Bible Strands
Psalms 49:2
both low and high, rich and poor alike.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The psalmist, speaking as a member of the sons of Korah, addresses all inhabitants of the world to deliver a message of wisdom. This address explicitly includes every social and economic stratum present in the audience.
The words — The Hebrew term יַ֝֗חַד (yachad) literally means "alike" or "together," functioning as the grammatical hinge for the verse's list. The phrase בְּנֵי אָדָם (benei adam) translates directly to "children of man" or "humankind."
The thread — The text explicitly groups all social tiers together, a structural pattern repeated in Psalms 62:9 where both lowborn and exalted are weighed equally. This leveling of categories anticipates the explicit command against social partiality in James 2:1 and aligns with the theological claim that status shifts originate in 1 Samuel 2:7.
Why it lands — The verse demands that the listener recognize no economic or social distinction exempts anyone from the instruction that follows. It requires the reader to approach the psalmist’s teaching without prejudice toward any class.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Both low and high, rich and poor, together.
Cross-references
- Psalms 62:9 Lowborn men are but a vapor; the exalted are but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
- James 2:1 My brothers, as you hold out your faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ, do not show favoritism.
- 1 Samuel 2:7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth; He humbles and He exalts.
- Job 34:19 who is not partial to princes and does not favor rich over poor? For they are all the work of His hands.
- Proverbs 22:2 The rich and the poor have this in common: The LORD is Maker of them all.
- Jeremiah 5:4 Then I said, “They are only the poor; they have played the fool, for they do not know the way of the LORD, the justice of their God.
- James 1:9 The brother in humble circumstances should exult in his high position.
- Revelation 6:15 Then the kings of the earth, the nobles, the commanders, the rich, the mighty, and every slave and free man hid in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains.