Psalms 89:48

New King James Version

What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of the grave?Selah

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
What courageous person can live and never see death?Who can save himself from the power of Sheol?Selah

Hebrew Names Version
What man is he who shall live and not see death, Who shall deliver his soul from the power of She'ol? Selah.

King James Version
What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

English Standard Version
What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

New Century Version
What person alive will not die? Who can escape the grave? Selah

New English Translation
No man can live on without experiencing death, or deliver his life from the power of Sheol. (Selah)

Amplified Bible
What man can live and not see death? Can he rescue his soul from the [powerful] hand of Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead)? Selah.

New American Standard Bible
What man can live and not see death? Can he save his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

World English Bible
What man is he who shall live and not see death, Who shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

Geneva Bible (1587)
What man liueth, and shall not see death? shall hee deliuer his soule from the hande of the graue? Selah.

Legacy Standard Bible
What man can live and not see death?Can he provide his soul escape from the power of Sheol? Selah.

Berean Standard Bible
What man can live and never see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

Contemporary English Version
No one can escape the power of death and the grave.

Complete Jewish Bible
Remember how little time I have! Was it for no purpose that you created all humanity?

Darby Translation
What man liveth, and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

Easy-to-Read Version
Is there anyone alive who will never die? Will anyone escape the grave? Selah

George Lamsa Translation
Who is the man who lives and shall not see death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol?

Good News Translation
Who can live and never die? How can we humans keep ourselves from the grave?

Lexham English Bible
What man can live on and not see death? Can he deliver his life from the power of Sheol? Selah

Literal Translation
What man lives and never sees death? Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of Sheol? Selah.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
O remembre how shorte my tyme is, hast thou made all men for naught?

American Standard Version
What man is he that shall live and not see death, That shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

Bible in Basic English
What man now living will not see death? will he be able to keep back his soul from the underworld? (Selah.)

JPS Old Testament (1917)
O remember how short my time is; for what vanity hast Thou created all the children of men!

King James Version (1611)
What man is he that liueth, and shall not see death? shall he deliuer his soule from the hand of the graue? Selah.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
What man is he that lyueth and shall not see death? can he delyuer his owne soule from the hande of hell? Selah.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
What man is there who shall live, and not see death? shall any one deliver his soul from the hand of Hades? Pause.

English Revised Version
What man is he that shall live and not see death, that shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Who is a man, that schal lyue, and schal not se deth; schal delyuere his soule fro the hond of helle?

Update Bible Version
What [prominent] man is he that shall live and not see death, That shall deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

Webster's Bible Translation
What man [is he that] liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? Selah.

New Living Translation
No one can live forever; all will die. No one can escape the power of the grave. Interlude

New Life Bible
What man can live and not see death? Can he save himself from the power of the grave?

New Revised Standard
Who can live and never see death? Who can escape the power of Sheol? Selah

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Who is the man that shall live, and not see death? That can deliver his soul from the hand of hades. Selah.

Douay-Rheims Bible
(88-49) Who is the man that shall live, and not see death: that shall deliver his soul from the hand of hell?

Revised Standard Version
What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? [Selah]

Young's Literal Translation
Who [is] the man that liveth, and doth not see death? He delivereth his soul from the hand of Sheol. Selah.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
What man can live and not see death? Can he deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah.

Contextual Overview

³⁸ But You have cast off and abhorred, You have been furious with Your anointed. ³⁹ You have renounced the covenant of Your servant; You have profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. ⁴⁰ You have broken down all his hedges; You have brought his strongholds to ruin. ⁴¹ All who pass by the way plunder him; He is a reproach to his neighbors. ⁴² You have exalted the right hand of his adversaries; You have made all his enemies rejoice. ⁴³ You have also turned back the edge of his sword, And have not sustained him in the battle. ⁴⁴ You have made his glory cease, And cast his throne down to the ground. ⁴⁵ The days of his youth You have shortened; You have covered him with shame.Selah ⁴⁶ How long, LORD? Will You hide Yourself forever? Will Your wrath burn like fire? ⁴⁷ Remember how short my time is; For what futility have You created all the children of men?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

What: Psalms 49:7-9, Job 30:23, Ecclesiastes 3:19, Ecclesiastes 3:20, Ecclesiastes 8:8, Ecclesiastes 9:5, Ecclesiastes 12:7, Hebrews 9:27

see death: John 8:51, Hebrews 11:5

shall: Psalms 49:15, Acts 2:27, 2 Corinthians 4:14

Reciprocal: Genesis 5:5 - and he died Genesis 47:9 - an hundred Genesis 47:29 - must die 1 Kings 2:2 - I go Job 3:14 - kings Psalms 49:9 - That he Psalms 119:84 - How Ecclesiastes 1:4 - One generation Luke 2:26 - see death Acts 13:35 - to see 1 Corinthians 15:55 - is thy victory Hebrews 2:15 - deliver

Gill's Notes on the Bible

What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death?.... Every living man must die; as sure as a man lives, so sure he shall die: be he strong and mighty, as the word signifies, or weak and sickly; be he high or low, rich or poor, prince or peasant, righteous or wicked; persons of all ranks, states, and conditions, age or sex, must die; for all have sinned; and it is the appointment of God that they should die, and very few are the exceptions; as Enoch and Elijah, and those that will be found alive at Christ's coming:

shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave; either from going down into it, or coming under the power of it; so the Targum,

"what man is he that shall live, and shall not see the angel of death (Hebrews 2:14) shall he deliver his soul from his hand, that he should not go down to the house of his grave?''

or deliver himself from the power of it, when in it; that is, raise himself from the dead: none ever did this, or ever can: Christ indeed undertook, and has promised, to redeem his people from the power of the grave, upon which they have believed they should be delivered; see

Hosea 13:14, but if Christ rose not himself, which was the thing now in question, how could it be? the case stands thus; every man must die; no man can raise himself from the dead; if Christ rise not, everyone must continue under the power of the grave; for then there could be no resurrection.

Selah. Hosea 13:14- :.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

What man is he that liveth, and shall not see death? - Shall not die - to see death being an expression often used to denote death itself. Death is represented as a real object, now invisible, but which will make itself visible to us when we die. The meaning here is, “All men are mortal; this universal law must apply to kings as well as to other men; in a short time he to whom these promises pertain will pass away from the earth; and the promises made to him cannot then be fulfilled.”

Shall he deliver his soul from the hand of the grave? - His life. Will he be able to deliver that from the power of the grave; in Hebrew, שׁאול sh^e'ôl. Death - the grave - Sheol - asserts a universal dominion over mankind, and no one can be rescued from that stern power.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 89:48. What man is he that liveth — All men are mortal, and death is uncertain and no man, by wisdom, might, or riches, can deliver his life from the hand-the power, of death and the grave.