• The Foolishness of Trusting in Riches.

  • 1 Hear this, all peoples; Listen, all inhabitants of the world,
  • 2 Both low and high, Rich and poor together.
  • 3 My mouth will speak wisdom, And the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
  • 4 I will incline my ear to a proverb; I will express my riddle on the harp.
  • 5 Why should I fear in days of adversity, When the injustice of those who betray me surrounds me,
  • 6 Those who trust in their wealth And boast in the abundance of their riches?
  • 7 No one can by any means redeem another Or give God a ransom for him—
  • 8 For the redemption of his soul is priceless, And he should cease imagining forever—
  • 9 That he might live on eternally, That he might not undergo decay.
  • 10 For he sees that even wise people die; The foolish and the stupid alike perish And leave their wealth to others.
  • 11 Their inner thought is that their houses are forever And their dwelling places to all generations; They have named their lands after their own names.
  • 12 But man in his splendor will not endure; He is like the animals that perish.
  • 13 This is the way of those who are foolish, And of those after them who approve their words. Selah
  • 14 Like sheep they sink down to Sheol; Death will be their shepherd; And the upright will rule over them in the morning, And their form shall be for Sheol to consume So that they have no lofty home.
  • 15 But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, For He will receive me. Selah
  • 16 Do not be afraid when a person becomes rich, When the splendor of his house is increased;
  • 17 For when he dies, he will take nothing with him; His wealth will not descend after him.
  • 18 Though while he lives he congratulates himself— And though people praise you when you do well for yourself—
  • 19 He will go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light.
  • 20 Mankind in its splendor, yet without understanding, Is like the animals that perish.