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Bible study · Psalm 49:1-20

Psalm 49: No payment is ever enough

Read Psalm 49:1-20 before you meet.

In a few lines

"None of them can by any means redeem his brother" (49:7) and "But God will redeem my soul" (49:15) use the same Hebrew word, yifdeh. And the refrain changes: man "doesn’t endure" (49:12), then a man "without understanding" (49:20), and the two Hebrew verbs, yalin and yavin, are a single letter apart.

The verse to carry

“But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol, for he will receive me. Selah.”

Psalm 49:15

To talk about

  1. 1. "Why should I fear in the days of evil?" (49:5). When people with money or power seem to hold all the cards, what does this psalm give you to stand on?

  2. 2. "For when he dies he will carry nothing away" (49:17). What are you working hardest to build right now, and how does this line change the way you see it?

  3. 3. "None of them can by any means redeem his brother" (49:7), "But God will redeem my soul" (49:15). Where are you tempted to trust what you have, rather than God, for what only he can do?

Prayer requests