They trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches.
Parallel translations
- WEB Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches —
- KJV They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
- NKJV Those who trust in their wealth And boast in the multitude of their riches,
- NASB Those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches?
- NLT They trust in their wealth and boast of great riches.
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
The psalmist names the danger: people who trust in their wealth and boast in their riches. Such confidence is misplaced.
Overview
The enemies described trust and boast in abundant wealth as if it could secure them. The verses that follow expose this as folly, since money cannot buy escape from death. This warning runs throughout Scripture and is echoed by Jesus, who warns that one's life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Tim 6:17Instruct those who are rich in the present age not to be conceited and not to put their hope in the uncertainty of wealth, but in God, who richly provides all things for us to enjoy.
- Ezek 28:4–5By your wisdom and understanding you have gained your wealth and amassed gold and silver for your treasuries.
- Ps 52:7“Look at the man who did not make God his refuge, but trusted in the abundance of his wealth and strengthened himself by destruction.”
- Jer 9:23This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
- Prov 11:28He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like foliage.
- Mark 10:24And the disciples were amazed at His words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God!
- Luke 12:19Then I will say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take it easy. Eat, drink, and be merry!”’
- Hos 12:8And Ephraim boasts: “How rich I have become! I have found wealth for myself. In all my labors, they can find in me no iniquity that is sinful.”
- Ps 62:10Place no trust in extortion, or false hope in stolen goods. If your riches increase, do not set your heart upon them.
- Prov 23:5When you glance at wealth, it disappears, for it makes wings for itself and flies like an eagle to the sky.
- Esth 5:11Haman recounted to them his glorious wealth, his many sons, and all the ways the king had honored and promoted him over the other officials and servants.
- Prov 10:15The wealth of the rich man is his fortified city, but poverty is the ruin of the poor.
- Job 31:24–25If I have put my trust in gold or called pure gold my security,
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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 49:6 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.