Limitless Word

Psalms 49

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Part of Book II📖 Psalms introduction

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1Listen to this, all you people! Pay attention, everyone in the world! ✦ 2High and low, rich and poor—listen! ✦ 3For my words are wise, and my thoughts are filled with insight. ✦ 4I listen carefully to many proverbs and solve riddles with inspiration from a harp. ✦ 5Why should I fear when trouble comes, when enemies surround me? ✦ 6They trust in their wealth and boast of great riches. ✦ 7Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God. ✦ 8Redemption does not come so easily, for no one can ever pay enough ✦ 9to live forever and never see the grave. ✦ 10Those who are wise must finally die, just like the foolish and senseless, leaving all their wealth behind. ✦ 11The grave is their eternal home, where they will stay forever. They may name their estates after themselves, ✦ 12but their fame will not last. They will die, just like animals. ✦ 13This is the fate of fools, though they are remembered as being wise. Interlude ✦ 14Like sheep, they are led to the grave, where death will be their shepherd. In the morning the godly will rule over them. Their bodies will rot in the grave, far from their grand estates. ✦ 15But as for me, God will redeem my life. He will snatch me from the power of the grave. Interlude ✦ 16So don’t be dismayed when the wicked grow rich and their homes become ever more splendid. ✦ 17For when they die, they take nothing with them. Their wealth will not follow them into the grave. ✦ 18In this life they consider themselves fortunate and are applauded for their success. ✦ 19But they will die like all before them and never again see the light of day. ✦ 20People who boast of their wealth don’t understand; they will die, just like animals. ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

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.

Where this chapter connects

Luke 12 ·7Rev 2 ·5Luke 16 ·4Ps 49 ·4Eccl 3 ·3Prov 22 ·3Ps 56 ·3Matt 13 ·3

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

  • ★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical

    A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

  • ★ Start hereCommentaryPsalms (Tyndale OT Commentaries)Derek Kidner · Paid · evangelical

    Concise, theologically rich, and wonderfully accessible — the best place to start on the Psalms.

Pastoral

  • SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical

    Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Psalms videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

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

  • VideoWatch teaching on Psalms 49YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — Psalms 49David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.

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

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

  • ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Psalms 49Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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