Psalms 49:2
in Psalms 49both low and high, rich and poor alike.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Both low and high, Rich and poor together.
KJV
Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
⋯
This verse in Psalms 49
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Ambrose of MilanCommentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 49 · Written before 397.
Both rich and poor together are called to a single vocation and invited to a certain humility and equality. The rich are not to turn up their noses at the poor, and the poor are not to be jealous of the rich. One grace joins both together. The Lord, though he was rich, became poor, so as to be Savior of poor and rich alike.
This site's exposition
Hear this, all you peoples
on Psalms 49:1-4
Hear this, all you peoples reaches past Israel to everyone alive. Both low and high, rich and poor stand in the audience before a word of the teaching begins. The psalm calls its own teaching a proverb and a riddle, and it plays the riddle on the harp.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 voices
All people, listen to my words, city dwellers and country people, more refined and more rustic, all in common and also individuals.… Let nature in general hear my words, and each one reap the benefit for themselves.… Let those abounding in wealth and those caught …
The inspired author is now on the point of telling us some great and ineffable truths. I mean, he would not have summoned those in all parts of the earth to listen, nor would he have set up the gallery of the world, were he not about to utter something great and famous and worthy of a gathering of such magnitude.… So since he called together the whole race to a hearing, let us too assuredly attend, and see what the psalmist wishes to say, this champion of the whole human race.
And again he says, "both all you earthborn, and sons of men" [Psalm 49:2]. The expression "earthborn" refers to sinners; the expression "sons of men" to the faithful and righteous. You see then that this distinction is observed. Who are the "earthborn"? The children of the earth. Who are the children of the earth? They who desire earthly inheritances. Who are the "sons of men"? They who appertain to the Son of Man. We have already before explained this distinction to your Sanctity, and have concluded that Adam was a man, but not the son of man; that Christ was the Son of Man, but was God also. For whosoever pertain to Adam, are "earthborn:" whosoever pertain to Christ, are "sons of men." Nevertheless, let all hear, I withhold my discourse from no one. If one is "earthborn," let him hear, because of the judgment: another is a "son of man," let him hear for the kingdom's sake. "The rich and poor together." Again, the same words are repeated. The expression "rich" refers to the "earthborn;" but the word "poor" to the "sons of men." By the "rich" understand the proud, by the "poor" the humble....He says in another Psalm, "The poor shall eat and be satisfied." How has he commended the poor? "The poor shall eat and be satisfied." What eat they? That Food which the faithful know. How shall they be satisfied? By imitating the Passion of their Lord, and not without cause receiving their recompense. "The poor shall eat and be satisfied, and they shall praise the Lord who seek Him." What of the rich? Even they eat. But how eat they? "All the rich upon the earth have eaten and worshipped." He said not, "Have eaten and are satisfied;" but, "have eaten and worshipped." They worship God indeed, but they will not display brotherly humaneness. These eat and worship; those eat and are filled: yet both eat. […]
The Medieval Church1 voice
He sets forth the third when he says, "all you who are earth-born," that is, the ignoble, "and sons of men," that is, the noble. Jerome has, "both sons of Adam and sons of individuals," because some have nothing distinguished from their parents. Mystically, the …
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Both low and high,.... Or "both the sons of Adam and the sons of men".
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Hear and give ear, Ps. lxii. Not only, "Hear, all you Israelites, and give ear all the inhabitants of Canaan," but, Hear, all you people, and give ear, all you inhabitants of the world; for this doctrine is not peculiar to those that are blessed with divine revelation, but even the light of nature witnesses to it.
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
Both low and high, rich and poor, together. Sons of great men, and children of mean men, men of large estate, and ye who pine in poverty, ye are all bidden to hear the inspired minstrel as he touches his harp to a mournful but instructive lay. The low will be encouraged, the high will be warned, the rich will be sobered, the poor consoled, there will be a useful lesson for each if they are willing to learn it. Our preaching ought to have a voice for all classes, and all should have an ear for it. To suit our word to the rich alone is wicked sycophancy, and to aim only at pleasing the poor is to act the part of a demagogue. Truth may be so spoken as to command the ear of all, and wise men seek to learn that acceptable style. Rich and poor must soon meet together in the grave, they may well be content to meet together now. In the congregation of the dead all differences of rank will be obliterated, they ought not now to be obstructions to united instructions.
