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Psalm 49

1  Hear this, all you peoples; ♦︎
   listen, all you that dwell in the world,
2  You of low or high degree, ♦︎
   both rich and poor together.
3  My mouth shall speak of wisdom ♦︎
   and my heart shall meditate on understanding.
4  I will incline my ear to a parable; ♦︎
   I will unfold my riddle with the lyre.
5  Why should I fear in evil days, ♦︎
   when the malice of my foes surrounds me,
6  Such as trust in their goods ♦︎
   and glory in the abundance of their riches?
7  For no one can indeed ransom another ♦︎
   or pay to God the price of deliverance.
8  To ransom a soul is too costly; ♦︎
   there is no price one could pay for it,
9  So that they might live for ever, ♦︎
   and never see the grave.
10  For we see that the wise die also;
      with the foolish and ignorant they perish ♦︎
   and leave their riches to others.
11  Their tomb is their home for ever,
      their dwelling through all generations, ♦︎
   though they call their lands after their own names.
12  Those who have honour, but lack understanding, ♦︎
   are like the beasts that perish.
13  Such is the way of those who boast in themselves, ♦︎
   the end of those who delight in their own words.

23When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
   observe carefully what^* is before you,
² and put a knife to your throat
   if you have a big appetite.
³ Do not desire the ruler’s^* delicacies,
   for they are deceptive food.
⁴ Do not wear yourself out to get rich;
   be wise enough to desist.
⁵ When your eyes light upon it, it is gone;
   for suddenly it takes wings to itself,
   flying like an eagle towards heaven.
⁶ Do not eat the bread of the stingy;
   do not desire their delicacies;
⁷ for like a hair in the throat, so are they.^*
   ‘Eat and drink!’ they say to you;
   but they do not mean it.
⁸ You will vomit up the little you have eaten,
   and you will waste your pleasant words.
⁹ Do not speak in the hearing of a fool,
   who will only despise the wisdom of your words.
¹⁰ Do not remove an ancient landmark
   or encroach on the fields of orphans,
¹¹ for their redeemer is strong;
   he will plead their cause against you.

33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgements and how inscrutable his ways!
³⁴ ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord?
   Or who has been his counsellor?’
³⁵ ‘Or who has given a gift to him,
   to receive a gift in return?’
³⁶For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever. Amen.