Psalms 49

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 [For the choirmaster Of the sons of Korah Psalm] Hear this, all nations, listen, al who dwel on earth,	1 A Psalm of Asaph. The God of gods, the Lord has spoken, and he has called the earth, from the rising of the sun even to its setting,
2 people high and low, rich and poor alike!	2 from Zion, the brilliance of his beauty.
3 My lips have wisdom to utter, my heart good sense to whisper.	3 God will arrive manifestly. Our God also will not keep silence. A fire will flare up in his sight, and a mighty tempest will surround him.
4 I listen careful y to a proverb, I set my riddle to the music of the harp.	4 He will call to heaven from above, and to the earth, to discern his people.
5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble? Malice dogs me and hems me in.	5 Gather his holy ones to him, you who order his covenant above sacrifices.
6 They trust in their wealth, and boast of the profusion of their riches.	6 And the heavens will announce his justice. For God is the judge.
7 But no one can ever redeem himself or pay his own ransom to God,	7 Listen, my people, and I will speak. Listen, Israel, and I will testify for you. I am God, your God.
8 the price for himself is too high; it can never be	8 I will not reprove you for your sacrifices. Moreover, your holocausts are ever in my sight.
9 that he wil live on for ever and avoid the sight of the abyss.	9 I will not accept calves from your house, nor he-goats from your flocks.
10 For he wil see the wise also die no less than the fool and the brute, and leave their wealth behind forothers.	10 For all the wild beasts of the forest are mine: the cattle on the hills and the oxen.
11 For ever no home but their tombs, their dwel ing-place age after age, though they gave their name towhole territories.	11 I know all the flying things of the air, and the beauty of the field is with me.
12 In prosperity people lose their good sense, they become no better than dumb animals.	12 If I should be hungry, I would not tell you: for the whole world is mine, and all its plentitude.
13 So they go on in their self-assurance, right up to the end they are content with their lot.Pause	13 Shall I gnaw on the flesh of bulls? Or would I drink the blood of goats?
14 They are penned in Sheol like sheep, Death wil lead them to pasture, and those who are honest wilrule over them. In the morning al trace of them wil be gone, Sheol wil be their home.	14 Offer to God the sacrifice of praise, and pay your vows to the Most High.
15 But my soul God wil ransom from the clutches of Sheol, and wil snatch me up.Pause	15 And call upon me in the day of tribulation. I will rescue you, and you will honor me.
16 Do not be overawed when someone gets rich, and lives in ever greater splendour;	16 But to the sinner, God has said: Why do you discourse on my justices, and take up my covenant through your mouth?
17 when he dies he wil take nothing with him, his wealth wil not go down with him.	17 Truly, you have hated discipline, and you have cast my sermons behind you.
18 Though he pampered himself while he lived -- and people praise you for looking after yourself-	18 If you saw a thief, you ran with him, and you have placed your portion with adulterers.
19 he will go to join the ranks of his ancestors, who wil never again see the light.	19 Your mouth has abounded with malice, and your tongue has concocted deceits.
20 In prosperity people lose their good sense, they become no better than dumb animals.	20 Sitting, you spoke against your brother, and you set up a scandal against your mother’s son.
	21 These things you have done, and I was silent. You thought, unjustly, that I ought to be like you. But I will reprove you, and I will set myself against your face.
	22 Understand these things, you who forget God; lest at any time, he might quickly take you away, and there would be no one to rescue you.
	23 The sacrifice of praise will honor me. And in that place is the journey by which I will reveal to him the salvation of God.