What Does Psalm 49:17 Mean in the King James?
For when he dieth he shall carry nothing away: his glory shall not descend after him.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The “glory” that makes a rich life seem weighty is the very thing that cannot follow its owner through death.
THE MEANING
When death comes, nothing you possess goes with you. The visible splendor counted as your glory does not descend after you; it cannot be carried beyond your life.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that wealth makes its owner permanently weighty, that what makes a life impressive can be possessed so completely it stays yours beyond death.
THE ROOT
כְּבוֹדוֹ
kevodo
GROWS FROM
כבד
k-b-d
To be heavy or weighty.
The Hebrew word for “glory” carries the sense of weight: what is honored is treated as weighty. Here, that weight cannot descend after its owner, so the verse exposes how temporary a life’s visible splendor is.
ALSO GROWS
kaved: Heavy; weighty.
כָּבֵד
This branch makes “glory” more than a reputation: it is the weight assigned to a person or life.
kibbed: To honor; to treat as weighty.
כִּבֵּד
It shows how honor and weight belong to the same root, sharpening the verse’s contrast between a person’s earthly honor and what can accompany them through death.
THE PATTERN
What a person gathers in life cannot be carried through death as a lasting possession.
As he came forth of his mother’s womb, naked shall he return to go as he came, and shall take nothing of his labour, which he may carry away in his hand.But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.THE THREAD
Be not thou afraid when one is made rich, when the glory of his house is increased;The same Hebrew word, כָּבוֹד (kavod), names the house’s “glory” here and the dead man’s “glory” in verse 17. What looks like increasing weight around a rich person is revealed as something that cannot accompany him when he descends.
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