both low and high, rich and poor together.
Parallel Translations
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both low and high, rich and poor together.
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Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
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(49-3) Both low and high, rich and poor together.
Cross-references (8)
Passages linked to Psalms 49:2 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 62:9 Surely men of low degree are just a breath, and men of high degree are a lie. In the balances they will go up. They are together lighter than a breath.
- James 2:1-7 My brothers, don’t hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ of glory with partiality. For if a man with a gold ring, in fine clothing, comes into your synagogue, and a poor man in filthy clothing also comes in, and you pay special attention to him who wears the fine clothing and say, “Sit here in a good place;” and you tell the poor man, “Stand there,” or “Sit by my footstool” haven’t you shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him? But you have dishonored the poor man. Don’t the rich oppress you, and personally drag you before the courts? Don’t they blaspheme the honorable name by which you are called?
- 1 Samuel 2:7-8 Yahweh makes poor and makes rich. He brings low, he also lifts up. He raises up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the needy from the dunghill to make them sit with princes and inherit the throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are Yahweh’s. He has set the world on them.
- Job 34:19 He doesn’t respect the persons of princes, nor respect the rich more than the poor; for they all are the work of his hands.
- Proverbs 22:2 The rich and the poor have this in common: Yahweh is the maker of them all.
- Jeremiah 5:4-5 Then I said, “Surely these are poor. They are foolish; for they don’t know the Yahweh’s way, nor the law of their God. I will go to the great men and will speak to them, for they know the way of Yahweh, and the law of their God.” But these with one accord have broken the yoke, and burst the bonds.
- James 1:9-11 But let the brother in humble circumstances glory in his high position; and the rich, in that he is made humble, because like the flower in the grass, he will pass away. For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So the rich man will also fade away in his pursuits.
- Revelation 6:15-17 The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. They told the mountains and the rocks, “Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (8 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Psa 49:2 Both low and high, rich and poor,…
Psa 49:2 Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
Ver. 2. Both low and high, rich and poor together] Heb. Both sons of Adam, or earthy man, and sons of Ish, or nobleman
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quorum
Ex meliore luto finxit praecordia Titan.
Diogenes once made a like outcry at Athens, Aκουσατε ανδρες, Hear, O ye men; and when a company came about him expecting what he would say to them, he looked upon them and said, Aνδρας εκαλεσα ου ακθαρματα, I called for men, and not for slaves (varlets).
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.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Both low and high,.... Or "both the sons of…
Both low and high,.... Or "both the sons of Adam and the sons of men". By the sons of "Adam" are meant the multitude of the people, as Ben Melech explains it; the common people, the meaner sort, the base things of this world; and such are they, generally speaking, who are called by grace under the Gospel dispensation: and by "the sons of men" are meant the princes, nobles, and great men of the earth; men of high birth and illustrious extraction: so Adam is rendered, "the mean man", and "Ish", the word here used, "the great man", in Isa 2:9. And though not many, yet some of this sort are called by grace; and all of them have a peculiar concern in many things spoken of in this psalm; see Psa 49:12;
rich and poor together: these are called upon to hearken to what is after said, that the one may not be elated with and trust in their riches, and that the other may not be dejected on account of their poverty; and seeing both must die, and meet together at the judgment day; and inasmuch as the Gospel is preached to one as to another; and for the most part the poor hear it, receive it, and are called by it.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Both low and high - Those alike of humble…
Both low and high - Those alike of humble and those of exalted rank, for it pertains equally to all. On the meaning of the “terms” employed here, see the notes at Isa 2:9. These truths pertained to the “low;” that is, to those of humble rank, as teaching them not to envy the rich, and not to fear their power; and they pertained to those of exalted rank, as teaching them not to trust in their riches, and not to suppose that they could permanently possess and enjoy them.
