Psalms 49:20

Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
Man	אָדָ֣ם 'a.Dam	H120	ruddy i.e. a human being (an individual or the species · noun, common masculine singular absolute
honour	בִּ֭יקָר Bi.kor	H3366	value · preposition + noun, common masculine singular absolute
understandeth	יָבִ֑ין ya.Vin	H995	to separate mentally (or distinguish) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
like	נִמְשַׁ֖ל nim.Shal	H4911	to liken · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person masculine singular
beasts	כַּבְּהֵמ֣וֹת ka.be.he.Mot	H929	properly · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine plural absolute
perish	נִדְמֽוּ nid.Mu	H1820	to be dumb or silent · verb, niphal perfect, 3rd person common plural

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Psalms 49:12 Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.
Ecclesiastes 3:18-19 I said in mine heart concerning the estate of the sons of men, that God might manifest them, and that they might see that they themselves ar…
Esther 7:10 So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai. Then was the king’s wrath pacified.
Job 4:21 Doth not their excellency which is in them go away? they die, even without wisdom.
Esther 5:11-14 And Haman told them of the glory of his riches, and the multitude of his children, and all the things wherein the king had promoted him, and…
Psalms 73:18-19 Surely thou didst set them in slippery places: thou castedst them down into destruction.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 49:15–end

Good reason is here given to good people, I. Why they should not be afraid of death. There is no cause for that fear if they have such a comfortable prospect as David here has of a happy state on the other side death, Psa 49:15. He had shown (Psa 49:14) how miserable the dead are that die in their sins, where he shows how blessed the dead are that die in the Lord. The distinction of men's outward condition, how great a difference soever it makes in life, makes none at death; rich and poor meet in the grave. But the distinction of men's spiritual state, though, in this life, it makes a small difference, where all things come alike to all, yet, at and after death, it makes a very great one. No…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 49:20

(Compare Psa 49:12). The folly is more distinctly expressed by "understandeth not," substituted for "abideth not." Next: Psalms Chapter 50

John Gill on Psalms 49:20

Man that is in honour,.... A wicked man, as the Targum; See Gill on Psalm 49:12; and understandeth not; from whence his riches and honour, come, and what use he should make of them, and for what end he has them; or that understandeth not spiritual things, which relate to the salvation of his soul; who does not know God in Christ, nor the way of salvation by Christ; nor has any experience of the work of the Spirit of God upon his soul; nor has any spiritual understanding of the doctrines of the Gospel; nor knows himself, his state and condition, and what true happiness is: is like the beasts that perish; See Gill on Psalm 49:12.

John Calvin on Psalms 49:16–end

Psalm 49:16-20 16. Be not thou afraid when one shall be made rich, when the glory of his house shall be increased; 17. For when he dieth he shall not carry all away: his glory shall not descend after him: 18. For he will bless his soul in his lifetime, and they shall praise thee when thou doest well to thyself. [231] 19. He shall come but to the age of his fathers, and will not see the light even for ever. 20. Man is in honour, and will not understand: he is like the beasts: they shall perish. 16 Be not thou afraid The Psalmist repeats, in the form of an exhortation, the same sentiment which he had formerly expressed, that the children of God have no reason to dread the wealth and power of…

The Church Fathers

But wherefore this? What he has written in the middle of the Psalm, the same also he has writ at the end: "Man, though he was in honour, understood not, was compared to the beasts without sense, and was made like to them" [Psalm 49:20]. But you, brethren, consider that you be men made after the image and likeness of God. The image [Genesis 1:26] of God is within, is not in the body; is not in these ears which you see, and eyes, and nostrils, and palate, and hands, and feet; but is made nevertheless: wherein is the intellect, wherein is the mind, wherein the power of discovering truth, wherein is faith, wherein is your hope, wherein your charity, there God has His Image: there at least ye perceive and see that these things pass away; for so he has said in another Psalm, "Though man walks in an image, yet he is disquieted in vain: he heaps up treasures, and knows not for whom he shall gather them." Be not disquieted, for of whatsoever kind these things be, they are transitory, if you are men who being in honour understand. For if being men in honour ye understand not, you are compared to the beasts without sense, and are made like to them.
— Augustine of Hippo, Exposition on Psalm 49

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Ambition · Vanity of — Vanity of
B · Illustrative of: The wicked — Illustrative of: The wicked

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Psalms 49:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 49:15–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 49:20

John Gill on Psalms 49:20

John Calvin on Psalms 49:16–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Psalms 49:20

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Psalms 49:15–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Psalms 49:20

John Gill on Psalms 49:20

John Calvin on Psalms 49:16–end

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Psalms 49:13–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Psalms 49:16-20

Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 49:20