Psalms 49 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Listen to this, all you peoples. Pay attention, everyone alive in the world.

Whether you're powerful or overlooked, whether you're rich or struggling -- all of you.

What I'm about to say is wise. What my heart speaks on is full of understanding.

I'll lean in close to a proverb, and unlock my riddle with the sound of a harp.

Why should I be afraid when dark days come, when the corruption of those who want to bring me down surrounds me --

those who put their confidence in their wealth and boast about how much money they have?

No one can buy back another person's life. No one can pay God a ransom for someone else --

because the cost of a human life is too high. No payment will ever be enough --

to let them live on forever and never see the grave.

Look around -- even the wisest people die. The foolish and the senseless alike are destroyed, and they leave their wealth behind for someone else.

Deep down they think their houses will last forever, that they'll live on their estates through every generation. They even name their land after themselves.

But no human being, no matter how honored, will last. They are just like the animals that die.

This is the path for those who are full of themselves, and for those who follow them and swallow every word they say. Selah.

Like sheep they are headed for the grave. Death will be their shepherd. The upright will triumph over them when morning comes. Their bodies will waste away in the grave, far from any mansion they built.

But God will buy back my life from the grip of the grave -- he will actually take me to himself. Selah.

Don't be intimidated when someone gets rich, when their house fills up with expensive things.

Because when they die, they take nothing with them. Their expensive things won't follow them into the ground.

Even though they congratulate themselves while they're alive -- and people praise you when you're doing well for yourself --

they will join the generation of their ancestors, who will never again see the light.

A person who has everything but doesn't understand this is just like the animals that die.