Rich and poor together - As equally interested in these truths; that is, What the psalmist was about to say was adapted to impart useful lessons to both classes. Both needed instruction on the subject; and the same class of truths was adapted to furnish that instruction. The class of truths referred to was derived from the powerlessness of wealth in regard to the things of most importance to man, and from the fact that all which a man can gain must soon be left: teaching those of one class that they should not set their heart on wealth, and should not pride themselves on possessing it, and teaching the other class that they should not envy or fear the possessor of riches.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 2. Low and high—The classifications of this verse are…
2. Low and high—The classifications of this verse are intended, by mentioning the extreme orders of society, to comprehend all the intermediate ranks also, without exception. They are specifications under the general terms “all nations,” “all inhabitants of the age.” See note on Psa_4:2
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 2. Both low and high] So the A.V. rightly…
2. Both low and high] So the A.V. rightly paraphrases the Heb. sons of mankind (âdâm) and sons of men (’îsh): those whose personality is lost in the common multitude, and those who are individually distinguished; plebeians and patricians. Adâm corresponds to ἄνθρωπος, homo; ’îsh to ἀνήρ, vir. Cp. Psa_4:2; Psa_62:9. The P.B.V. (high and low) wrongly inverts the meanings.
rich and poor together] The rich that they may recognise the vanity of riches, and take warning: the poor that they may learn to be contented with their lot, and not to envy the rich.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (2) Both high and low.—The two Hebrew expressions here…
(2) Both high and low.—The two Hebrew expressions here used, benê-âdam and benê-îsh, answer to one another much as homo and vir in Latin. The LXX. and Vulg., taking âdam in its primary sense, render “sons of the soil and sons of men.” Symmachus makes the expressions stand for men in general and men as individuals.
Shall be of understanding.—The copula supplied by the Authorised Version is unnecessary. The word rendered meditation may mean, from its etymology, “muttered thoughts,” and it is quite consistent to say, my musings speak of understanding. So LXX. and Vulgate.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Both high and low, rich and poor, together. The…
Both high and low, rich and poor, together. The teaching of the psalm concerns all ranks alike. To the great and rich it will carry warning; to the poor and lowly, consolation.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Charles H. Spurgeon 1885 · Public Domain Ver. 2. Both low and high, rich and poor,…
Ver. 2. Both low and high, rich and poor, together. Sons of great men, and children of mean men, men of large estate, and ye who pine in poverty, ye are all bidden to hear the inspired minstrel as he touches his harp to a mournful but instructive lay. The low will be encouraged, the high will be warned, the rich will be sobered, the poor consoled, there will be a useful lesson for each if they are willing to learn it. Our preaching ought to have a voice for all classes, and all should have an ear for it. To suit our word to the rich alone is wicked sycophancy, and to aim only at pleasing the poor is to act the part of a demagogue. Truth may be so spoken as to command the ear of all, and wise men seek to learn that acceptable style. Rich and poor must soon meet together in the grave, they may well be content to meet together now. In the congregation of the dead all differences of rank will be obliterated, they ought not now to be obstructions to united instructions.
Ver. 2. In this Psalm David, as it were, summons and divides mankind. In the first verse he summons: "Hear this, all ye people; give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world." In the second verse he divides: Both low and high, rich and poor, together. The word in the Hebrew for high is (vya ynb), bene ish, sons of Ish, and the word for low is (Mda ynb) bene Adam, sons of Adam. If we should translate the text directly, according to the letter, the words must run, sons of men and sons of men; for, sons of Adam and sons of Ish are both translated sons of men. Yet when they are set together in a way of opposition, the one signifieth low and the other high; and so our translators render it according to the sense, not sons of men and sons of men, but low and high. Junius translates to this sense, though in more words, as well they who are born of mean men, as they who are born of the honourable. Joseph Caryl.
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Ver. 2.
1. The common needs of rich and poor men.
2. The common privileges of rich and poor saints.
3. Their common service.
4. Their common heaven.
Psalms 49:3*
Charles H. Spurgeon's The Treasury of David (1869–1885) — public domain. Psalms only. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.