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Psalm 49:2

both low and high, rich and poor together.

1For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world,
2both low and high, rich and poor together.
3My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart will utter understanding.
4I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp.
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← Psalm 49:1Psalm 49:3 →
Notice

“Together” gathers people divided by wealth and rank into one audience, raising the question of who gets included when wisdom is spoken.

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

What changes, if anything, when you picture rich and poor hearing the same wisdom together?

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How might your place among the “rich and poor” shape the way you hear this call?

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Connect

Where else Scripture says this

11 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 62:9Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.Both name low and high together; Psalm 49 addresses them, while Psalm 62 describes how little they weigh.
James 2:1–7My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our glorious Lord Jesus Christ with partiality.Psalm 49 includes people across social ranks in its audience; James forbids partiality in faith in Jesus Christ.
1 Samuel 2:7–8The LORD makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up.Both name poverty and wealth, low and high standing; Samuel's passage declares the LORD's rule over those conditions.
Jeremiah 5:4–5Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the LORD’s way, nor the law of their God.Both mention the poor in relation to understanding, though Jeremiah describes ignorance and Psalm 49 includes them among wisdom's hearers.
Job 34:19He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor, for they all are the work of his hands.Psalm 49 addresses rich and poor together; Job says God shows no preference for the rich over the poor.
Proverbs 22:2The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is the maker of them all.Both name rich and poor together; Proverbs states what they share: the LORD made them all.
James 1:9–11Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;Both speak of low and high standing, though James describes a high position belonging to a brother in humble circumstances.
Revelation 6:15–17The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the …Both include people across social ranks: Psalm 49 gathers hearers, while Revelation describes rulers and slaves hiding.
Revelation 13:16He causes all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, and the free and the slave, to be given marks on their right hands or on their foreheads;Both name rich and poor within an all-encompassing list, though Revelation describes imposed marks and Psalm 49 addresses hearers.
Job 3:19The small and the great are there. The servant is free from his master.Both bring people of different ranks together: low and high in the psalm, small and great in Job.
Isaiah 2:9Man is brought low, and mankind is humbled; therefore don’t forgive them.The shared language concerns being low, though Psalm 49 names social standing and Isaiah describes mankind being humbled.
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 49:1–4 aloud with a friend

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Encouragement

Your income and standing do not put you outside this address. God's wisdom in this psalm is spoken to the low and high alike.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 49:2. Write what it stirs. Psalmlog sets your words beside Scripture and gives you one next step. Your first entry is free, no account needed.

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).