Bible / Psalms
Psalms 48
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation
1 Unto the end, a psalm for the sons of Core.
2 Hear these things, all ye nations: give ear, all ye inhabitants of the world.
3 All you that are earthborn, and you sons of men: both rich and poor together.
4 My mouth shall speak wisdom: and the meditation of my heart understanding.
5 I will incline my ear to a parable; I will open my proposition on the psaltery.
6 Why shall I fear in the evil day? the iniquity of my heel shall encompass me.
7 They that trust in their own strength, and glory in the multitude of their riches,
8 No brother can redeem, nor shall man redeem: he shall not give to God his ransom,
9 Nor the price of the redemption of his soul: and shall labour for ever,
10 And shall still live unto the end.
11 He shall not see destruction, when he shall see the wise dying: the senseless and the fool shall perish together: And they shall leave their riches to strangers:
12 And their sepulchres shall be their houses for ever. Their dwelling places to all generations: they have called their lands by their names.
13 And man when he was in honour did not understand; he is compared to senseless beasts, and is become like to them.
14 This way of theirs is a stumblingblock to them: and afterwards they shall delight in their mouth.
15 They are laid in hell like sheep: death shall feed upon them. And the just shall have dominion over them in the morning; and their help shall decay in hell from their glory.
16 But God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, when he shall receive me.
17 Be not thou afraid, when a man shall be made rich, and when the glory of his house shall be increased.
18 For when he shall die he shall take nothing away; nor shall his glory descend with him.
19 For in his lifetime his soul will be blessed: and he will praise thee when thou shalt do well to him.
20 He shall go in to the generations of his fathers: and he shall never see light.
21 Man when he was in honour did not understand: he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them.
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers and psalm numbers (one higher than Douay-Rheims for most psalms), so these are listed by chapter.
- Psalm 49:12 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… lost the true rationality, and living irrationally, opposed the righteousness of God, giving himself over to every earthly spirit, and serving all lusts; as says the prophet, "Man, being in honour, did not understand: he was assimilated to senseless beasts, and made like to them.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter IV. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Psalm 49:20 in modern Bibles
Read the Fathers
“… compare them to irrational animals, on account of the irrationality of their conduct, saying, "They have become as horses raging for the females; each one of them neighing after his neighbour's wife." And again, "Man, when he was in honour, was made like unto cattle.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter VIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.