Skip to main content
Psalmlog Logo
Read

Psalm 89:48

What man is he who shall live and not see death, who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

46How long, LORD? Will you hide yourself forever? Will your wrath burn like fire?
47Remember how short my time is, for what vanity you have created all the children of men!
48What man is he who shall live and not see death, who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.
49Lord, where are your former loving kindnesses, which you swore to David in your faithfulness?
50Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →
← Psalm 89:47Psalm 89:49 →
Notice

Death’s reach makes the plea for God to act urgent: the speaker’s time is short, and no human strength can break the power of Sheol.

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

What comes to mind when you read the question about delivering your own soul from Sheol?

Write on this

How does the shortness of life shape what you want to ask God today?

Write on this

What is it like to reach “Selah” with the question about death still unanswered?

Write on this
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
Ecclesiastes 8:8There is no man who has power over the spirit to contain the spirit; neither does he have power over the day of death. There is no discharge in war; neither …Both passages confront the limits of human power: no person controls death or secures escape from its reach.
1 Corinthians 15:55“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”Both address death through questions, though the psalm asks about escape while Corinthians challenges death’s sting and Hades’ victory.
Psalm 49:15But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.Both name the soul and the power of Sheol; Psalm 49 declares that God will provide the redemption Psalm 89 questions.
Ecclesiastes 9:5For the living know that they will die, but the dead don’t know anything, neither do they have any more a reward; for their memory is forgotten.Both confront the living with their mortality, making the certainty of death part of how human life is understood.
John 8:51Most certainly, I tell you, if a person keeps my word, he will never see death.”Both use “see death”: the psalm questions who can escape it, while Jesus promises life to the person who keeps his word.
Hebrews 9:27Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,Both speak of death as the human lot; Hebrews adds that judgment follows.
Hebrews 11:5By faith Enoch was taken away, so that he wouldn’t see death, and he was not found, because God translated him. For he has had testimony given to him that …The psalm asks who can avoid seeing death; Hebrews names Enoch, whom God took away rather than Enoch delivering himself.
Psalm 49:9that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption.Both consider the prospect of living without death, using the language of seeing death or corruption.
Psalm 49:7–9none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him.Both expose human inability to secure redemption: Psalm 89 asks about oneself, while Psalm 49 names one’s brother.
Ecclesiastes 12:7and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.Both face the end of earthly life; Ecclesiastes describes the dust and spirit returning to their sources.
Job 30:23For I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all living.Both speak of death as the destination of human life; Job calls it the house appointed for all living.
Acts 2:27because you will not leave my soul in Hades, neither will you allow your Holy One to see decay.Both speak of the soul in relation to the realm of the dead; Acts expresses confidence that God will not abandon it there.
Where this verse fits

Death and what comes after. grief. waiting.

What the Bible says about death →What the Bible says about grief →What the Bible says about patience →
One step

Something small to carry out of this verse

Read Psalm 89:48 aloud, then name one fear to God

prayeroncelight
Encouragement

You do not have to turn this question into a quick answer. Here, human helplessness before death is spoken within a prayer to God.

Now put it in your words.

Start an entry on Psalm 89:48. 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 89 · 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).