Why read Psalm 49?
Read Psalm 49 to examine whether your prayer is reflected in your actions. It calls for gratitude and righteous living, challenging religious words that are separated from honesty and good conduct.
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.
In the Seventh Kathisma of the Psalter, Psalm 49 awaits its reader with 24 verses of prayer rising out of a real experience. It begins with "The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken and called the earth..." — and from there on, everything is dialogue between man and God. The Orthodox Septuagint numbering is preserved: this Psalm 49 corresponds to Psalm 50 in Hebrew numbering.
The text of Psalm 49
1. The God of gods, the Lord hath spoken and called the earth,
2. From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof. Out of Sion is the beauty of His comeliness.
3. God shall come resplendent, our God, and shall not keep silence.
4. A fire shall go before Him, and round about Him a mighty tempest.
5. He shall call the heaven from above, and the earth, to judge His people.
6. Gather ye His saints together unto Him, those that have made a covenant with Him by sacrifices.
7. And the heavens shall declare His righteousness, for God is judge.
8. "Hear, O My people, and I will speak unto thee, O Israel!... And I will testify unto thee: I am God, even thy God.
9. I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices, and thy burnt-offerings are continually before Me.
10. I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he-goats out of thy flocks,
11. For all the beasts of the field are Mine, the cattle on the mountains and the oxen.
12. I know all the fowls of the air, and the beauty of the field is with Me.
13. If I were hungry, I would not tell it thee, for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof.
14. Shall I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
15. Offer unto God the sacrifice of praise, and pay thy vows unto the Most High.
16. And call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify Me".
17. But unto the wicked God hath said: "Why dost thou declare My ordinances, and takest My covenant in thy mouth?
18. Thou hast hated instruction, and hast cast My words behind thee.
19. If thou sawest a thief, thou didst run with him, and with the fornicator thou didst make thy portion.
20. Thy mouth hath multiplied wickedness, and thy tongue hath framed deceit.
21. Thou satest and spakest against thy brother, and against thine own mother's son thou didst lay a stumbling-block.
22. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; in thy lawlessness thou didst think that I would be like thee; I will reprove thee, and set thy sins before thy face.
23. Understand now therefore, this, ye that forget God, lest He pluck you away, and there be none to deliver.
24. The sacrifice of praise shall glorify Me, and there is the way wherein I will show him My salvation".
When Psalm 49 is read
- It belongs to the Seventh Kathisma; it is said in private prayer, especially for peace and understanding.
- 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.
