Welcome to Torah Today Ministries and our continuing series Tehillim Talks, our studies in the Psalms. In this psalm, we come to the last psalm of the eight that were composed by the Sons of Korah—Psalm 49.
As we go through this psalm, it will talk about how people who rely upon their wealth, fame, and celebrity—it’s foolishness to do so.
The Talmud, Rashi, and others say that when the Sons of Korah wrote this psalm, they were actually describing their own father—using him as a warning to people who rely upon their own wealth to gain fame and influence. When their father was swallowed up, when God opened up the earth and swallowed them, that should serve as a lesson to all of us.
So that may be what was in the minds of the Sons of Korah when they wrote this psalm. It’s hard to imagine otherwise when you read the words of Psalm 49.
This is a wisdom psalm. Being the last of the eight—and as I said before, the last three of these eight have to do with end times—this one in particular points to the very time of the end, to judgment, and to how we should live our lives in light of what is to come: living life in the light of truth revealed through God’s Word.
Without further ado, let’s get right into our psalm.
Psalm 49: “To the choir master, a psalm of the Sons of Korah.”
The first four verses introduce who it is to and what kind of song it is—a proverb and a riddle.
Hear this, all peoples; give ear, all inhabitants of the world, both low and high, rich and poor together.
This addresses all peoples—Jews and Gentiles alike—all inhabitants of the world, meaning every single individual: “You sons of Adam, you sons of man, together rich and poor.”
Why use all these descriptors? Because give ear, all peoples speaks to the nations; all inhabitants of the world extends it to every person on earth.
This word for world here is unusual. It’s used only once in the Torah and about seven times in all the Hebrew Scriptures. The word is ḥoled (חֹלֶד).
The first time this word is used is in Leviticus 11:29, among the rules concerning non-kosher animals:
“These are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole, the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds.”
Which word do you think matches ḥoled? It’s the word mole.
Because what does a mole do? It burrows into the ḥoled. The ḥoled burrows into the ḥoled.
A mole in Hebrew is an “earther,” one who burrows into the earth. Thus the psalm’s phrase “inhabitants of the world” literally means those who dwell upon the physical earth—the sons of Adam, the sons of Ish.
What’s the difference between these two descriptions?
Sons of Adam refers to every individual born into this world—we are all descendants of Adam.
But sons of man—bnei ish—usually refers to men of some standing or renown. So, though all are sons of Adam, some are “sons of a special man,” men of name and influence.
Together—rich and poor, known and unknown—this psalm addresses everyone. There is no one to whom it does not apply.
The composers tell us how they are writing this psalm.
My mouth speaks wisdom; the meditation of my heart understanding. I incline my ear to a proverb; I will reveal my riddle with the lyre.
A mouth is physical, but the meditation of the heart is internal, hidden, spiritual.
The first half of each verse concerns the physical; the second half, the spiritual.
The psalmist says, “I incline my ear to a proverb”—a mashal (מָשָׁל)—a proverb, parable, or allegory. A mashal communicates open truth in story form.
Then he adds, “I will reveal my riddle with the lyre”—a chida (חִידָה), a riddle or enigma. The rabbis call a riddle a closed book, whereas a mashal is an open book.
A mashal illustrates truth openly; a chida conceals truth that must be unlocked.
By revealing his chida with the lyre, the psalmist adds a new dimension to words—music, the spiritual dimension.
Music is inherently spiritual; it opens the heart.
Thus, the message of this psalm is for every person throughout time, conveyed both as allegory and as a riddle that must be unlocked.
Verse 5 reveals the riddle itself:
Why should I fear in evil days, when crime surrounds me at my heels?
Is that not a timely verse for us? Isn’t that a good question?
I want you to think for a moment. I’m recording this in early June of 2024. Israel was attacked several months ago on October 7th of 2023, and everybody extended sympathy to Israel for the horrendous demonic attack against its people—against men, elderly, women, young moms, children, babies.
And when I say it was demonic, what was done to them, I do mean that it was demonic. And yet in the short time since then, the whole world has turned against the victims and is now treating the perpetrators of these horrors as if they are the victims.
And I know even of believers who are students of the Word—or should be—and they’re now starting to curse the children of Abraham. And what does God say?
