(For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever:)
(For the redemption of their life is costly, And it faileth for ever),
And precious is the redemption of their soul, And it hath ceased--to the age.
(For the redemption of their soul is costly, and must be given up for ever,)
Psalms — The canon's longest book — 150 Psalms edited into five doxology-bookended books, composed across a millennium, attributed to David, Asaph, Korah's sons, Moses, Solomon, Heman, Ethan, and anonymous voices. A ''Torah of David''; the Bible's longest continuous liturgical-devotional corpus.
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
Voices4
Sin is worse than everything; it is this that must be feared, not the possibility of being in need of money, since a person who is rich and in the grip of a multitude of sins is in real difficulty and does not find release …
Theodore of Mopsuestia· COMMENTARY ON PSALMS 49:6B-9, 428patristic
For the redemption of their soul is precious,.... Or "heavy" (s); it is, as Jarchi observes, "heavier than their substance": it is too weighty a matter for the richest man in the world to engage in; he is not equal to it; his riches are not an equivalent to the redemption of a soul which has sinned, and which is of more worth than the whole world: "what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" or another for him? all the substance of his house would be utterly despised.
John Gill· Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763)reformed
Ver. 8. For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceaseth for ever. Too great is the price, the purchase is hopeless. For ever must the attempt to redeem a soul with money remain a failure. Death comes and wealth cannot bribe him; hell follows and no golden key can unlock its dungeon. Vain, then, are your threatenings, ye possessors of the yellow clay; your childish toys are despised by men who estimate the value of possessions by the shekel of the sanctuary.
It is certainly true that the redemption of the soul is precious and ceaseth for ever; that is, life, when it is going, cannot be arrested, and when it is gone it cannot be recalled, by any human art, or worldly price. But this looks further, to the eternal redemption which was to be wrought out by the Messiah, whom the Old-testament saints had an eye to as the Redeemer.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
The verses this one reaches5
What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
“Where, O Death, is your victory? Where, O Death, is your sting?”
Be careful that no one lures you with riches; do not let a large bribe lead you astray.
Then Saul replied, “I have sinned. Come back, David my son. I will never harm you again, because today you considered my life precious. I have played the fool and have committed a grave error!”
Behold, fire has come down from heaven and consumed the first two captains of fifty, with all their men. But now may my life be precious in your sight.”
The walk5
Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first — the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.
Through
Matthew 16:26What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
leads to
For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off, when God takes away his life?
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
What does it profit a man to gain the whole world, yet lose or forfeit his very self?
But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be required of you. Then who will own what you have accumulated?’
No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.
The whole web at once: see the Arc.
