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Psalm 49:15
But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.
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.
16Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;
17for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him.
Notice
“But God” breaks into a picture of death shepherding its flock, placing hope in God’s power to redeem when wealth can go no further.
Questions to write on. Each one opens a new entry with this verse already attached.
What changes between death as shepherd in verse 14 and God receiving the speaker in verse 15?
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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 16:10For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.Both speakers trust God with their souls, expressing confidence that Sheol will not hold them beyond his reach.
Psalm 107:20He sends his word, and heals them, and delivers them from their graves.Both passages name God as the one who delivers people from the power of death.
Hosea 13:14I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be …Both speak of redemption from the power of Sheol, though Hosea also includes the stark declaration that compassion will be hidden.
Psalm 73:24You will guide me with your counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.Both speakers express confidence that God will receive them, with Psalm 73 adding guidance and glory.
Psalm 56:13For you have delivered my soul from death, and prevented my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.Both speak of God delivering a soul from death, one in expectation and the other in thanks for deliverance.
Revelation 5:9They sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, for you were killed, and bought us for God with your blood out of every …Both speak of redemption, with the psalm naming God’s rescue and Revelation naming the blood by which people were bought for God.
Philippians 1:23But I am hard pressed between the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.Both connect hope in the face of death with being received by God or being with Christ.
Job 6:23or, ‘Deliver me from the adversary’s hand’? or, ‘Redeem me from the hand of the oppressors’?Both use redemption language for release from a hostile power, though Job speaks of oppressors rather than Sheol.
Genesis 5:24Enoch walked with God, and he was not found, for God took him.God’s receiving the psalm’s speaker shares a thread with God’s taking Enoch, though neither passage explains how.
1 Thessalonians 4:17then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So we will be with the Lord forever.Both locate hope in being with God, expressed through being received in the psalm and meeting the Lord in Thessalonians.
John 14:3If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will receive you to myself; that where I am, you may be there also.Both use the language of receiving a person, with Jesus promising to receive his followers to himself.
Acts 7:59They stoned Stephen as he called out, saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!”The psalm’s confidence that God will receive the speaker becomes a shared theme with Stephen’s plea for Jesus to receive his spirit.
Where this verse fits
Death and what comes after. grief. fear for the future.
One step
Something small to carry out of this verse
Encouragement
Death’s power is named without disguise. The speaker’s confidence rests with God, whose power reaches into Sheol, the realm of the dead, and who will receive him.
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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).