figuratively · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine plural absolute
wealth
חֵילָ֑םchei.Lam
H2428
probably a force · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
boast
יִתְהַלָּֽלוּyit.ha.La.lu
H1984
to be clear (orig. of sound · verb, hithpael imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
multitude
וּבְרֹ֥בu.ve.Ro
H7230
abundance (in any respect) · conjunction + preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
riches
עָ֝שְׁרָ֗ם'a.she.Ram
H6239
wealth · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine 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
1 Timothy 6:17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us ri…
Psalms 52:7 Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.
Jeremiah 9:23 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in…
Ezekiel 28:4-5 With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures:
Proverbs 11:28 He that trusteth in his riches shall fall: but the righteous shall flourish as a branch.
Mark 10:24 And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust…
Luke 12:19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
Esther 5:11 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…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Psalms 49:6-14
In these verses we have,
I. A description of the spirit and way of worldly people, whose portion is in this life, Psa 17:14. It is taken for granted that they have wealth, and a multitude of riches (Psa 49:6), houses and lands of inheritance, which they call their own, Psa 49:11. God often gives abundance of the good things of this world to bad men who live in contempt of him and rebellion against him, by which it appears that they are not the best things in themselves (for then God would give most of them to his best friends), and that they are not the best things for us, for then those would not have so much of them who, being marked for ruin, are to be ripened for it by their prosperity,…
They that trust in their wealth,.... In their outward force, power, and strength; their horses, chariots, and armies; see Psalm 33:16; or in their worldly goods and substance; which seems to be the sense of the word here, as appears from Psalm 49:10. To "trust" in them is to set the eye and heart upon them; or to take up rest in them, to depend on them, to the neglect of divine Providence, with respect to future living in this world; and to expect eternal happiness hereafter, because favoured with many earthly enjoyments here: so to do is evil. Therefore the Targum is, "woe to the wicked that trust in their substance". And it is also very weak and foolish to trust in riches, since they are u…
Psalm 49:5-9
5. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil? the iniquity of my heel shall compass me about. 6. They trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. 7. The brother shall not be able to redeem, [literally, shall not redeem by redeeming;] none shall give to God the price of his redemption. 8. And the redemption of their soul shall be precious, and their continuance for ever. 9. That he should still live for ever, and not see the grave.
5. Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil? The Psalmist now enters upon the point on which he proposed to discourse, That the people of God must not yield to despondency even in the most distressing circumstan…
The Church Fathers
But who are they whom the "iniquity of their heel shall compass"? "They who trust in their virtue, and in the abundance of their riches do glory" [Psalm 49:6]. Therefore such sins will I avoid, and the "iniquity of my heel" shall never compass me. What is avoiding such sins? Let us not trust in our own virtue, let us not glory in the abundance of our own riches, but let us glory in Him who has promised to us, being humble, exaltation, and has threatened condemnation to men exalted; and then iniquity of our heel shall never compass us.
Even if he seems to be one of the very powerful people in this life, even if he is surrounded with a great number of possessions, these words teach him to descend from such a notion and to humble himself under the mighty hand of God. … Not even the soul is complete in itself for salvation.… Every human soul has bowed down under the evil yoke of slavery imposed by the common enemy of all and, being deprived of the very freedom that it received from the Creator, has been led captive through sin. Every captive has need of ransoms for his freedom. Now, neither a brother can ransom his brother, nor can anyone ransom himself, because he who is ransoming must be much better than he who has been overcome and is now a slave. But, actually, no one has the power with respect to God to make atonement for a sinner, since he himself is liable for sin. "All have sinned and have need of the glory of God. They are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" our Lord.
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
Boasting · SPIRITUAL — SPIRITUAL
Character Of The Wicked · Boastful — Boastful
Confidence · FALSE — FALSE
False Confidence · In outward re — In outward re
Riches · Cannot redeem the soul — Cannot redeem the soul
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).
(Heb.: 49:6-13) First division of the sermon. Those who have to endure suffering from rich sinners have no need to fear, for the might and splendour of their oppressors is hastening towards destruction. ימי רע are days in which one experiences evil, as in Psa 94:13, cf. Amo 6:3. The genitive r` is continued in Amo 6:6 in a clause that is subordinate to the בימי of Psa 49:6 (cf. Sa1 25:15; Job 29:2; Psa 90:15). The poet calls his crafty and malicious foes עקבי. There is no necessity for reading עקבי as Bttcher does, since without doubt a participial noun עקב, supplantator, can be formed from עקב, supplantare; and although in its branchings out it coincides with עקב, planta, its meaning is mad…
If enemies who live for material rewards cannot sustain themselves, how can they give life to others?
Spurgeon's Treasury of David on Psalms 49:6
They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches;
What if the good man's foes be among the great ones of the earth! yet he need not fear them. They that trust in their wealth. Poor fools, to be content with such a rotten confidence. When we set our rock in contrast with theirs, it would be folly to be afraid of them. Even though they are loud in their brags, we can afford to smile. What if they glory and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches? yet while we glory in our God we are not dismayed by their proud threatenings. Great strength, position, and estate, make wicked men very lofty in their own esteem, and tyrannical towards others; but th…
