Psalms 49:16

Psa 49:16 Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;

Ver. 16. Be not thou afraid] David was comforted, and so he would have others to be; for as it was said of a certain bishop of Lincoln, that he held nothing his own but what he had bestowed upon others, Hoc habeo quodcunque dedi; so the saints think their comforts nothing so comfortable unless others may share in them, and fare the better by them.

When the glory of his house is increased] viz. By a numerous offspring, stately building, gay furniture, great rents and revenues; for as they say of the metal they make glass of, it is nearest melting when it shineth brightest; so are the wicked nearest destruction when at greatest lustre.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Psa 49:16-17. Be not thou afraid — That is, discouraged or dejected; when one is made rich, &c. — The prosperity of sinners is often matter of fear and grief to good men; partly because their prosperity enables them to do more mischief, and partly because it tends to shake the faith of God’s people in his providence and promises, and to engender suspicions in minds not well informed, as if God did not regard the actions and affairs of men, and made no difference between the good and the bad, and consequently, as if all religion were unprofitable and vain. For he shall carry nothing away — For, as he will shortly die, so all his wealth, and power, and glory will die with him, and thou wilt have no cause either to envy or fear him.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

17. (Psa 49:16). Be not thou afraid because a man grows rich, because the glory of his house increases. Here begins the application or practical conclusion of the foregoing meditations. It is marked by a change of form, the Psalmist now no longer speaking of himself, but to himself, or to another, as the person most directly interested in his subject. See a similar transition in Psa 32:8, and compare the parental or authoritative tone of the address with that in Psa 34:12 (11). Fear not, be not apprehensive or solicitous, not merely for thyself, but for the cause of truth and goodness. See above, on Psa 37:1. The conjunction in the first clause may also be translated when or though. But the proper causal meaning of the particle should always be preferred when admissible, and especially in cases like the present, where it yields not only a good sense but the best sense, since the increasing wealth and honour of the wicked is certainly assigned as the cause or occasion of the anxious apprehensions here forbidden. The use of the English present tense in the translation of this verse is merely idiomatic, since in such connections it is really a future. The verb of the first clause is a causative, and strictly means to enrich or make rich. The transition to the neuter or intransitive sense is precisely similar to that of the English verb increase, which strictly means to make greater, but in this very sentence has the intransitive sense of growing (or becoming) greater. There is no other clear example of the first Hebrew verb being so used. Dan 11:2, and Pro 10:4, are at least ambiguous. A man cannot of itself denote a bad man, but that idea is suggested by the context, and especially by the use of the word man in Psa 49:8 (7), Psa 49:13 (12). Glory or honour here includes all the sensible effects of riches, as a source of admiration and applause. House, in the wide sense, common to both languages, including both the dwelling and the family, the house and household. See Gen 7:1; Gen 18:19; Gen 35:2; Gen 35:14.

Joseph Addison Alexander, The Psalms Translated and Explained (1850) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

49:16-20 The wicked might have rich, luxurious lives, but they forget that they cannot avoid death.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

applies this instruction. Be not anxious (Psa 37:1, &c.), since death cuts off the prosperous wicked whom you dread.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 16. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich] Do not be envious; do not grieve: it will do you no harm; it will do him no good. All he gets will be left behind; he can carry nothing with him. Even his glory must stay behind; he shall mingle with the common earth.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

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 their enemies, or to envy their evanescent prosperity; and as the best preservative against despondency, he would have them to direct their eyes habitually to the end of life. The effect of such a contemplation will be at once to check any impatience we might be apt to feel under our short-lived miseries, and to raise our minds in holy contempt above the boasted but delusory grandeur of the wicked. That this may not impose upon our minds, the prophet recalls us to the consideration of the subject of death — that event which is immediately at hand, and which no sooner arrives than it strips them of their false glory, and consigns them to the tomb. So much is implied in the words, He shall not carry away all these things when he dieth Be their lives ever so illustrious in the eyes of their fellow-creatures, this glory is necessarily bounded by the present world. The same truth is further asserted in the succeeding clause of the verse, His glory shall not descend after him Infatuated men may strain every nerve, as if in defiance of the very laws of nature, to perpetuate their glory after death, but they never can escape the corruption and nakedness of the tomb; for, in the language of the poet Juvenal, -

“Mots sola fatetur Quantula sint hominum corpuscula,” —

“It is death which forces us to confess how worthless the bodies of men are.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(16, 17) After expressing his own hopes of escaping from death, or being rescued from corruption, the psalmist recurs to the question of Psa_49:5, and completes the answer to it. He need not fear, however prosperous and wealthy his adversaries become, for they will die, and, dying, can take none of their possessions with them.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

16. Be not thou afraid] The Psalmist addresses himself, repeating the question of Psa_49:5 in the form of an exhortation (the Heb. word is the same), or any individual who is listening to him.

glory] The magnificence and splendour which accompany wealth. Cp. Pro_3:16; Pro_8:18.