In these four verses the poet prophet calls universal humanity to listen to his didactic hymn.
Both low and high, rich and poor, together. Sons of great men, and children of mean men, men of large estate, and ye who pine in poverty, ye are all bidden to hear the inspired minstrel as he touches his harp to a mournful but instructive lay. The low will be encouraged, the high will be warned, the rich will be sobered, the poor consoled, there will be a useful lesson for each if they are willing to learn it. Our preaching ought to have a voice for all classes, and all should have an ear for it.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Both low and high - Those alike of humble and those of exalted rank, for it pertains equally to all. On the meaning of the “terms” employed here, see the notes at Isa 2:9. These truths pertained to the “low;” that is, to those of humble rank, as teaching them not to envy the rich, and not to fear their power; and they pertained to those of exalted rank, as teaching them not to trust in their riches, and not to suppose that they could permanently possess and enjoy them. Rich and poor together - As equally interested in these truths; that is, What the psalmist was about to say was adapted to impart useful lessons to both classes. Both needed instruction on the subject; and the same class of truths was adapted to furnish that instruction. The class of truths referred to was derived from the powerlessness of wealth in regard to the things of most importance to man, and from the fact that all which a man can gain must soon be left: teaching those of one class that they should not set their heart on wealth, and should not pride themselves on possessing it, and teaching the other class that they should not envy or fear the possessor of riches.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| גַּם־ | gam- | both | H1571 → | 769 times |
| בְּנֵ֣י | benei | [the] children of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אָ֭דָם | ʾadom | humankind | H120 → | 551 times |
| גַּם־ | gam- | as well as | H1571 → | 769 times |
| בְּנֵי־ | benei- | [the] children of | H1121 → | 4930 times |
| אִ֑ישׁ | ʾish | man | H376 → | 1663 times |
| יַ֝֗חַד | yachad | alike | H3162 → | 141 times |
| עָשִׁ֥יר | ʾashir | [the] rich | H6223 → | |
| וְאֶבְיֽוֹן׃ | veevyon | and [the] needy | H34 → | 61 times |
גַּם־both
gam-H1571 →769 times
בְּנֵ֣י[the] children of
beneiH1121 →4930 times
אָ֭דָםhumankind
ʾadomH120 →551 times
גַּם־as well as
gam-H1571 →769 times
בְּנֵי־[the] children of
benei-H1121 →4930 times
אִ֑ישׁman
ʾishH376 →1663 times
יַ֝֗חַדalike
yachadH3162 →141 times
עָשִׁ֥יר[the] rich
ʾashirH6223 →
וְאֶבְיֽוֹן׃and [the] needy
veevyonH34 →61 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
Proverbs 22:2The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all.
it leads to
- Job 31:15
Did not He who made me in the womb also make them? Did not the same One form us in the womb?
- 1 Samuel 2:7
The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
- Proverbs 14:31
Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.
- Job 31:15
Through
Psalms 62:9Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
it leads to
- Psalms 39:5
You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah
- Isaiah 40:15
Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are considered a speck of dust on the scales; He lifts up the islands like fine dust.
- Isaiah 40:17
All the nations are as nothing before Him; He regards them as nothingness and emptiness.
- Psalms 39:5
Through
Job 34:19who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 10:17
For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God, showing no partiality and accepting no bribe.
- James 2:5
Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
- Deuteronomy 10:17
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 Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Ambrose of Milan, Commentaries on the Twelve Davidic Psalms, On Psalm 49; Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 49; Charles Spurgeon, The Treasury of David, Vol. 2; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 49:1; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Theodoret of Cyrus, COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS 49:3 and Thomas Aquinas, Exposition on the Psalms of David.