“I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse those who curse you.”
He did it—in other words, I’ll bless those who bless you, I’ll curse those who curse you.
And yet I see believers and entire denominations, and even some Jews, openly cursing the Jewish people. It’s a crazy world.
Our political system is entirely upside down. Evil is being called good and good is being called evil.
And our history in the world has seen such days before. And so this question is asked—this riddle is asked:
Why should I fear in evil days, when crime comes around me at my heels?
Because I see innocent people being convicted and punished, and I see wicked, law-breaking people exonerated and set free.
And the question is, why should I fear though? Why should we fear?
Even though there’s crime around me at my heels, I’m wading in a world of crime and lawlessness. I am walking through this earth during evil days.
And the psalmist asks, why should I be afraid?
That’s a riddle. That is truly a riddle.
Well, let’s continue on, and let’s find out why we should not be afraid.
The next verse is just a statement—it’s not even a complete sentence:
Those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches…
And that’s how the verse ends.
What does that mean? Well, this is Hebrew poetry—it’s very condensed.
When it states that those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches, he’s answering the riddle.
He’s saying these are actually the ones who should be afraid.
Why should I fear in evil days, when crime comes around me at my heels?
Those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches are the ones who should be in fear.
Now, that actually continues the riddle a bit, doesn’t it? Why should they be afraid?
I’m the one who’s being victimized. I’m the one who’s being misunderstood and mistreated.
Those who try to live a righteous life are the ones being persecuted, whereas the persecutors seem to be praised and lauded for what they’re doing and saying.
So he begins to answer this in verse 7:
Surely they can redeem no man, or give to God his ransom.
In other words, there’s something a whole lot bigger than just the events of this life—and that is the very redemption of a man, the ransoming of a man’s soul—and nothing that they are doing, nothing that they are accomplishing, can have any eternal good reward for their soul.
Verse 8:
For to redeem their life is too costly and can never suffice. Will he yet live forever and not see the pit?
In other words, those who are living as if this world were everything—trying to get as much of it as they can and trying to destroy anyone who gets in their way—they still just die.
And for them, that’s the end. To redeem their life is too costly and can never suffice. Will he yet live forever and not see the pit?
I remember when I was attending college. One of the profs had a poster in his office with a guy—it was a cartoon—who had all this stuff, the house and the car and everything else.
And the caption said, “The one who dies with the most stuff wins.”
And I got to talk to the prof about his poster once, and he asked me what I thought about it.
And I said, “To me, the one who dies with the most stuff is still dead.”
And that’s basically what the verse is saying here.
Now, you’ll notice my infamous red line over here on the left, which indicates very difficult Hebrew to translate.
I could pretty much have put a vertical red line beside this entire psalm. This is a very, very tough psalm to translate.
It is, after all, a chida—a riddle. It’s a closed book that has to be unlocked, and even translating it—when I read what Hebrew scholars say about this psalm—they’re struggling.
They can’t even agree on how to translate this. So who am I?
I could put a red line along the entire psalm.
But I was telling some friends the other day, as we were looking at this psalm, I said this is kind of like an impressionist painting.
If you’re familiar with impressionism, the impressionist style was to take blobs of paint and just stick them on the canvas.
When you look real close, what you see is a blob of paint—but when you back off, the blobs kind of gel into a picture that can be very beautiful, soft-focused, and a delight to look at.
But when you look at it real close, it’s like, “I don’t understand how these blobs interconnect.”
That’s kind of the way it is with a psalm.
As you look into the details and try to translate the individual phrases, it’s very difficult—you get these little blobs—but as you step back, the psalm makes sense.
You easily can get the feel for what the psalm is trying to relate and to impress upon the reader.
So, anyways, verse 10:
For he sees the wise die; the fool and the brutish alike must perish and abandon their wealth to others.
So, all you people of the earth—all you inhabitants of the ḥoled—the wise die, the fool dies, the brutish and the wicked die, and none of them take their stuff with them.
It’s all left to others.
It reminds me of Messiah’s words. I think it’s in Luke 12:20.
He gives the parable of the rich man who wanted to tear down his barns and build bigger barns for all his stuff.
