I. (49:1–4) Call to Pay Attention. This section indicates that the message is for “all peoples” in all the world and for all sorts of people: “low and high, rich and poor together.”

Psalm 47:1 also opened with an address to “all peoples,” though that psalm invited them to worship, while this one invites them to contemplate (albeit in worship!). The two commands, “hear” and “give ear,” appear together elsewhere as a suitable pair (e.g., Gen. 4:23; Num. 23:18; Deut. 32:1; Judg. 5:3; etc.); usually the combination lends solemnity to the summons.

Many of the words used here are familiar from the wisdom books of the OT (e.g., Proverbs), and thus we should expect a similar sense for the words here. For example, the terms “wisdom” and “understanding” are used in wisdom for genuine spiritual perception, the ability to approach life from God’s perspective; they are features marking those who have true faith. The song will expound a “proverb” and solve a “riddle”; verses 5–6 present the puzzle, while the rest of the psalm presents the solution. That is, the “proverb is not limited to the two-line sentence that we might have expected, nor is a riddle simply a playful intellectual exercise (as it is, e.g., in Judg. 14:12–19). Rather, both terms address profound issues that all wise people must confront. (For “proverb and “riddle” together cf. Prov. 1:6.)

II. (49:5–12) Common Outcome: We All Die. After presenting the puzzle, this stanza reminds all its singers that every single person has the same end: death.

Psalm 49:5–6 clearly states the puzzle: the pious (the “I” in this psalm is each member of the singing congregation) face “times of trouble,” finding themselves surrounded by the “iniquity of those who cheat me,” which is taken to be the same group as “those who trust in their wealth.” Even though the psalm calls all kinds of people to attend to its words, and even though all peoples with any sense of justice will face this question, it is most natural to read the psalm as focusing on life in Israel, as biblical wisdom commonly does (which is, after all, where the worshipers would be!). This makes it likely that the pious and the unfaithful here are both members of the covenant people of God—not all the people lay hold of the blessings of the covenant.

The overall reply is that each of us will eventually die, no matter how rich or poor, wise or foolish (this stanza). However, not everyone will enjoy the same outcome after death—that depends on what kind of person one was in this life (the third stanza).

The stanza makes its point that everyone dies in two vivid (and wryly playful) ways. First, in verses 7–9 no one can offer a bribe to induce God to have death pass one by—either to “ransom another” or to “give to God the price of his [own] life.” No one has enough wealth to succeed in this! Second, in verses 10–12 all kinds of people die, whether one is wise (embracing God’s covenant) or foolish (stupidly rejecting God’s covenant). Even those who “called lands by their own names”—perhaps thinking it provided a kind of immortality—will perish; their lasting dwelling will be not their elaborate houses but their tombs.412 As Kidner so crisply puts it, “Verse 10 gives merciless clarity to the fact that the answer to the question ‘How much did he leave?’ is ‘Everything.’”413

Thus even the wealthy must die—even those one might be tempted to fear or envy—and their wealth, in which they trusted, cannot prevent this.

The stanza closes, then, with a summary: “Man in his pomp will not remain”—no matter who he might be; “he is like the beasts that perish”—he will die just as surely as they will.414

III. (49:13–20) Contrasting Destinations: We Go to God, Not Sheol. This stanza presents a contrast after death between “I” (the faithful person singing) and “those who have foolish confidence.” “They” are appointed for Sheol, while “I” am not: “God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol.”

Verse 13 speaks of “those who have foolish confidence.” These are the wealthy mentioned in verses 11–12—these rich people are “foolish” in the sense that Proverbs would use the term, namely, for unfaithful members of God’s people (cf. Prov. 1:22). These are the ones “appointed for Sheol” (Ps. 49:14); they have the grim prospect of “death” as their “shepherd” (in contrast to the confidence of the faithful; 23:1).415

By contrast, the psalm assumes that the person singing is a believing member of the congregation, and it enables each singer to affirm: “But God will ransom my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me” (49:15). God will take care of the ransom that no human can provide (cf. vv. 7–8).416

In order to appreciate the contrast (and the rest of v. 14) we will have to discuss the word “Sheol,” which appears three times in verses 14–15, as well as the word “soul” in verse 15. As explained in the comment on 6:1–5, “Sheol” is a proper name in Hebrew; sometimes it serves as a poetic name for the grave, to which all go (e.g., 141:7), while other times it names the dim destination to which the wicked go but the faithful do not. Here those with foolish confidence go there, while the faithful do not.417

The first line of 49:15 mentions the singer’s “soul.” Quite often in the Bible the word “soul” describes the life principle that animates the body, or the person’s inner self, and can simply be another way of saying “the self.” At other times, however, it can describe that inner self as something that survives the death of the body, as it does here, where “it” is parallel to “me,” the self that after death will not go to “Sheol.” In the larger picture of the Bible the separation of body and soul is unnatural—a product of sin (Gen. 3:19)—and will be healed with their reunion at the resurrection (Dan. 12:2–3; 2 Cor. 5:1–4).418 God will “receive” the singer (“me”), or, as 73:24 puts it, “Afterward you will receive me to glory” (a clear affirmation of a happy life after death).419

The continued existence of those in Sheol (we would hardly call it life!) sounds grim indeed, even if we are not able to be sure of all the details. “Death shall be their shepherd” personifies death as if it were a deity (but not a benevolent one!). The terms death and life in the Bible often, of course, refer to the death and life of the body. But both terms can also have what we might call a “relational” sense: at times life refers to the enjoyment of a right relationship with God and others, while death denotes estrangement from these. Such relational senses are common in wisdom literature.420 The psalm uses that relational sense of death, with a personification, to stress the relentless dreariness and despair awaiting the unfaithful.

“The upright [among whom the faithful singers hold themselves to be] shall rule over them in the morning,” the morning perhaps being the time in which God publicly vindicates his faithful (30:5; 46:5). “Their form shall be consumed in Sheol, with no place to dwell”: perhaps this denotes the shards of their personalities, wasting away.421

Now the psalm ties together its solution to the riddle: the temptation is to “fear in times of trouble” (49:5), and this fear might lead the faithful to despair of God’s justice and goodness or to give up piety in order to join the wicked. Instead the faithful learn to “be not afraid” (vv. 16–19). Although things looks bleak now, and the unfaithful seem to do just fine, this is not how their story ends; they will not only “carry nothing away” of their wealth (v. 17) but also, after death, “never again see light” (v. 19).

The answer to fear, however, is not to gloat over the grim afterlife awaiting others; it is instead to learn “understanding,” which in wisdom literature means true perception of spiritual realities in order to live faithfully even now. That is, if “man in his pomp yet without understanding” will “perish” (v. 20), then the faithful will both take comfort in their own assurance and earnestly take themselves in hand to continue in true understanding. No worldly gain could ever be worth it (Prov. 11:4).