¹Y’all hear this, all peoples.

Y’all listen, all who inhabit the world,

²both low and high,

rich and poor together.

³My mouth will speak wisdom.

My heart will bring understanding.

⁴I will turn my ear to a proverb.

I will explain my riddle on the harp.

⁵Why should I fear in the days of evil,

when iniquity at my heels surrounds me?

⁶Those who trust in their wealth,

and boast in the multitude of their riches—

⁷none of them can redeem-redeem their brother,

nor give God a ransom for them.

⁸For the redemption of their life is costly,

no payment is ever enough,

⁹that they should live on forever,

that they should not see corruption.

¹⁰For everyone see that wise men die;

likewise the fool and the senseless perish,

and leave their wealth to others.

¹¹Their inward thought is that their houses will endure forever,

and their dwelling places to all generations.

They name their lands after themselves.

¹²But humankind, despite their riches, doesn’t endure.

They are like the animals that perish.

¹³This is the destiny of those who are foolish,

and of those who approve their sayings. Selah.

¹⁴They are appointed as a flock for Sheol.

Death will be their shepherd.

The upright will have dominion over them in the morning.

Their beauty will decay in Sheol,

far from their mansion.

¹⁵But God will redeem my soul from the power of Sheol,

for ʜᴇ will receive me. Selah.

¹⁶Don’t be afraid when a person is made rich,

when the glory of their house is increased;

¹⁷for when they die they will carry nothing away.

Their glory won’t descend with them.

¹⁸Though while they lived they blessed their soul—

and others praise you when you do well for yourself—

¹⁹they will go to the generation of ʜɪꜱ ancestors.

They will never see the light.

²⁰Humans who have riches without understanding,

are like the animals that perish.