But God said to him, “Fool, this night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared—whose will they be?”
So maybe Yeshua was thinking of this psalm when he told that parable.
That concludes Section 2 (Verses 5-10: The Riddle, Wealth, and Mortality).
Would you like me to proceed with Section 3, which begins with the line “Their grave is their home forever” and continues through the discussion of Sheol, bala, and the hope of redemption (verses 11-17)?
Perfect — I’ll keep exactly that format: every Hebrew term shown in its original Hebrew script, transliterated, and italicized the first time it appears (e.g., Sheol שְׁאוֹל (She’ol)), maintaining your preferred balance of fidelity and clarity.
Below is Section 3, covering verses 11–17, which explores the vanity of worldly glory, the grave (Sheol), and God’s ultimate ransom of the soul.
Their grave is their home forever.
The word forever here, I believe, is netzach נֵצַח (nétzach), which is a very unusual word. One of its meanings is forever or for a very long time, but it can also indicate strength or boldness. It’s a rich and layered term.
But in this verse, their grave is their home forever, their dwelling for all generations—though their names have been called on the earth.
Even though they had hospitals and schools and banks and streets and parks named after them—all their stuff is left behind. They’re dead. They’re in the pit. They’re in a grave.
Verse 12 appears almost the same way twice in the psalm—here and again at the very end.
Man in his pomp will not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.
That word pomp is yakar יָקָר (yakar), meaning esteem or self-esteem, the sense of “Look what I’ve done!”
Man in his pomp will not remain.
The word translated remain here is lin לִין (lin), meaning to spend the night.
What does it mean that “the man in his pomp will not spend the night”?
In other words, you see a man during his lifetime gain fame and riches and wealth and celebrity status—but he cannot stay here. There is a time of darkness coming, and he is gone.
This word lin—to spend the night—is interesting because its first appearance in Scripture is in Genesis, when the angels go to Sodom and Lot finds them in the town square.
“My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night and wash your feet; then you may rise up early and go on your way.”
But they said, “No, we will spend the night in the town square.”
That’s the first time the word lin is found in the Hebrew Bible—it always carries the sense of temporary dwelling.
Verse 12 continues:
He is like the beasts that perish. This is the way of the fool, yet their followers approve of their sayings.
At first, I was puzzled by that last phrase—their followers approve of what they say.
Then I started thinking about it, and here’s an example.
When I was a teenager, the musical group The Doors and their leader, Jim Morrison, were very famous, very popular, and on the rise. Even today, I’m amazed how many people are still big fans of The Doors.
I always thought their music was pretty bad myself, and Jim Morrison’s voice wasn’t anything worth writing home about—that’s my opinion.
But what’s interesting is that, even though he led an empty life—though he was very famous, had everything he wanted—he lived an empty life and committed suicide at a young age.
I think he was in Paris at the time—if I remember correctly, he jumped out of a hotel window and died, just ended it all.
And yet, even today, people talk about how profound his music is, how deep his lyrics are, and what meaning is found in them.
And yet, according to this psalm, he was a fool.
He did not invest in the world to come—he invested only in this world.
His body is now in a pit, and it says he’s like the beasts that perish.
This is the way of the fool, yet their followers approve of what they say. They’re still quoting him.
And I picked on Jim Morrison, but we could have chosen Kurt Cobain, or many other musicians, sports stars, writers, actors—people who lived only for themselves, who led empty lives—and yet they’re quoted.
They’re held up as examples of what we should aspire to.
That’s foolishness.
Verses 14–15:
Like sheep, they are appointed for Sheol (שְׁאוֹל – She’ol).
I went ahead and just left the Hebrew word Sheol there, as it appears in the text.
Sheol means the grave. It’s simply the best way to translate it—it just means the grave.
Death shall shepherd them.
Death is being treated here as a shepherd—it’s almost like the grim reaper.
He comes for us all and shepherds us from this life to whatever lies on the other side.
Death shall shepherd them, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning.
So we read about the foolish person who invests only in this world—in wealth and in the physical realm—and he will not spend the night.
But here, the righteous will rule over them in the morning, because a time is coming when the night will be over and the Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings, and the righteous will rule over them.
Does that mean the righteous will rule over corpses—dead people?
