Psalms 49:7

The first answer to the question, -Wherefore should I fear"? These men make a god of their wealth. They trust in it and glory in it, as the godly man trusts in Jehovah and glories in Him (Psalms 32:10; Psalms 34:2). But how powerless it is! It cannot deliver anyone from death. If the rich man's friends have so little to hope, his victims have little to fear.

The language of this verse and the next is borrowed from the ancient law in Exodus 21:30, where the words ransomand redemption of life(or soul) occur together, the latter phrase being found nowhere else. If a man's neglect to keep a dangerous ox under proper control had been the cause of another man's death, his life was forfeit. But he might redeem his life by paying a ransom to the relatives of the deceased person. Probably he would always be allowed to do so, and the penalty of death would never be exacted. Another law prohibited the pardon of a murderer upon the mere payment of a fine (Numbers 35:31), lest rich men should regard the taking of life as a matter of indifference. Thus the idea of the payment of money as the equivalent of a life was familiar. There were cases in which wealth could deliver from death, when man was dealing with man. But when God claims the life, riches are of no avail.

his brother Lit. a brother: his most intimate relative or friend. Possibly there may be an allusion to the use of the word in dirges. See Jeremiah 22:18. But the position of the word at the beginning of the sentence is peculiar, and an adversative particle seems to be needed. It has therefore been plausibly conjectured that we should read ǎk, -surely" or -but" (as in Psalms 49:15), in place of âch, -brother," and, with a slight alteration of the vowels, render thus:

But no one can by any means redeem himself,

Nor give to God the ransom He requires.

The reading of the Massoretic Text however is attested by the LXX and other Ancient Versions.