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Monday, October 14th, 2024
the Week of Proper 23 / Ordinary 28
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New Living Translation

Psalms 49:7

Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Boasting;   Confidence;   Death;   Immortality;   Ransom;   Works;   Thompson Chain Reference - Boasting;   Humility-Pride;   The Topic Concordance - Folly;   Trust;   Uprightness;   Wealth;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Redemption;   Riches;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Korah;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Death, Mortality;   Life;   Redeem, Redemption;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Hope;   Redeem, Redemption, Redeemer;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - English Versions;   Eschatology;   Greek Versions of Ot;   Korah, Korahites;   Psalms;   Sin;   Wealth;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Eschatology (2);   Ransom;   Ransom (2);   Redemption;   Sinlessness;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Ransom;   Redemption;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Ransom;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - God;   Korah;   Psalms the book of;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Brother;   Ransom;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Ransom;   Relationships, Family;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - God;  

Parallel Translations

English Revised Version
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Update Bible Version
None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him;
New Century Version
No one can buy back the life of another. No one can pay God for his own life,
New English Translation
Certainly a man cannot rescue his brother; he cannot pay God an adequate ransom price
Webster's Bible Translation
None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
World English Bible
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give God a ransom for him.
Amplified Bible
None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him—
English Standard Version
Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A brother ayenbieth not, schal a man ayenbie? and he schal not yyue to God his plesyng.
Berean Standard Bible
No man can possibly redeem his brother or pay his ransom to God.
Contemporary English Version
You cannot buy back your life or pay off God!
American Standard Version
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him
Bible in Basic English
Truly, no man may get back his soul for a price, or give to God the payment for himself;
Complete Jewish Bible
the evil of those who rely on their wealth and boast how rich they are?
Darby Translation
None can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him,
Easy-to-Read Version
But no one has enough to buy back a life, and you cannot bribe God.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Of them that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches?
King James Version (1611)
None of them can by any meanes redeeme his brother, nor giue to God a ransome for him:
New Life Bible
No man can save his brother. No man can pay God enough to save him.
New Revised Standard
Truly, no ransom avails for one's life, there is no price one can give to God for it.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Yet a man can by no meanes redeeme his brother: he can not giue his raunsome to God,
George Lamsa Translation
A brother cannot save a brother, nor can a man give to God a ransom for himself;
Good News Translation
We can never redeem ourselves; we cannot pay God the price for our lives,
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
A brother, can none of them, redeem, he cannot give unto God a ransom for himself:
Douay-Rheims Bible
(48-8) No brother can redeem, nor shall man redeem: he shall not give to God his ransom,
Revised Standard Version
Truly no man can ransom himself, or give to God the price of his life,
Bishop's Bible (1568)
But no man at all can redeeme his brother: nor geue a raunsome vnto God for hym.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
A brother does not redeem, shall a man redeem? he shall not give to God a ransom for himself,
Christian Standard Bible®
Yet these cannot redeem a personor pay his ransom to God—
Hebrew Names Version
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give God a ransom for him.
King James Version
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Lexham English Bible
Surely a man cannot redeem a brother. He cannot give to God his ransom
Literal Translation
A man cannot at all redeem a brother, nor give to God a ransom for him,
Young's Literal Translation
A brother doth no one at all ransom, He doth not give to God his atonement.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
No man maye deliuer his brother, ner make agrement for him vnto God.
THE MESSAGE
Really! There's no such thing as self-rescue, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. The cost of rescue is beyond our means, and even then it doesn't guarantee Life forever, or insurance against the Black Hole.
New American Standard Bible
No one can by any means redeem another Or give God a ransom for him—
New King James Version
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him--
New American Standard Bible (1995)
No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him—
Legacy Standard Bible
Truly, no man can redeem his brother;He cannot give to God a ransom for him—

Contextual Overview

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.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

give: Matthew 16:26, Matthew 20:28, 1 Timothy 2:6, 1 Peter 1:18

Reciprocal: Genesis 5:5 - and he died Genesis 47:29 - must die Exodus 30:12 - a ransom Leviticus 25:31 - they may be redeemed 1 Kings 20:39 - or else Job 5:20 - redeem Job 6:23 - Redeem Job 21:16 - Lo Job 31:24 - General Job 33:24 - I Job 34:19 - regardeth Job 36:18 - then Psalms 26:11 - redeem Psalms 89:48 - What Jeremiah 48:7 - because Matthew 19:23 - That Matthew 25:9 - lest Mark 8:37 - General Mark 10:24 - trust Luke 6:24 - woe Luke 7:42 - when John 11:39 - Lord Philippians 3:11 - by