Or do these dead return to life, but with a different status than what they enjoyed here?
The righteous, who are struggling in evil days to wade through a crime-ridden world where the culture is against them—in the world to come, they’ll have a different status. They’ll be put in a place of rulership.
And I love this next phrase:
Their image shall be worn out in Sheol, with no place to dwell.
That word worn out is bala בָּלָה (balah), meaning to wear out or decay.
The first time it’s found is in Genesis 18:12, regarding Sarah. When the angel told her she’d have a baby in one year—she was almost ninety years old—she laughed to herself, saying:
“After I am worn out (balah), and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
Then the next time you find the word is in Deuteronomy 8:4, where God speaks to the Israelites after they’ve journeyed through the wilderness:
“Your clothing did not wear out (balah) on you, and your foot did not swell these forty years.”
So to wear out simply means to wear out.
And what is it that wears out? It’s their image.
In other words, the image they built in this world—the fame, glory, and celebrity—it wears out.
It does not endure.
In the world to come, their image is gone—it’s dust and ashes.
It’s an amazing picture, a beautiful image.
But God will ransom my soul from the hand of Sheol, for He will receive me.
In other words, for me, the grave is not the end.
He will ransom my soul from the hand of Sheol; He will receive me.
So here’s the advice (verse 16):
Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases; for when he dies, he will carry nothing away—his glory will not go down after him.
His glory will not follow him into the world to come.
Now there’s that red vertical line again—a very difficult phrase to translate.
Verse 18:
For though while he lives he counts himself blessed, and though you get praise when you do well for yourself…
It’s almost as if to say, he counts himself blessed by the praises of the crowds.
You get praise when you do well for yourself, but the praises and the blessings are quite different things.
Because if you work for the blessings and praise of the world—those that waste away into nothing—it becomes nothing.
That’s last decade’s homecoming king. Who remembers?
That’s the Super Bowl from thirty years ago. Who remembers who won? Who cares?
But when you work for the praise of God, when you labor for a reward that is eternal, that’s something that can never be taken away from you.
That kind of blessing, that kind of praise, that kind of glory—is eternal.
Verse 19:
His soul will go down to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light.
Man in his pomp—there’s that word again, yakar יָקָר (yakar)—when he does not discern, is like the beasts that perish.
I certainly wasn’t going to add this, but I just feel compelled to include this little something extra.
In the coming weeks, you can look for a teaching from me in the Hebrew Keys series titled:
“How Does God Destroy His Enemies?”
This came to me this past week as we were reading the final Torah portion in Leviticus.
In Leviticus 26:6, this verse just jumped off the page at me.
God is telling them that if they follow His commandments, if they repent and remain faithful, He will bless them.
And this is one of those blessings:
“I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down and none shall make you afraid; and I will remove evil beasts (חַיָּה רָעָה – ḥayyāh raʿāh) from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land.”
Evil beasts.
What does He mean by evil beasts?
Well, the word raʿah רָעָה does not mean wicked or evil in the moral sense—it simply refers to that which is harmful, dangerous, or destructive.
So, wolves, bears, lions, poisonous serpents—you name it—those things that cause harm and fear: “I’m going to take them out of the land,” He says. “They’ll be gone.”
Different translations render this variously—to eradicate them, to remove them, to make the land rest from them—but the essence is: they will be gone.
But then look at Isaiah 11:6–9.
This is a description of the Millennial Kingdom—when the land receives its rest, when God restores paradise on earth.
“The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fattened calf together, and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the viper’s den.
They shall not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Adonai (אֲדֹנָי – Adonai) as the waters cover the sea.”
Now, put those two passages together.
When you read Leviticus 26:6, it sounds like those animals will be completely gone.
But what did the verse actually say?
“I shall remove the ḥayyāh raʿāh (evil beasts) from the land.”
So how does God do it? By taking the animals away altogether?
No—by taking the evil out of the animals.
He transforms the ḥayyāh raʿāh—the harmful beasts—into ḥayyāh tovah—blessed, peaceful creatures.
We still see bears and wolves and lions and cobras and vipers in the Millennial Kingdom; they’ll all still be there—it’s just that they will no longer be evil.