16–20. The rich man cannot carry his wealth with him when he dies. The thought already expressed in Psa_49:10 is resumed and further developed.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich,.... Who before was poor, or not so rich; but now become so, either by inheritance, or by his own diligence and industry, through the permission of Providence. This is to be understood, not of a good man, from whom oppression is not to be feared; but it may be hoped he will do good with his riches, by relieving the poor, and ministering to the support of the interest of religion, and using what power and authority he may have in defence of it: but it is to be interpreted of a wicked man; of one who neither fears God, nor regards man; who makes an ill use of his riches, power, and authority, to the oppression of the poor, and the persecution of the saints, and who seeks to be feared when he is not loved; see Pro 28:12; but the people of God should not be afraid when this is the case, since God is their strength, their light, and their salvation; and since wicked men can go no further than permitted, and at most can do no more than kill the body; see Psa 27:1; these words are an apostrophe of the psalmist, either to his own soul, or to the saints, and every particular believer;

when the glory of his house is increased; either the same with riches, so called, Gen 31:1; because men are apt to glory in them, and for the most part obtain honour and glory from men by them; or children, and an increase of them, and especially when they come to honour; as also the advancement of themselves to high places of honour and trust; as well as additional buildings, large stately edifices, to make them look great, and perpetuate their names.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich - Do not dread the power derived from wealth; do not fear anything which a man can do merely because he is rich. The original is, “when a “man” becomes rich.” The allusion is not necessarily to a bad man, though that is implied in the whole passage, since there is no reason for fearing a “good” man, whether he is rich or poor. The only thing that seems to have been apprehended in the mind of the psalmist was that power of doing injury to others, or of employing means to injure others, which wealth confers on a bad man. The psalmist here changes the form of the expression, no longer referring to himself, and to his own feelings, as in the former part of the psalm, but making an application of the whole course of thought to others, showing them, as the result of his own reflection and observation, that no man had any real cause for dread and alarm when riches increased in the hands of the wicked. The reasons why this power should not be feared are stated in the following verses.

When the glory of his house is increased - Rich people often lavish much of their wealth on their dwellings; on the dwelling itself; on the furniture; on the grounds and appendages of their habitation. This is evidently referred to here as “the “glory” of their house;” as that which would be adapted to make an impression of the power and rank of its possessor.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Afraid, i.e. discouraged or dejected. The prosperity of the sinners is oft matter of fear and dread to good men; partly because it enables them to do more mischief; and partly because it shakes their faith in God’s providence and promises, and is apt to engender suspicions in men’s minds, as if God did not regard the actions and affairs of men, and made no difference between the good and the bad, and consequently all religion were vain and unprofitable. See Psa 73:12,13.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Ver. 16. In these last verses the psalmist becomes a preacher, and gives admonitory lessons which he has himself gathered from experience. Be not thou afraid when one is made rich. Let it not give thee any concern to see the godless prosper. Raise no questions as to divine justice; suffer no foreboding to cloud thy mind. Temporal prosperity is too small a matter to be worth fretting about; let the dogs have their bones, and the swine their draff. When the glory of his house is increased. Though the sinner and his family are in great esteem, and stand exceedingly high, never mind; all things will be righted in due time. Only those whose judgment is worthless will esteem men the more because their lands are broader; those who are highly estimated for such unreasonable reasons will find their level ere long, when truth and righteousness come to the fore.

None.

None.

Psalms 49:17*

Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

16-20. The remainder of the psalm is a hortatory application, with a partial rehearsal of what has been already said.

Be not thou afraid—His argument has triumphed over doubt, and from the negative form of reasoning, and the contingent proposition, (Psa_49:5,) “Wherefore should I fear?” the psalmist advances to the positive “be not afraid of,” or, thou shall not fear, the prosperous wicked.

For when he dieth—The particle “for,” here takes its usual causal sense, because when he dieth, or, because in his dying, not all shall he take, not all his glory shall descend after him. Clearly this shows that the eye of the writer is still on the final result of things, the rewards of the life to come. The wicked are not here supposed, as a common order, or as a certainty, to be disrobed of their wealth and power till in dying. Here only is his certain judgment. Compare Luk_16:25, “Thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things,” etc.

They shall never see light—Hebrew, for ever they shall not see light. “Light,” here, is to be taken spiritually for joy, hope, prosper-ity, blessedness, as in Job_18:5; Psa_97:11; Psa_112:4; Isa_60:1. This, applying to the wicked after death, as a hopeless deprivation, has no doubtful meaning. The opposite of this is the blessedness of the righteous. On these grounds the faith and hope of the Church rest, and endure the reproach of the world and the struggle of the ages against wickedness and wicked persecutors.

Understandeth not—Is ignorant or inconsiderate of his honourable rank in creation, and the glorious end for which he was made.

Like the beasts—The similitude here is in the want of understanding, that is, spiritual wisdom. Both live lives of appetite and instinct, with no evidence of hope in a higher destiny. In Psa_49:12 the resemblance was in their common mortality.

Perish—Is not in the original, which simply reads, “He has been like the beasts, they have been alike.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 16-20. The conclusion "repeats and confirms the general lessons of the psalm." Ver. 16 is a categorical answer to the doubt propounded in ver. 5. Vers. 17-19 are an echo of ver. 14, and at the same time a counterpoise to the views put forth in vers. 6, 11. Ver. 20 is a repetition, but with an important modification, of ver. 12.

Be not thou afraid when one is made rich (see vers. 5, 6). There is no ground for fear, nor even for perplexity, when the wicked grow rich and prosper. Their wealth will not ransom their souls (vers. 7-9). They cannot take it with them to another world (ver. 17). They will have no advantage from it there. On the contrary, their misery in another world will be such as to far outweigh any enjoyment which they may have had on earth (vers. 14, 19). When the glory of his house is increased (see ver. 11).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Afraid - Discouraged.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

the glory of his house increases

The word "glory" here refers to wealth or riches. Possible meanings are 1) "when he gains more wealth in his house" or 2) "when his family becomes richer."

he will take nothing away

"he will take nothing with him to the grave"

his glory will not go down after him

The phrase "go down" refers to when the man dies. AT: "his glory will not go along with him when he dies" or "he will not keep his reputation when he dies" (See: Euphemism)

translationWords

house

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

But God will redeem my soul But I, who have bent my ear to the parable—God will redeem my soul so that I do not go to the grave, because He will take me in my lifetime to go in His ways.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.