Why read Psalm 48?
Psalm 48 invites reflection on the limits of wealth and status. Its reminder that riches cannot buy release from death encourages discernment about what deserves our deepest trust.
You can read this psalm when its themes speak to your circumstances, or as part of your regular reading of the Psalter. This explanation draws on the text itself; the psalm is not reserved for one particular need.
Psalm 48 opens the heart with the cry "Hear this, all ye nations; give ear, all ye...". It is one of the 21-verse psalms of the Seventh Kathisma, and it is said both at the services and in prayer at home — the Psalter being the constant companion of the Orthodox Christian. The Orthodox Septuagint numbering is retained: this Psalm 48 corresponds to Psalm 49 in the Hebrew numbering.
The text of Psalm 48
1. Hear this, all ye nations; give ear, all ye that dwell in the world:
2. Ye earthly-born and sons of men, the rich and the poor together.
3. My mouth shall speak wisdom, and the meditation of my heart understanding.
4. I shall incline mine ear unto a parable; I shall unfold my thought upon the psaltery.
5. Wherefore shall I fear in an evil day, when the iniquity of mine enemies shall compass me about?
6. They trust in their own strength and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.
7. Yet no man can escape death, nor pay God a ransom,
8. For the ransom of the soul is too costly, and it can never be accomplished,
9. That one should live for ever and never see death.
10. Every man seeth that the wise die, likewise the senseless and the foolish shall perish, and they leave their riches to others.
11. Their grave shall be their house for ever, their dwelling-place from generation to generation, though they have called their lands after their own names.
12. And man, being in honour, did not understand; he is compared unto the foolish beasts and is become like unto them.
13. This way is a stumbling-block for them and for those who approve their words.
14. Like sheep they are laid in hell; death shall feed upon them.
15. And the righteous shall have dominion over them, and the help they hoped for from their glory shall grow old in hell.
16. But God will deliver my soul from the hand of hell, when I am seized.
17. Fear not when a man becometh rich, and when the glory of his house is multiplied.
18. For in his death he shall take nothing away, neither shall his glory descend with him.
19. Though his soul blesseth itself in his lifetime, and he shall praise thee when thou doest him good,
20. He shall go in to the generations of his fathers, and unto everlasting he shall not see light.
21. Man being in honour did not understand; he is compared unto the foolish beasts and is become like unto them.
When Psalm 48 is read
- It belongs to the Seventh Kathisma and is read in the course of the Psalter at the services; the faithful read it during fasts and in times of need.
- At the end of each psalm, the tradition adds: "Glory to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, both now and ever and unto the ages of ages. Amen."
Neighbouring psalms
The numbering follows the Orthodox Psalter (Septuagint). The same psalm may have a different number in other Bible editions.
