---
title: "Psalms 49 — World English Bible | Favorite Scriptures"
description: "Read Psalms 49 in the World English Bible. Free Bible reading, no account needed. Browse books and chapters, then save favorite passages in your personal library."
last_updated: "2026-10-08"
doc_version: "1"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://favoritescriptures.com/bible/psalms/49"
---

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World English Bible

# Psalms 49

[1](#verse-1) Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,

[2](#verse-2) both low and high, rich and poor together.

[3](#verse-3) My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart will utter understanding.

[4](#verse-4) I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp.

[5](#verse-5) Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?

[6](#verse-6) Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches—

[7](#verse-7) none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him.

[8](#verse-8) For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough,

[9](#verse-9) that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption.

[10](#verse-10) For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.

[11](#verse-11) Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves.

[12](#verse-12) But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish.

[13](#verse-13) This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.

[14](#verse-14) They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion.

[15](#verse-15) But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.

[16](#verse-16) Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

[17](#verse-17) for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him.

[18](#verse-18) Though while he lived he blessed his soul— and men praise you when you do well for yourself—

[19](#verse-19) he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light.

[20](#verse-20) A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.

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World English Bible · Public domain

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