PSALMS

The Forty-Ninth Psalm

Audite haec, omnes.

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O HEAR ye this, all ye people; * ponder it with your ears, all ye that dwell in the world;
 
High and low, rich and poor, * one with another.
 
My mouth shall speak of wisdom, * and my heart shall muse of understanding.
 
I will incline mine ear to the parable, * and show my dark speech upon the harp.
 
Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, * when wickedness at my heels compasseth me round about?
 
There be some that put their trust in their goods, * and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.
 
But no man may deliver his brother, * nor give a ransom unto God for him,
 
(For it cost more to redeem their souls, * so that he must let that alone for ever;)
 
That he shall live alway, * and not see the grave.
 
For he seeth that wise men also die and perish together, * as well as the ignorant and foolish, and leave their riches for other.
 
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.
 
Nevertheless, man being in honour abideth not, * seeing he may be compared unto the beasts that perish;
 
This their way is very foolishness; * yet their posterity praise their saying.
 
They lie in the grave like sheep; death is their shepherd; and the righteous shall have dominion over them in the morning: * their beauty shall consume in the sepulchre, and have no abiding.
 
But God hath delivered my soul from the power of the grave; * for he shall receive me.
 
Be not thou afraid, though one be made rich, * or if the glory of his house be increased;
 
For he shall carry nothing away with him when he dieth, * neither shall his pomp follow him.
 
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.
 
He shall follow the generation of his fathers, * and shall never see light.
 
Man that is in honour but hath no understanding * is compared unto the beasts that perish.