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Psalm 49:10
For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.
8For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough,
9that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption.
10For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others.
11Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves.
12But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish.
Notice
Wise people die too, and the wealth they leave behind exposes the limit of both good judgment and possessions in the face of death.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What do you find hardest to accept about wise and foolish people sharing the same end?
Write on thisHow does leaving wealth to others change what you hope to do with what you have?
Write on thisConnect
Where else Scripture says this
12 passages readers most often link with this verse, and the thread each one shares with it.
This verse's connections, by chapterThe Bible's strongest chapter linksHover or tap a book to trace it
Psalm 92:6A senseless man doesn’t know, neither does a fool understand this:Both name the fool and the senseless, though Psalm 92 concerns their lack of understanding and Psalm 49 their mortality.
Luke 12:20“But God said to him, ‘You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared—whose will they be?’Death separates people from their possessions in both passages, leaving what they prepared for someone else.
Psalm 39:6“Surely every man walks like a shadow. Surely they busy themselves in vain. He heaps up, and doesn’t know who shall gather.Both describe accumulated wealth passing beyond its owner’s reach, with Psalm 39 stressing uncertainty about who will gather it.
Ecclesiastes 2:14The wise man’s eyes are in his head, and the fool walks in darkness—and yet I perceived that one event happens to them all.Both distinguish the wise from the foolish while naming a shared outcome that wisdom does not prevent.
Psalm 94:8Consider, you senseless among the people; you fools, when will you be wise?Both speak of senseless people and fools; Psalm 94 urges wisdom, while Psalm 49 says even wise people die.
Ecclesiastes 5:13–16There is a grievous evil which I have seen under the sun: wealth kept by its owner to his harm.Both expose wealth’s limits: the psalm describes leaving it behind at death, while Ecclesiastes describes keeping it to the owner’s harm.
Hebrews 9:27Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,Both state that human beings die; Hebrews also names the judgment that follows death.
Psalm 73:22I was so senseless and ignorant. I was a brute beast before you.Senselessness links the passages, though Psalm 73 confesses it before God and Psalm 49 names the senseless among those who perish.
1 Timothy 6:6–10But godliness with contentment is great gain.The connection is limited: the psalm describes wealth that must be left behind, while Timothy identifies godliness with contentment as great gain.
Ecclesiastes 2:18I hated all my labor in which I labored under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who comes after me.Both describe leaving the fruits of a person’s life to someone else, with Ecclesiastes voicing distress over that prospect.
Proverbs 30:2“Surely I am the most ignorant man, and don’t have a man’s understanding.Both mention a lack of understanding; Proverbs confesses it, while the psalm places the senseless among those who die.
Jeremiah 10:8But they are together brutish and foolish, instructed by idols! It is just wood.Foolishness is the shared thread; Jeremiah addresses instruction by idols, while the psalm describes death shared by wise and foolish.
Where this verse fits
Death and what comes after. aging. envy and comparison.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Even a life of wisdom has an end. You can acknowledge that limit before God: possessions pass to others, and wisdom offers no exemption from death.
Now put it in your words.
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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).