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Christian Standard Bible ®

Psalms 49:7

Yet these cannot redeem a personor pay his 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

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:
English Standard Version
Truly no man can ransom another, or give to God the price of his life,
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
Amplified Bible
None of them can by any means redeem [either himself or] his brother, Nor give to God a ransom for him—
New American Standard Bible
No one can by any means redeem another Or give 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.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Yet a man can by no meanes redeeme his brother: he can not giue his raunsome to God,
Legacy Standard Bible
Truly, no man can redeem his brother;He cannot give to God a ransom for him—
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!
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.
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,
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,
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
No man maye deliuer his brother, ner make agrement for him vnto 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;
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:
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,
English Revised Version
None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
A brother ayenbieth not, schal a man ayenbie? and he schal not yyue to God his plesyng.
Update Bible Version
None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him;
Webster's Bible Translation
None [of them] can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to 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 Living Translation
Yet they cannot redeem themselves from death by paying a ransom to God.
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.
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,
Young's Literal Translation
A brother doth no one at all ransom, He doth not give to God his atonement.
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 (1995)
No man can by any means redeem his brother Or give to God a ransom for him—

Contextual Overview

6They trust in their wealthand boast of their abundant riches. 7Yet these cannot redeem a personor pay his ransom to God—8since the price of redeeming him is too costly,one should forever stop trying— 9so that he may live foreverand not see the Pit. 10For one can see that the wise die;the foolish and stupid also pass away.Then they leave their wealth to others. 11Their graves are their permanent homes,their dwellings from generation to generation,though they have named estates after themselves. 12But despite his assets, mankind will not last;he is like the animals that perish. 13This is the way of those who are arrogant,and of their followers,who approve of their words.Selah 14Like sheep they are headed for Sheol;Death will shepherd them.The upright will rule over them in the morning,and their form will waste away in Sheol,far from their lofty abode.

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 his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
Genesis 49:9
Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the kill.He crouches; he lies down like a lionor a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
Genesis 49:22
Joseph is a fruitful vine,a fruitful vine beside a spring;its branches climb over the wall.
Genesis 49:24
Yet his bow remained steady,and his strong arms were made agileby the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
Genesis 49:25
by the God of your father who helps you,and by the Almighty who blesses youwith blessings of the heavens above,blessings of the deep that lies below,and blessings of the breasts and the womb.
Genesis 49:28
These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.
Genesis 49:31
Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there.
2 Samuel 13:15
So Amnon hated Tamar with such intensity that the hatred he hated her with was greater than the love he had loved her with. “Get out of here!” he said.
1 Chronicles 6:65
They assigned by lot the towns named above from the tribes of the descendants of Judah, Simeon, and Benjamin.
Proverbs 27:3
A stone is heavy and sand, a burden,but aggravation from a fool outweighs them both.

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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