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Psalm 49:13

This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.

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.
13This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.
14They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion.
15But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.
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← Psalm 49:12Psalm 49:14 →
Notice

The warning reaches those who approve foolish sayings, exposing how admiration for wealth and lasting names can share in the folly it praises.

Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

6 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
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?’Both passages expose the folly of counting on possessions when death ends the life of the person who holds them.
1 Corinthians 3:19For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, “He has taken the wise in their craftiness.”Both passages expose folly in what people approve, with Corinthians naming God’s judgment of the world’s wisdom.
Luke 16:27–28The connection is limited: the psalm’s context mentions houses expected to endure, while Luke records a request concerning a father’s house.
Luke 16:15He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts. For that which is exalted among men is an abomination in …Both passages challenge human approval as a measure of worth; Luke states that God knows the hearts behind public esteem.
Jeremiah 44:17But we will certainly perform every word that has gone out of our mouth, to burn incense to the queen of the sky and to pour out drink offerings to her, as we …Both passages show people endorsing a course tied to prosperity, though Jeremiah names idol worship and the psalm names foolish sayings.
Luke 11:47–48Woe to you! For you build the tombs of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.Both passages concern death, though Luke addresses the tombs of murdered prophets and the psalm addresses the fate of fools and their admirers.
Where this verse fits

Envy and comparison. death and what comes after.

What the Bible says about death →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Compare one admired saying with Psalm 49:11–15

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Encouragement

Approval cannot make wealth a safeguard against death. The psalm faces that limit without evasion, and its hope rests in God’s power to redeem.

Now put it in your words.

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Keep goingPsalm 49 · the whole chapter with its connection mapPsalms · every chapterBuild a reading plan through Psalms

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).