✧For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by the sons of Korah. Hear this, all you peoples. Listen, all you inhabitants of the world, ✧2both low and high, rich and poor together. ✧3My mouth will speak words of wisdom. My heart will utter understanding. ✧4I will incline my ear to a proverb. I will solve my riddle on the harp. ✧5Why should I fear in the days of evil, when iniquity at my heels surrounds me? ✧6Those who trust in their wealth, and boast in the multitude of their riches— ✧7none of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give God a ransom for him. ✧8For the redemption of their life is costly, no payment is ever enough, ✧9that he should live on forever, that he should not see corruption. ✧10For he sees that wise men die; likewise the fool and the senseless perish, and leave their wealth to others. ✧11Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever, and their dwelling places to all generations. They name their lands after themselves. ✧12But man, despite his riches, doesn’t endure. He is like the animals that perish. ✧13This is the destiny of those who are foolish, and of those who approve their sayings. Selah. ✧14They are appointed as a flock for Sheol. Death shall be their shepherd. The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning. Their beauty shall decay in Sheol, far from their mansion. ✧15But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah. ✧16Don’t be afraid when a man is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased; ✧17for when he dies he will carry nothing away. His glory won’t descend after him. ✧18Though while he lived he blessed his soul— and men praise you when you do well for yourself— ✧19he shall go to the generation of his fathers. They shall never see the light. ✧20A man who has riches without understanding, is like the animals that perish.