Psalms 49:16
in Psalms 49Do not be amazed when a man grows rich, when the splendor of his house increases.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, When the glory of his house is increased:
KJV
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
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This verse in Psalms 49
Commentary
11 notes on this verseIn these last verses the psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives admonitory lessons which he has himself gathered from experience. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich. Let it not give thee any concern to see the godless prosper. Raise no questions as to divine justice; suffer no foreboding to cloud thy mind. Temporal prosperity is too small a matter to be worth fretting about; let the dogs have their bones, and the swine their draff. When the glory of his house is increased.
This site's exposition
Do not be amazed
on Psalms 49:16-20
Do not be amazed when a man's wealth grows. He will carry nothing away when he dies, his abundance will not follow him down, and he joins the generation of his fathers. A man with riches and no understanding is like the beasts that perish, the refrain of verse 12.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
...Perchance thy heart saith, Wretch that I am, I suppose to no purpose I have believed, God doth not regard things human. God therefore doth awaken us: and He saith what? "Fear not, though a man have become rich." For why didst thou fear, because a man hath become rich? Thou didst fear that thou hadst believed to no purpose, that perchance thou shouldest have lost the labour for thy faith, and the hope of thy conversion: because perchance there hath come in thy way gain with guilt, and thou couldest have been rich, if thou hadst seized upon that same gain with the guilt, and neededst not have laboured; and thou, remembering what God hath threatened, hast refrained from guilt, and hast contemned the gain: thou seest another man that hath made gain by guilt, and hath suffered no harm; and thou fearest to be good. "Fear not," saith the Spirit of God to thee, "though a man shall have become rich." Wouldest thou not have eyes but for things present? Things future He hath promised, who hath risen again; peace in this world, and repose in this life, He hath not promised. Every man doth seek repose; a good thing he is seeking, but not in the proper region thereof he is seeking it. There is no peace in this life; in Heaven hath been promised that which on earth we are seeking: in the world to come hath been promised that which in this world we are seeking.
After this he provides explanation and advice for those condemned to a life of poverty and worn out through the arrogance of the rich.… Do not consider present prosperity any great thing, he is saying: wealth that catches all eyes is not lasting; those who …
When you see the unjust becoming rich and the just poor, do not fear for yourself; do not be dismayed in mind, as if the providence of God is nowhere looking on human affairs, or perhaps, somewhere there is a divine watchfulness, but it does not reach to places near the earth, so as to watch over our affairs; for, if there were a providence, it would be apportioning to each person what is proper to him, so that the just, who understand how to use wealth, would be rich, but the wicked, who have wealth as the instrument of their wickedness, would be poor.… Now, since there are many who have such notions and who, because of the apparent inconsistency of the distribution of the fortunes of life, assume that the world is not the work of providence, the Scripture addresses these to calm their uninstructed emotion.… Do not be faint about present affairs, but await that blessed and everlasting life. Then you will see that poverty and contempt and the lack of luxuries befall the just person for his good. And do not be troubled now about imagined good things, as though they were unjustly divided. You will hear how it will be said to a certain rich man, "You in your lifetime have received good things," but to the poor person that he receives evils in his life. As a consequence, therefore, the latter is consoled, but the former suffers pain.
The Medieval Church1 voice
"Do not fear." Above, the Psalmist showed what is to be feared in the world by man; here he shows what is not to be feared, namely the prosperity of the wicked. And first he admonishes that we should not fear on account of the …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich,.... Who before was poor, or not so rich; but now become so, either by inheritance, or by his own diligence and industry, through the permission of Providence.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
This is the psalmist's preface to his discourse concerning the vanity of the world and its insufficiency to make us happy; and we seldom meet with an introduction more solemn than this is; for there is no truth of more undoubted certainty, nor of greater weight and importance, and the consideration of which will be of more advantage to us.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
In these last verses the psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives admonitory lessons which he has himself gathered from experience. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich. Let it not give thee any concern to see the godless prosper. Raise no questions as to divine justice; suffer no foreboding to cloud thy mind. Temporal prosperity is too small a matter to be worth fretting about; let the dogs have their bones, and the swine their draff. When the glory of his house is increased. Though the sinner and his family are in great esteem, and stand exceedingly high, never mind; all things will be righted in due time. Only those whose judgment is worthless will esteem men the more because their lands are broader; those who are highly estimated for such unreasonable reasons will find their level ere long, when truth and righteousness come to the fore.
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich - Do not be envious; do not grieve: it will do you no harm; it will do him no good. All he gets will be left behind; he can carry nothing with him. Even his glory must stay behind; he shall mingle with the common earth.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich - Do not dread the power derived from wealth; do not fear anything which a man can do merely because he is rich. The original is, “when a “man” becomes rich.” The allusion is not necessarily to a bad man, though that is implied in the whole passage, since there is no reason for fearing a “good” man, whether he is rich or poor. The only thing that seems to have been apprehended in the mind of the psalmist was that power of doing injury to others, or of employing means to injure others, which wealth confers on a bad man. The psalmist here changes the form of the expression, no longer referring to himself, and to his own feelings, as in the former part of the psalm, but making an application of the whole course of thought to others, showing them, as the result of his own reflection and observation, that no man had any real cause for dread and alarm when riches increased in the hands of the wicked. The reasons why this power should not be feared are stated in the following verses. When the glory of his house is increased - Rich people often lavish much of their wealth on their dwellings; on the dwelling itself; on the furniture; on the grounds and appendages of their habitation. This is evidently referred to here as “the “glory” of their house;” as that which would be adapted to make an impression of the power and rank of its possessor.
The words behind it
9 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תִּ֭ירָא | tira' | you fear | H3372 → | 315 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יַעֲשִׁ֣ר | yaashir | he will become rich | H6238 → | |
| אִ֑ישׁ | ʾish | anyone | H376 → | 1663 times |
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יִ֝רְבֶּה | yirbeh | it will increase | H7235 → | 227 times |
| כְּב֣וֹד | kevod | [the] honor of | H3519 → | 200 times |
| בֵּיתֽוֹ׃ | beito | house his | H1004 → | 2046 times |
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תִּ֭ירָאyou fear
tira'H3372 →315 times
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יַעֲשִׁ֣רhe will become rich
yaashirH6238 →
אִ֑ישׁanyone
ʾishH376 →1663 times
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
יִ֝רְבֶּהit will increase
yirbehH7235 →227 times
כְּב֣וֹד[the] honor of
kevodH3519 →200 times
בֵּיתֽוֹ׃house his
beitoH1004 →2046 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 37:1Do not fret over those who do evil; do not envy those who do wrong.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:7
Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
- Proverbs 23:17
Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always continue in the fear of the LORD.
- Proverbs 24:19
Do not fret over evildoers, and do not be envious of the wicked.
- Psalms 37:7
Through
Psalms 37:7Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret when men prosper in their ways, when they carry out wicked schemes.
it leads to
- Psalms 27:14
Wait patiently for the LORD; be strong and courageous. Wait patiently for the LORD!
- James 5:7–11
Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil—how patient he is for the fall and spring rains.
- Psalms 62:5
Rest in God alone, O my soul, for my hope comes from Him.
- Hebrews 10:36–37
You need to persevere, so that after you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.
- Lamentations 3:25–26
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
- Psalms 27:14
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Psalms
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Psalms; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 49; Basil of Caesarea, HOMILIES ON THE PSALMS 19:10 (PS 49); Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 49:11 and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.