Psalms 49:20

20 A man/Man, when he was in honour, understood not; he is comparisoned to unwise beasts, and is made like to those. (Anyone, even when he hath been given great honour, liveth not forever; he is comparable to the unthinking beasts, and soon is made like them.)

Psalms 49:20 Meaning and Commentary

Psalms 49:20

Man [that is] in honour
A wicked man, as the Targum; (See Gill on Psalms 49:12);

and understandeth not;
from whence his riches and honour, come, and what use he should make of them, and for what end he has them; or that understandeth not spiritual things, which relate to the salvation of his soul; who does not know God in Christ, nor the way of salvation by Christ; nor has any experience of the work of the Spirit of God upon his soul; nor has any spiritual understanding of the doctrines of the Gospel; nor knows himself, his state and condition, and what true happiness is:

is like the beasts [that] perish; (See Gill on Psalms 49:12).

Psalms 49:20 In-Context

18 For his soul shall be blessed in his life; he shall acknowledge to thee, when thou hast done well to him. (Even though his soul shall be blessed in this life; and people shall praise him, when he hath done well for himself.)

19 He shall enter till into the generations of his fathers; and till into without end he shall not see light. (He shall go to the generations of his forefathers; and none of them shall ever see the light again.)

20 A man/Man, when he was in honour, understood not; he is comparisoned to unwise beasts, and is made like to those. (Anyone, even when he hath been given great honour, liveth not forever; he is comparable to the unthinking beasts, and soon is made like them.)