Cross-References

Genesis 49:1
Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, "Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.
Genesis 49:9
Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
Genesis 49:22
"Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey, the foal of a wild donkey at a spring— one of the wild donkeys on the ridge.
Genesis 49:24
But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
Genesis 49:25
May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.
Genesis 49:28
These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message.
Genesis 49:31
There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah.
2 Samuel 13:15
Then suddenly Amnon's love turned to hate, and he hated her even more than he had loved her. "Get out of here!" he snarled at her.
1 Chronicles 6:65
The towns in the territories of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin, mentioned above, were assigned to them by means of sacred lots.
Proverbs 27:3
A stone is heavy and sand is weighty, but the resentment caused by a fool is even heavier.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother,.... That is, "with their substance", or "riches", as the Targum and Jarchi supply. Some, according to the order of the words in the original, render them, "a brother redeeming cannot redeem a man", or "anyone" q: but, as Aben Ezra observes, אח, "a brother", is the effect, and

איש, "a man", is the cause. The Targum is, "his brother that is a captive, a man redeeming cannot redeem with his substance"; or by any means redeem. Indeed a rich man may redeem his brother from debt, or from a prison, into which he is cast for it, by paying his debts for him; or from thraldom and bondage, being taken captive and becoming a prisoner of war, by giving a ransom for him. This he may do with respect to man; but, with respect to God, he cannot, with all his riches, pay the debts he owes to the law and justice of God; nor free him from his bondage to sin, Satan, and the law, by whom he is held a captive. The sense here is, that he cannot redeem him from death; he cannot, with all his money, secure him from dying; nor, when dead, bring him back from the grave; and much less deliver him from eternal death, or wrath to come; this only God can do, see Psalms 49:15;

nor give to God a ransom for him; a ransom to redeem from sin, and so from the curse of the law and eternal death, must be given to God, against whom sin is committed, the lawgiver that is able to save and destroy; whose law is transgressed by it, and must be fulfilled; and whose justice is affronted and injured, and must be satisfied; and who is the creditor to whom men are debtors, and therefore the payment must be made to him. Hence our Lord Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of his people, paid the ransom price to God, and offered himself a sacrifice to him; see Ephesians 5:2. But this ransom is not of man's giving, but of God's; it is of his finding out in his infinite wisdom: he set forth and sent forth Christ to be the ransom or "propitiation" r, as the word here used signifies; and Christ came to give his life and himself a ransom for many, and is the propitiation for their sins: and this is a sufficient one, a plenteous redemption, and there needs no other, not is there any other; there were typical atonements under the law, but there is no real atonement, propitiation, or ransom, but by the precious blood of Christ; not by corruptible things, as silver and gold; with these a man cannot give to God a ransom for himself, or for his brother.

q So Cocceius; and some in Michaelis. r כפרו "propitiationem suam", Pagninus, Montanus.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

None of them can bid any means redeem his brother - None of those who are rich. This verse might be literally rendered, “a brother cannot by redeeming redeem; a man cannot give to God his own ransom.” The passage, therefore, may mean either, as in our version, that no one, however rich, can redeem a brother - his own brother - by his wealth; or, that a brother - one who sustains the relation of a brother - cannot rescue another from death. On the word “redeem,” see Psalms 25:22, note; Isaiah 43:3, note. It means here that he could not rescue him, or save him from the grave; he could not by his wealth preserve him in life. The whole expression is emphatic: “redeeming he cannot redeem;” that is - according to Hebrew usage - he cannot “possibly” do it; it “cannot” be done. There is here no particular reference to the “means” to be employed, but only an emphatic statement of the fact that “it cannot by any possibility be done.” The object is to show how powerless and valueless is wealth in regard to the things that most pertain to a man’s welfare. It can do literally “nothing” in that which most deeply affects man, and in which he most needs help. There is no allusion here to the redemption of the soul, or to the great work of redemption, as that term is commonly understood; but it “is” true, in the highest sense, that if wealth cannot “redeem” life, or keep our best and nearest friend from the grave, much less can it avail in that which is so much more important, and so much more difficult, the redemption of the soul from eternal ruin. Here, also, as in the matter of saving from the grave, it is absolutely true that wealth can do “nothing” - literally, “nothing” - in saving the soul of its possessor, or in enabling its possessor to save his best friend. Nothing but the blood of the cross can avail then; and the wealth of the richest can do no more here than the poverty of the poorest.

Nor give to God a ransom for him - This would be more literally rendered, “a man cannot give to God his ransom;” that is, he cannot, though in the possession of the most ample wealth, give to God that which would purchase his own release from the grave. On the word “ransom,” see as above, the notes at Isaiah 43:3. Compare Matthew 16:26.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Psalms 49:7. None of them can by any means redeem his brother — Wealth cannot save from death; brother, however rich, cannot save his brother; nor will God accept riches as a ransom for the life or soul of any transgressor. To procure health of body, peace of mind, redemption from death, and eternal glory, riches are sought for and applied in vain.


 
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