NSB(i)
1 ([Sons of Korah]) Listen to this, all you people. Open your ears, all who live in the world.
2 Listen you common people and important ones, rich people and poor ones.
3 My mouth will speak wisdom. I have carefully considered understanding (insights).
4 I will incline my ear (turn my attention) to a proverb. I will explain my riddle with the music of a harp.
5 Why should I be afraid in times of trouble, when slanderers surround me with evil?
6 They trust their riches and brag about their abundant wealth.
7 No one can ever redeem (buy back) his brother or pay God a ransom for his life.
8 The price to be paid for him is so costly it can never be paid
9 so they should live forever and never see the grave (pit) (destruction).
10 One can see that wise people die, that foolish and stupid people meet the same end. They leave their wealth to others.
11 Inwardly they think their houses are forever, their dwelling place to all generations. So they named their lands after themselves.
12 But mortals will not continue here with what they treasure. They are like animals that die.
13 This is the final outcome for fools and their followers who are delighted by what they say:
14 Like sheep, they are laid in the grave. Death will shepherd them. The upright will rule them in the morning. Their forms will decay in the grave, far away from their comfortable homes.
15 But God will redeem me (buy me back) from the power of the grave because he will receive me.
16 Do not be afraid when someone becomes rich, when the greatness of his house increases.
17 He will not take anything with him when he dies. Even his greatness cannot follow him.
18 Even though he blesses himself while he is alive. (People will praise you when you do well for yourself.)
19 He must join the generation of his ancestors who will never see light again.
20 Mortals, with what they treasure, still do not have understanding. They are like animals that die.