that he should live on forever and not see decay.
Parallel translations
- WEB that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption.
- KJV That he should still live for ever, and not see corruption.
- NKJV That he should continue to live eternally, And not see the Pit.
- NASB That he might live on eternally, That he might not undergo decay.
- NLT to live forever and never see the grave.
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
No payment can secure endless life or escape from the decay of the grave. Wealth cannot win immortality.
Overview
This completes the thought of the previous verses: no ransom can purchase eternal life or prevent bodily corruption. The dream of cheating death through riches is exposed as impossible. Only resurrection power, secured by Christ who saw no corruption, overcomes the grave's claim on the body.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Ps 89:48What man can live and never see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah
- Ps 16:10For You will not abandon my soul to Sheol, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
- Eccl 8:8As no man has power over the wind to contain it, so no one has authority over his day of death. As no one can be discharged in wartime, so wickedness will not release those who practice it.
- Prov 10:2Ill-gotten treasures profit nothing, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
- Prov 11:4Riches are worthless in the day of wrath, but righteousness brings deliverance from death.
- John 8:51–52Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death.”
- Acts 2:27because You will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor will You let Your Holy One see decay.
- Luke 16:22–23One day the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. And the rich man also died and was buried.
- Zech 1:5Where are your fathers now? And the prophets, do they live forever?
- Ps 22:29All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before Him—even those unable to preserve their lives.
- Acts 2:31Foreseeing this, David spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that He was not abandoned to Hades, nor did His body see decay.
- Acts 13:35–37So also, He says in another Psalm: ‘You will not let Your Holy One see decay.’
- Acts 13:33He has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm: ‘You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 49:9 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.