Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Psalm 49

To the Chief Musician. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

¹ Hear this, all you peoples; give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,

² Both low and high, rich and poor together:

³ My mouth shall speak wisdom; and the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

⁴ I will submit and consent to a parable or proverb; to the music of a lyre I will unfold my riddle (my problem).

⁵ Why should I fear in the days of evil, when the iniquity of those who would supplant me surrounds me on every side,

⁶ Even of those who trust in and lean on their wealth and boast of the abundance of their riches?

⁷ None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him—

⁸ For the ransom of a life is too costly, and [the price one can pay] can never suffice—

⁹ So that he should live on forever and never see the pit (the grave) and corruption.

¹⁰ For he sees that even wise men die; the [self-confident] fool and the stupid alike perish and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹ Their inward thought is that their houses will continue forever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands their own [apart from God] and after their own names.

¹² But man, with all his honor and pomp, does not remain; he is like the beasts that perish.

24 Be not envious of evil men, nor desire to be with them;

² For their minds plot oppression and devise violence, and their lips talk of causing trouble and vexation.

³ Through skillful and godly Wisdom is a house (a life, a home, a family) built, and by understanding it is established [on a sound and good foundation],

⁴ And by knowledge shall its chambers [of every area] be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

⁵ A wise man is strong and ^[a]is better than a strong man, and a man of knowledge increases and strengthens his power;^(A)

⁶ For by wise counsel you can wage your war, and in an abundance of counselors there is victory and safety.

⁷ Wisdom is too high for a ^[b]fool; he opens not his mouth in the gate [where the city’s rulers sit in judgment].

⁸ He who plans to do evil will be called a mischief-maker.

⁹ The plans of the foolish and the thought of foolishness are sin, and the scoffer is an abomination to men.

¹⁰ If you faint in the day of adversity, your strength is small.

¹¹ Deliver those who are drawn away to death, and those who totter to the slaughter, hold them back [from their doom].

¹² If you [profess ignorance and] say, Behold, we did not know this, does not He Who weighs and ponders the heart perceive and consider it? And He Who guards your life, does not He know it? And shall not He render to [you and] every man according to his works?

¹⁷ So this I say and solemnly testify in [the name of] the Lord [as in His presence], that you must no longer live as the heathen (the Gentiles) do in their perverseness [in the folly, vanity, and emptiness of their souls and the futility] of their minds.

¹⁸ Their ^[a]moral understanding is darkened and their reasoning is beclouded. [They are] alienated (estranged, self-banished) from the life of God [with no share in it; this is] because of the ignorance (the want of knowledge and perception, the willful blindness) that is ^[b]deep-seated in them, due to their hardness of heart [to the insensitiveness of their moral nature].

¹⁹ In their spiritual apathy they have become callous and past feeling and reckless and have abandoned themselves [a prey] to unbridled sensuality, eager and greedy to indulge in every form of impurity [that their depraved desires may suggest and demand].

²⁰ But you did not so learn Christ!

²¹ Assuming that you have really heard Him and been taught by Him, as [all] Truth is in Jesus [embodied and personified in Him],

²² Strip yourselves of your former nature [put off and discard your old unrenewed self] which characterized your previous manner of life and becomes corrupt through lusts and desires that spring from delusion;

²³ And be constantly renewed in the spirit of your mind [having a fresh mental and spiritual attitude],

²⁴ And put on the new nature (the regenerate self) created in God’s image, [Godlike] in true righteousness and holiness.