Psalm 49
Audite haec, omnes
1 O HEAR ye this, all ye people * ponder it with your ears, all ye that dwell in the world;
2 High and low, rich and poor * one with another.
3 My mouth shall speak of wisdom * and my heart shall muse of understanding.
4 I will incline mine ear to the parable * and shew my dark speech upon the harp.
5 Wherefore should I fear in the days of wickedness * and when the wickedness of my heels compasseth me round about?
6 There be some that put their trust in their goods * and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.
7 But no man may deliver his brother * nor make agreement unto God for him;
8 For it cost more to redeem their souls * so that he must let that alone for ever;
9 Yea, though he live long * and see not the grave.
10 For he seeth that wise men also die, and perish together * as well as the ignorant and foolish, and leave their riches for other.
11 And yet they think that their houses shall continue for ever * and that their dwelling-places shall endure from one generation to another; and call the lands after their own names.
12 Nevertheless, man will not abide in honour * seeing he may be compared unto the beasts that perish; this is the way of them.
13 This is their foolishness * and their posterity praise their saying.
14 They lie in the hell like sheep, death gnaweth upon them, and the righteous shall have domination over them in the morning * their beauty shall consume in the sepulchre out of their dwelling.
15 But God hath delivered my soul from the place of hell * for he shall receive me.
16 Be not thou afraid, though one be made rich * or if the glory of his house be increased;
17 For he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth * neither shall his pomp follow him.
18 For while he lived, he counted himself an happy man * and so long as thou doest well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee.
19 He shall follow the generation of his fathers * and shall never see light.
20 Man being in honour hath no understanding * but is compared unto the beasts that perish.