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Psalm 62:9

Surely 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.

7My salvation and my honor is with God. The rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
8Trust in him at all times, you people. Pour out your heart before him. God is a refuge for us. Selah.
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.
10Don’t trust in oppression. Don’t become vain in robbery. If riches increase, don’t set your heart on them.
11God has spoken once; twice I have heard this, that power belongs to God.
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Notice

The balances rise even with low and high together on them, unsettling the weight people give to social rank as a source of security.

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

Whose rank or reputation seems to carry the most weight in your decisions?

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What might “lighter than a breath” suggest about the security your own standing can offer?

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Connect

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
Jeremiah 17:5The LORD says: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man, relies on strength of flesh, and whose heart departs from the LORD.Jeremiah warns against trusting human strength, while the psalm’s weightless ranks expose the frailty of that trust.
Psalm 39:5Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.Both psalms compare human life to a breath, with Psalm 62 extending the image across social ranks.
Isaiah 40:17All the nations are like nothing before him. They are regarded by him as less than nothing, and vanity.Isaiah describes whole nations as less than nothing before God, while Psalm 62 describes all ranks together as lighter than breath.
Isaiah 40:15Behold, the nations are like a drop in a bucket, and are regarded as a speck of dust on a balance. Behold, he lifts up the islands like a very little thing.Both passages use a balance to picture human smallness, weighing nations as dust and social ranks as lighter than breath.
Daniel 5:27TEKEL: you are weighed in the balances, and are found wanting.Both texts picture people weighed in balances and lacking weight, though Daniel addresses a particular person.
Psalm 146:3Don’t put your trust in princes, in a son of man in whom there is no help.Psalm 146 warns against trusting princes, matching Psalm 62’s refusal to give high rank the weight of security.
Psalm 49:2both low and high, rich and poor together.Both passages name low and high together, bringing people of different social ranks within the same statement.
Psalm 118:9It is better to take refuge in the LORD, than to put confidence in princes.Psalm 118 prefers refuge in God to confidence in princes, matching Psalm 62’s surrounding contrast between God’s refuge and human rank.
Isaiah 2:22Stop trusting in man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for of what account is he?Both passages connect human breath with the limits of human importance, challenging trust placed in people.
James 1:9Let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position;Both mention humble social standing, though James speaks of the brother’s high position and Psalm 62 weighs all ranks together.
Romans 3:4May it never be! Yes, let God be found true, but every man a liar. As it is written, “that you might be justified in your words, and might prevail when you …Both texts use the language of falsehood about people, challenging confidence in human reliability.
1 Samuel 23:19–20Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on …The connection is limited: Psalm 62 weighs human standing, while the Ziphites bring Saul information about David’s hiding place.
Where this verse fits

Envy and comparison. fear for the future. leadership weight.

What the Bible says about fear →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Sketch Psalm 62:9’s scales with both ranks rising together

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Encouragement

Human rank offers no lasting foundation for trust. The surrounding verses name the refuge that human standing cannot provide: God, to whom power belongs.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 62:9. 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 62 · 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).