They will no longer be fearsome. They’ll be a child’s pets. There will be no fear attached to them.
Now, there’s more to this teaching that I will share in that upcoming Hebrew Keys lesson, because the verse continues and opens even more.
But as we read this psalm, it sounds at first like a hopeless destruction—death and utter end—to people who do not serve God during this life.
Yet the way God destroys wicked people is by destroying their wickedness.
Just as the way He removes evil beasts is by removing the traits that make them evil and fearsome.
There’s going to be much more to this teaching—but think about those things.
In the grave, God strips man of all those things he relied upon in this world.
And in the world to come, those who relied upon God in this life will be rewarded for their faith.
So in the future, it’s not merely a matter of who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.
It’s a question of who is part of the Bride, and who is not; who has been faithful to the Bridegroom, and who has not.
Who has lived life here in the light of the world to come, and who has lived here only for the praise of the culture?
Which kind of person do you want to be?
Those who believe without seeing, or those who refuse to believe until they do?
Are you going to be one of the wise virgins, who prepares for the darkness and survives the night because you have oil in your lamp?
Or are you going to be one of the foolish virgins, who, when the night comes, is unprepared—because you did not invest in the future, you did not invest in the unseen world?
I could go on and on, but this is about Psalm 49.
I do want to whet your appetite for the teaching that will be coming along shortly, called How Does God Destroy His Enemies?
So until then, may God bless, and I wish you Shalom.
To the choirmaster. A Psalm of the Sons of Korah.
1-4 Hear this, all peoples! Give ear, all inhabitants of the world – 2 you sons of Adam, you sons of man, together rich and poor!
חלד (cheled) = “world / mole”
3 My mouth speaks wisdom the meditation of my heart understanding. 4 I incline my ear to a proverb I will reveal my riddle with the lyre.
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חידה (chidah) = “figure / riddle” |
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משל (mashal) = “proverb / parable” / “allegory” |
5-13 Why should I fear in evil days, when crime comes round me at my heels? 6 Those who trust in their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches [are the ones who should be in fear]. 7 Surely they can redeem no man, or give to God his ransom. 8 For to redeem their life is too costly and can never suffice. 9 Will he yet live forever and not see the pit? 10 For he sees the wise die. The fool and the brutish alike must perish and abandon their wealth to others. 11 Their grave is their home forever, their dwelling for all generations, though their names had been called on earth. 12 Man in his pomp will not “spend the night”. He is like the beasts that perish. 13 This is the way of the fool. Yet their followers approve of what they say! Selah
לין (leen)
14-15 Like sheep they are appointed for sheol; death shall shepherd them, and the upright shall rule over them in the morning. Their image shall be worn out in sheol, with no place to dwell. 15 But God will ransom my soul from the hand of sheol, for He will receive me. Selah
16-20 Be not afraid when a man becomes rich, when the glory of his house increases. 17 For when he dies he will carry nothing away; his glory will not go down after him. 18 For though, while he lives, he counts himself blessed – and though you get praise when you do well for yourself – 19 his soul will go to the generation of his fathers, who will never again see light. 20 Man in his pomp, when he does not discern, is like the beasts that perish.
REFERENCES:
Verse 1
Leviticus 11:29 “Now these are to you the unclean among the swarming things which swarm on the earth: the mole (חלד, choled), and the mouse, and the great lizard in its kinds.”
Verse 4
Proverbs 1:6 To understand a proverb (משל, mashal) and a saying, the words of the wise and their riddles (חידה, chidah).
Numbers 12:8 “With [Moses] I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles (חידה, chidah), and he beholds the form of Adonai…”
Verse 7
Exodus 21:30 If a ransom is imposed on him, then he shall give for the redemption of his life whatever is imposed on him.
Verse 12
Genesis 19:2 And he said, “My lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house and spend the night (לין,leen) and wash your feet. Then you may rise up early and go on your way.” They said, “No; we will spend the night (לין, leen) in the town square.” (1st app.)
Verse 13
Luke 12:20 “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’”
Verse 14
Genesis 18:12 So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out (בלה, balah), and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?” (1st app.)
Deuteronomy 8:4 Your clothing did not wear out (בלה, balah) on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. (2nd app.)