They trust in their wealth and boast of 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;
- BSB They trust in their wealth and boast in their great 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?
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 6:17Charge those who are rich in this present world that they not be haughty, nor have their hope set on the uncertainty of riches, but on the living God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy;
- Ezek 28:4–5by your wisdom and by your understanding you have gotten yourself riches, and have gotten gold and silver into your treasures;
- Ps 52:7“Behold, this is the man who didn’t make God his strength, but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.”
- Jer 9:23Yahweh says, “Don’t let the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might. Don’t let the rich man glory in his riches.
- Prov 11:28He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.
- Mark 10:24The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus answered again, “Children, how hard is it for those who trust in riches to enter into God’s Kingdom!
- Luke 12:19I will tell my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.”’
- Hos 12:8Ephraim said, “Surely I have become rich, I have found myself wealth. In all my wealth they won’t find in me any iniquity that is sin.”
- Ps 62:10Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
- Prov 23:5Why do you set your eyes on that which is not? For it certainly sprouts wings like an eagle and flies in the sky.
- Esth 5:11Haman recounted to them the glory of his riches, the multitude of his children, all the things in which the king had promoted him, and how he had advanced him above the princes and servants of the king.
- Prov 10:15The rich man’s wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.
- Job 31:24–25“If I have made gold my hope, and have said to the fine gold, ‘You are my confidence;’
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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.