:26For God giveth to a man that is good in his sight wisdom, and knowledge, and joy: but to the sinner he giveth travail, to gather and to heap up, that he may give to him that is good before God. This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.
  • Ps 94:8Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
  • Ps 17:14From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
  • Prov 12:1Whoso loveth instruction loveth knowledge: but he that hateth reproof is brutish.
  • Ps 92:6–7A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this.
  • Eccl 9:1–2For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them.
  • Eccl 2:16–21For there is no remembrance of the wise more than of the fool for ever; seeing that which now is in the days to come shall all be forgotten. And how dieth the wise man? as the fool.
  • Rom 5:12–14Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
  • Jer 17:11As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 49:10YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on PsalmsMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.

How Psalms 49:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.