46 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
46 lines
1.7 KiB
Markdown
# Chapter 49
|
||
1 Listen to this, all you people!
|
||
Pay attention, everyone in the world!
|
||
2 High and low,
|
||
rich and poor—listen!
|
||
3 For my words are wise,
|
||
and my thoughts are filled with insight.
|
||
4 I listen carefully to many proverbs
|
||
and solve riddles with inspiration from a harp.
|
||
5 Why should I fear when trouble comes,
|
||
when enemies surround me?
|
||
6 They trust in their wealth
|
||
and boast of great riches.
|
||
7 Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death
|
||
by paying a ransom to God.
|
||
8 Redemption does not come so easily,
|
||
for no one can ever pay enough
|
||
9 to live forever
|
||
and never see the grave.
|
||
10 Those who are wise must finally die,
|
||
just like the foolish and senseless,
|
||
leaving all their wealth behind.
|
||
11 The grave is their eternal home,
|
||
where they will stay forever.
|
||
They may name their estates after themselves,
|
||
12 but their fame will not last.
|
||
They will die, just like animals.
|
||
13 This is the fate of fools,
|
||
though they are remembered as being wise. Interlude
|
||
14 Like sheep, they are led to the grave,
|
||
where death will be their shepherd.
|
||
In the morning the godly will rule over them.
|
||
Their bodies will rot in the grave,
|
||
far from their grand estates.
|
||
15 But as for me, God will redeem my life.
|
||
He will snatch me from the power of the grave. Interlude
|
||
16 So don’t be dismayed when the wicked grow rich
|
||
and their homes become ever more splendid.
|
||
17 For when they die, they take nothing with them.
|
||
Their wealth will not follow them into the grave.
|
||
18 In this life they consider themselves fortunate
|
||
and are applauded for their success.
|
||
19 But they will die like all before them
|
||
and never again see the light of day.
|
||
20 People who boast of their wealth don’t understand;
|
||
they will die, just like animals. |