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¹ Hear this, all you peoples;
give ear, all you inhabitants of the world,
² both low and high,
rich and poor together.
³ My mouth will speak wisdom,
and the meditation of my heart will be understanding.
⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will propound^[b] my riddle on a lyre.
⁵ Why should I fear in times of calamity,^[c]
when iniquity surrounds me at my heels,
⁶ those who trust their wealth
and boast about the abundance of their riches?
⁷ Surely a man cannot redeem a brother.
He cannot give to God his ransom
⁸ (since^[d] the redemption price for their life is costly
and it always fails),
⁹ so that he may stay alive forever
and not see the pit.
¹⁰ For he sees that the wise die,
together with the fool and brute they perish,
and leave their wealth to the next generation.
¹¹ Within them they think their houses are forever,
their dwelling places from generation to generation.
They name^[e] their lands by their own names.
¹² But man cannot continue in his pomp.
He is like the beasts that perish.
¹³ This is the journey^[f] of those who have foolish confidence,
and those after them who accept their sayings. Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are destined to Sheol;
death will shepherd them.
But the upright will rule over them in the morning,
and their forms will be for Sheol to consume,
far from his lofty abode.
¹⁵ Surely God will ransom my life
from the power^[g] of Sheol,
because he will receive me. Selah
¹⁶ Do not fear when a man becomes rich,
when the wealth^[h] of his house increases,
¹⁷ because when he dies he will not take away any of it.
His wealth will not follow down after him.
¹⁸ Though he congratulated his soul while he was living
—and people will praise you when you do well for yourself—
¹⁹ it^[i] will go to the generation of his fathers.
Never will they see light.
²⁰ Humankind in its pomp, but does not understand,
is like the beasts that perish.