Why Should I Fear in Times of Trouble?

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of fthe Sons of Korah.

¹gHear this, all peoples!

Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,

²hboth low and high,

rich and poor together!

³My mouth shall speak iwisdom;

the meditation of my heart shall be understanding.

⁴I will incline my ear to ja proverb;

I will solve my kriddle to the music of the lyre.

⁵lWhy should I fear in mtimes of trouble,

when the iniquity of those who cheat me surrounds me,

⁶those who ntrust in their wealth

and boast of the abundance of their riches?

⁷Truly no man ocan ransom another,

or pgive to God qthe price of his life,

⁸for rthe ransom of their life is costly

and can never suffice,

⁹that he should live on forever

and snever see the pit.

¹⁰For he sees tthat even the wise die;

uthe fool and the stupid alike must perish

and vleave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their wgraves are their homes forever,1

their dwelling places xto all generations,

though they ycalled lands by their own names.

¹²Man in his pomp zwill not remain;

ahe is like the beasts that perish.

¹³This is the path of those who have bfoolish confidence;

yet after them people approve of their boasts.2 Selah

¹⁴Like sheep they are appointed for Sheol;

death shall be their shepherd,

and the upright cshall rule over them in the morning.

dTheir form shall be consumed ein Sheol, with no place to dwell.

¹⁵But God will fransom my soul from the power of Sheol,

for he will greceive me. Selah

¹⁶Be not afraid when a man becomes rich,

when the glory of his house increases.

¹⁷hFor when he dies he will icarry nothing away;

his glory will not go down after him.

¹⁸For though, while he lives, he counts himself jblessed

—and though you get praise when you do well for yourself—

¹⁹his soul will kgo to the generation of his fathers,

who will never again lsee light.

²⁰mMan in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish.